Centuries of Time: A Private Collection

Centuries of Time: A Private Collection

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 1330. A gold and enamel watch in the form of a tulip Circa 1875.

Vienna, Austria

A gold and enamel watch in the form of a tulip Circa 1875

Auction Closed

May 14, 02:23 PM GMT

Estimate

3,000 - 5,000 CHF

Lot Details

Description

Vienna, Austria


A gold and enamel watch in the form of a tulip

Circa 1875


• Movement: gilded full plate, verge escapement, plain flat balance, decoratively pierced and floral engraved balance bridge, fusee and chain

• Dial: white enamel, Arabic numerals, outer minute ring with Arabic numerals

• Case: gold, polychrome enamel painted hinged covers in the form of tulip petals each with gold springs in the form of stamens, the watch movement concealed within the flower's base of restored red guilloché enamel and leaves of gold and pale green opaque enamel, seed-pearl-set border, pusher to case side to open petals, case with Vienna control marks for 1872-1922


width 25.5mm, height 42mm

Three very similar tulip-form watches can be found at the Patek Philippe Museum (inv. nos. S-357, S-21, S-27) and are illustrated in P. Friess, The Emergence of the Portable Watch, Geneva: Patek Philippe Museum, vol. IV, p. 417. A further example is illustrated in O. Patrizzi & F. Sturm, Watches of Fantasy, 1790-1850, Geneva: Tribune Editions, 1979fig. 80.