THE BARKING DOG

• gilt movement, cylinder escapement, gold cuvette engraved with a trophy of music enhanced by polychrome opaque and translucent enamel, the front with small eccentric white enamel dial at 12 o'clock, above an applied vari-color gold automaton scene of a dog barking at a cat • plunge repeat activating the quarters and the bellows for the dog's bark, and his nodding head, all against translucent blue enamel over engine-turning, the case back inset with a possibly later enameled panel with translucent red enamel heightened by a circle of gold paillons, cuvette and movement stamped PM within a lozenge for Piguet and Meylan, the movement, case, bezels, and cuvette stamped 275 

Overall a delightful piece with several issues and will require a complete restoration, see specific concerns below: Back enamel panel is associated, one pearl missing from pendant, pendant enamel restored to match the back panel. Cuvette - losses to enamel around winding holes and setting holes. Movement - timepiece not functioning as balance is sprung and will require restoration. Dog automaton - the dog is very dirty, the sound has worked during periods of cataloguing although not functioning now. The head is also not moving. Dial in good order.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. All dimensions in catalogue descriptions are approximate. Condition reports may not specify mechanical replacements or imperfections to the movement, case, dial, pendulum, separate base(s) or dome. Watches in water-resistant cases have been opened to examine movements but no warranties are made that the watches are currently water-resistant. Please note that we do not guarantee the authenticity of any individual component parts, such as wheels, hands, crowns, crystals, screws, bracelets and leather bands, since subsequent repairs and restoration work may have resulted in the replacement of original parts. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue. In particular, please note it is the purchaser's responsibility to comply with any applicable import and export matters, particularly in relation to lots incorporating materials from endangered species.NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

**Please be advised that bands made of materials derived from endangered or otherwise protected species (i.e. alligator and crocodile) are not sold with the watches and are for display purposes only. We reserve the right to remove these bands prior to shipping.

Important Notice regarding importation into the United States of Rolex watches
Sotheby's cannot arrange for the delivery of Rolex watches to the United States because U.S. laws restricts the import of Rolex watches. The buyer or a designated agent may collect the property in the country of sale."

Piguet and Meylan employed two numbering systems.  Their Barking Dog series all have numbers lower than 300. Approximately twenty 'Barking Dog' watches are known today and, according to our research, this may be the first time that the present watch, no. 275, has appeared at auction.

The sound of a barking dog is ingeniously reproduced by a set of bellows activated by pushing the pendant, thus also marking the hours and quarters. To achieve the sound, the mechanism exerts a sharp pressure on a miniature bellows connected to a whistle vented through an open aperture on the case side.

The majority of ‘known’ Barking Dog automata are larger than the present lot, measuring 59mm in diameter. This is significantly larger than the remarkably small, 39mm diameter of the present watch. Only one other Barking Dog watch of 39mm is known, see Antiquorum, Hong Kong, June 2, 2007, Lot 311. The latter is stamped number 282, only seven numbers away from the present lot. The 2007 catalogue makes reference to the existence of one other in this small size, which is likely the present lot. 

The Barking Dog automata were typically produced with a dog and a swan, (presumably based on engravings of Jean Baptiste Oudry's famous painting of the subject) whereas the theme of the present lot, featuring a dog and a cat, is found in perhaps less then half a dozen pieces.  For further information on barking dogs with cats, see Bernard Pin, Watches and Automata The Maurice Sandoz Collection, cat. I. 22, pp 134-139. 

The ‘incomparable’ Bohemian painter Johann Wenzel Peter (1745-1829) who lived and worked in Rome from 1774, specialized in painting animals in conflict. His design of a dog barking at a cat (though not identical to this) was much copied by Roman mosaicists after it was first recorded in the studio of the mosaicist Puglieschi in 1805/6. An example signed by Gioacchino Barberi (1783-1857) is set into the lid of a contemporary gold box by A.J. Strachan, London, 1807/8, and is now in the Gilbert Collection, London (Charles Truman, The Gilbert Collection of Gold Boxes, vol. I, Los Angeles, 1991, p. 328, no. 113). Another example, in a private collection, signed by the mosaicist Domenico Moglia (1780-1862) is also set into the lid of a snuff box by Strachan, again of 1807/8; the base is set with a micro mosaic of a dog barking at a swan. It is not inconceivable that Piguet & Meylan were aware of these fashionable mosaics, since many were bought as plaques by travelers on the Grand Tour and mounted by Geneva gold box makers.