Centuries of Time: A Private Collection
Centuries of Time: A Private Collection
A gold and enamel consular cased verge watch with date Circa 1790, no. 1049
Auction Closed
May 14, 02:23 PM GMT
Estimate
4,000 - 6,000 CHF
Lot Details
Description
Tavernier à Paris
A gold and enamel consular cased verge watch with date
Circa 1790, no. 1049
• Movement: gilded verge full plate, decoratively pierced and engraved balance bridge, polished steel end piece, silver regulation plate, cylindrical pillars, signed Tavernier à Paris, no. 1049
• Dial: white enamel, Breguet numerals, outer gilt Arabic minute ring, inner gilt date ring, aperture for winding, gold skeletonised hands, blued steel hand for date, signed Tavernier à Paris
• Case: gold, the back with gold chequered decoration against a dark blue guilloché enamel ground, bezels with applied vari-colour gold leaves and flower heads, inside back stamped P beneath a crown and further indistinct marks
diameter 46mm
Tardy notes in his book, Dictionnaire des Horlogers Français, that Jean-Pierre Tavernier was a Master in 1746 and recorded at the Rue de Bucy, Paris, in 1748. Tavernier died at the age of 81 in 1796 (see ibid, vol. II, p. 607). Tavernier's son Louis (1754-1840) was made Horloger to the Duc d'Orléans in 1790.
At the time of this watch's sale at Fraysse & Associés in 2020, it was recorded that, by family tradition, the watch was reputedly ordered by a member of the Turgot family, probably sons of the famous Etienne Turgot, Marquis de Sousmont who carried out the famous plan of Paris at the beginning of the 18th century.