Property from an Important Italian Collection
ATTRIBUTED TO JOSEF SPIEGEL | A LARGE SILVER REPOUSSE QUARTER STRIKING AND REPEATING COACH WATCH WITH DATE AND ALARM, CIRCA 1750 NO. 643
Auction Closed
October 28, 01:13 PM GMT
Estimate
7,500 - 8,500 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Property from an Important Italian Collection
ATTRIBUTED TO JOSEF SPIEGEL
A LARGE SILVER REPOUSSE QUARTER STRIKING AND REPEATING COACH WATCH WITH DATE AND ALARM
CIRCA 1750 NO. 643
Movement: gilded full plate, verge escapement, pierced balance cock decoratively engraved with foliage and a grotesque mask to the neck, silver regulation plate, four trains for alarm, repeater, strike and time, hour hammers striking on a bell, fusee and chain, interior bezel and barrels with decorative engraving, stylised pillars, bearing the signature Miroir, Paris, No. 643
Dial: silver champlevé, Roman numerals, outer arcaded Arabic minute ring, central alarm indicator disc, aperture for date above XII, blued steel hands
Case: silver, the back with repoussé chased and engraved scene depicting Cleopatra and Octavian, surrounded by shell and scrollwork boarders, four apertures to the centre for winding the separate trains, the bezels pierced and engraved with scrolling foliage, aperture to the bezel between 6 and 7 o'clock for the pull repeat, maker's mark I.L.B (possibly for Johann Ludwig Biller the younger)
diameter 123mm
Accompanied by a later fitted presentation case.
Although signed by Miroir, London, this coach watch is of German origin and was likely made in Friedberg by the watchmaker Josef Spiegel. A half-quarter repeating coach watch by Spiegel can be found in the British Museum, to the movement of that watch, Spiegel has signed his surname in reverse: 'Jo Legeips, London.' Spiegel itself translates as 'mirror' in English and it would therefore appear that the maker's use of reversed signatures as well as signing other watches using the French word for mirror (miroir) was carried out somewhat tongue in cheek. A very similar coach watch with almost identical repoussé scene but bearing the signature Miroir, London was sold at Sotheby's London, 2 July 2019, lot 55.