![A LARGE AND EXCEPTIONALLY RARE SILVER OPEN-FACED KEYLESS WATCH THE LONGINES MOVEMENT LATER MODIFIED TO INCORPORATE A ONE MINUTE FLYING TOURBILLON WITH SPRING DETENT CHRONOMETER ESCAPEMENT ORIGINALLY RETAILED BY HERPY ARNOLD, BUDAPEST, 1925, NO.4190747 [ 罕有大型銀懷錶，浪琴機芯加裝一分鐘飛行陀飛輪連彈簧鎖止式天文鐘擒縱系統 ，原零售商為布達佩斯HERPY ARNOLD，年份約1925，編號4190747]](https://dam.sothebys.com/dam/image/lot/9c8e38b6-59b5-4bf8-b607-fab59524f796/primary/extra_small)
Masterworks of Time: Splendours for the East 「時間傑作：西器東傳」
Masterworks of Time: Splendours for the East 「時間傑作：西器東傳」
![View full screen - View 1 of Lot 623. A LARGE AND EXCEPTIONALLY RARE SILVER OPEN-FACED KEYLESS WATCH THE LONGINES MOVEMENT LATER MODIFIED TO INCORPORATE A ONE MINUTE FLYING TOURBILLON WITH SPRING DETENT CHRONOMETER ESCAPEMENT ORIGINALLY RETAILED BY HERPY ARNOLD, BUDAPEST, 1925, NO.4190747 [ 罕有大型銀懷錶，浪琴機芯加裝一分鐘飛行陀飛輪連彈簧鎖止式天文鐘擒縱系統 ，原零售商為布達佩斯HERPY ARNOLD，年份約1925，編號4190747].](https://sothebys-md.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/44f1a62/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1322x2000+0+0/resize/385x582!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsothebys-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fmedia-desk%2F44%2F3a%2F5e9ceedf41dc8c3f9f4e1564d746%2F027ge2024-9y9sn-1.jpg)
Swiss & German
A LARGE AND EXCEPTIONALLY RARE SILVER OPEN-FACED KEYLESS WATCH THE LONGINES MOVEMENT LATER MODIFIED TO INCORPORATE A ONE MINUTE FLYING TOURBILLON WITH SPRING DETENT CHRONOMETER ESCAPEMENT ORIGINALLY RETAILED BY HERPY ARNOLD, BUDAPEST, 1925, NO.4190747 [ 罕有大型銀懷錶，浪琴機芯加裝一分鐘飛行陀飛輪連彈簧鎖止式天文鐘擒縱系統 ，原零售商為布達佩斯HERPY ARNOLD，年份約1925，編號4190747]
Lot Closed
November 12, 05:04 PM GMT
Estimate
12,000 - 18,000 CHF
Lot Details
Description
Swiss & German
A LARGE AND EXCEPTIONALLY RARE SILVER OPEN-FACED KEYLESS WATCH THE LONGINES MOVEMENT LATER MODIFIED TO INCORPORATE A ONE MINUTE FLYING TOURBILLON WITH SPRING DETENT CHRONOMETER ESCAPEMENT
ORIGINALLY RETAILED BY HERPY ARNOLD, BUDAPEST, 1925, NO.4190747
[ 罕有大型銀懷錶，浪琴機芯加裝一分鐘飛行陀飛輪連彈簧鎖止式天文鐘擒縱系統 ，原零售商為布達佩斯HERPY ARNOLD，年份約1925，編號4190747]
• Movement: frosted gilded modified Longines calibre 24.99, the Earnshaw-type spring detent chronometer escapement mounted within a one-minute flying tourbillon carriage, large guillaume balance, diamond endstone, signed and numbered Longines 4190747
• Dial: white enamel dial, Arabic numerals, black outer minute ring, sunken dial centre and subsidiary seconds dial, blued steel hands, signed Longines Herpy Arnold Budapest
• Case: plain polished silver case, pink gold capped crown, the cuvette signed Longines and with commemorative exhibition medallions, engraved '7 Grand Prix', case and cuvette numbered 4190747
diameter 68mm
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The Longines archives note that this watch was delivered to Herpy Arnold in Budapest and invoiced on 22 June 1925. Manufactured by Longines with a lever escapement, the calibre 24.99 movement was later expertly modified by an unknown but highly skilled watchmaker to incorporate a flying tourbillon with spring detent escapement. Whilst it is not known who carried out the transformation, as Richard Meis notes in his authoritative book, Das Tourbillon, the tourbillon's style suggests a German origin, Meis writes: "certainly many of the excitements of the German watchmaking school in Glashütte have been realised here, possibly it is the work of a former DUS student or master who made their Tourbillon outside the DUS" [translated from the original German text of R. Meis, Das Tourbillon, 1986, p.259]
Gyula Herpy of Budapest, was a successful retailer who began his business in 1817 by importing and selling predominantly Swiss clocks and watches to Hungarian clients. The business was nationalised after the Second World War.