Important Watches

Important Watches

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 62. A large yellow gold open faced minute repeating split seconds chronograph watch with one minute tourbillon and 60-minute register, presented to Bishop Henry Codman Potter by John Pierpont Morgan, 1897 and sold in 1898, movement number 08617 | Charles Frodsham & Co 大型黃金三問報時追針計時懷錶,備一分鐘陀飛輪及60分鐘顯示,1897年由 John Pierpont Morgan 贈予 Henry Codman Potter 主教,1898年售出,機芯編號 08617.

Property of the Descendants of Henry Codman Potter, Bishop of New York

Charles Frodsham & Co

A large yellow gold open faced minute repeating split seconds chronograph watch with one minute tourbillon and 60-minute register, presented to Bishop Henry Codman Potter by John Pierpont Morgan, 1897 and sold in 1898, movement number 08617 | Charles Frodsham & Co 大型黃金三問報時追針計時懷錶,備一分鐘陀飛輪及60分鐘顯示,1897年由 John Pierpont Morgan 贈予 Henry Codman Potter 主教,1898年售出,機芯編號 08617

Auction Closed

December 9, 06:25 PM GMT

Estimate

100,000 - 150,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Property of the Descendants of Henry Codman Potter, Bishop of New York

Charles Frodsham & Co


A large yellow gold open faced minute repeating split seconds chronograph watch with one minute tourbillon and 60-minute register, presented to Bishop Henry Codman Potter by John Pierpont Morgan, 1897 and sold in 1898, movement number 08617 


Charles Frodsham & Co 大型黃金三問報時追針計時懷錶,備一分鐘陀飛輪及60分鐘顯示,1897年由 John Pierpont Morgan 贈予 Henry Codman Potter 主教,1898年售出,機芯編號 08617


Dial: white enamel Willis-type, radial Roman numerals, outer ring calibrated for minutes, subsidiary seconds and 60-minute registers (with hairline)

Caliber: first quality gilt three-quarter plate with double roller ratchet-tooth lever escapement and free sprung regulation, Guillaume balance with spiral blued steel balance spring and overcoil, the tourbillon with Nicole Nielsen Type 2 three-arm polished steel tourbillon carriage, the back plate further mounted with polished steel chronograph work, repeating on two polished steel gongs

Case: large "best quality"18k yellow gold case with polished finish, plain cuvette, case back inscribed with presentation inscription 'H.C.P. from J.P.M. October 20th, 1883. October 20th, 1898. General Convention. Washington. DC.', split pusher to the band at 11 o'clock, hallmarked London, 1897, recessed repeating slide, gold olivette

Case number: 08617

Size: 63 mm diameter

Signed: dial and movement signed and numbered by maker, case hallmarked London 1897 and stamped with casemaker's mark HMF for Harrison Mills Frodsham 

Box: no

Papers: no  

Accessories: Charles Frodsham & Co Ltd. Certificate of Origin dated April 11, 2019 

The present lot is a fine example of the Charles Frodsham/J.P. Morgan Caliber Tourbillon watch. No. 08’617 is one of approximately 25 pieces that were commissioned by John Pierpont Morgan to be given as gifts. The present lot was given to Henry Codman Potter (1834 - 1908), the seventh bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York, a prolific community leader who helped reinvigorate the Church and played a central role in the cultural transformation of the country. 


The full presentation inscription to the outer case back is particularly unusual and differs from most other known Morgan watches. Typically, the cuvette is engraved simply with J.P. Morgan’s initials, the gift recipient, and the year.


The outer case back is inscribed, “H.C.P. from J.P.M., October 20th, 1883. October 20th 1989. General Convention, Washington D.C.”

The first date, October 20th, 1883 was Potter’s consecration date as the Assistant Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York. He became Bishop of New York in 1897. The second date represents the XXXIX General Convention in Washington D.C, celebrating Bishop Potter’s 15 years of service with the Church. J.P. Morgan himself was a deputy of the General Convention and was a lifelong member and influential leader of the Episcopal Church.


The present lot was a testament to the intimate relationship between Mr. Potter and Mr. Morgan. Personal correspondence between the two gentlemen can be found at the Morgan Library, as well as an invitation addressed to J.P. Morgan to serve as a Pall Bearer for the Bishop's funeral services, dated 1 October, 1908. Facsimile copies of the above mentioned correspondence and invitation are included with the lot. The funeral, which took place on 20 October, was held with more than five hundred clergymen in procession, and all the pall bearers were leading citizens of New York.


Potter was a prolific community leader who became known as "the first citizen of New York," having served to address community growth, poverty, labour and social services, racial reform and more. Potter played an immeasurable role in fundraising and building of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Morningside Heights, New York City. Prominent figures donated to the construction of this Cathedral including J.P. Morgan, financiers John Jacob Astor IV, and William Waldorf Astor, and Entrepreneur Cornelius Vanderbilt. Today, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine is the 7th largest Cathedral in the world. 

Sotheby’s is honored to offer the present lot on behalf of the descendants of Henry Codman Potter.


Charles Frodsham & Co. Ltd., one of the most renowned English watchmaking firms in the second half of the nineteenth century. In 1854, Charles Frodsham succeeded Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy as Superintendent and Keeper of Her Majesty’s Clocks at Buckingham Palace - to the King, The Prince of Wales, and Queen Alexandra.


The firm's association with the Morgan family began with Junius Morgan who became a business partner in the English branch of the banking house, George Peabody & Co., in 1854. The purchase and maintenance of fine clocks and watches for the Morgan family was continued by John Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) who in 1883 presented a complicated watch to his personal valet George William on the occasion of his marriage. This watch was the forerunner to the most celebrated, and well known, of the Frodsham watches ordered by the Morgans, a series of state-of-the-art open face Tourbillons with minute repeating, split second chronograph, minute register and constant seconds.


Today the Charles Frodsham Company in London continues to make first quality precision timekeepers.


Of the known pieces just 12 have appeared in public auction:

08'616, The Esmond Bradley Collection, Sotheby’s New York, 22ndOct 2002, lot 25

08’617 Property from the family of Henry Codman Potter, Sotheby’s New York, 9th December 2022, (the present lot)

08'867, Antiquorum Hong Kong, 29thMay 1989, lot 342

08'920, The Celebration of the English Watch, Sotheby's London, 15th, Dec 2016, lot 57

08'921, Ineichen Zurcich, 3rd Mar 1981, lot 44

09'636, Christies New York, 25thOct 1994, lot 362

09'682, Sotheby’s New York, 10thDec 2013, lot 68

09'777, Christies New York, 18thApril 1984, lot 192

09'849, Christies New York, 28thOct 1991, lot 360

09'857, Sotheby’s New York, 27thOct 1997, lot 350

010'303, Christies New York, 26thJun 1996, lot 140

010'330, Property From the Estate of Alexandra McCain Morgan, Sotheby’s New York 15th, Dec 2020, lot 85


It is interesting to note that the present lot is the sister watch of No.08616, previously sold by Sotheby’s New York in The Esmond Bradley Collection, Oct 2002. 


For similar tourbillons by Charles Frodsham, see Meis, R., Das Tourbillon, 1986, p. 345 and Mercer, V., The Frodshams, 1981, p. 216

We are grateful to Charles Frodsham & Co, London, for their kind assistance in researching this lot.