Fine Jewels & Watches: Milan
Fine Jewels & Watches: Milan
Property of a Lady of Title
Lot Closed
October 25, 11:24 AM GMT
Estimate
3,000 - 5,000 EUR
Lot Details
Description
Paul Ditisheim
A yellow gold, diamond and ruby-set brooch watch
Circa 1897
Dial: white enamel, roman hours and arabic minute tracks
Calibre: manual winding, jewelled
Case: 18k yellow gold, diamond and ruby-set
Case number: 8587, 8557
Size: 22.5 mm diameter
Signed: case
Box: no
Papers: no
Accessories: none
Please note that the movement has not been tested for the accuracy of time and may need a service at the buyer's expense.
Sotheby's does not guarantee the future working of the movement and we do not guarantee the authenticity of any individual component parts since subsequent repairs and restoration work may have resulted in the replacement of original parts. You are advised that watch straps or bands made of materials derived from endangered or otherwise protected species (i.e. alligator or crocodile) are not sold with the watch and we reserve the right to remove these straps or bands prior to shipping. Furthermore, the watch may not come with its original manufacturers strap or band.
Paul Ditisheim was born in 1868 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, son of the famous Ditisheim family, founder and owner of Vulcain, the watch manufacturer enjoyed by American presidents such as Dwight Eisenhower, Harry Truman, Richard Nixon and Lyndon Johnson. He was born into the small social circle of industrialist families that led the Swiss watch industry of the time. He studied at the Horological School of La Chaux-de-Fonds and received his 'diploma with honor' at the age of 13 . He was then trained in several of the major watch makers and worked at his family's Vulcain manufacture until 1892 when he founded his own brands: Solvil and Titus .
He was considered one of the most talented watchmakers, inventors and entrepreneurs of his time.
Paul Ditisheim was instrumental in developing the new generation of chronometers, improving them greatly through his studies on the impact of atmospheric pressure and magnetic fields. He invented the affix balance. Thanks to his inventions, he was able to make the most precise chronometers ever made. By 1903, his watches had been awarded 1st prize at both Kew and Neuchâtel Observatories contests. In 1912, he won the world’s chronometric record of the Royal Kew Observatory. He also worked closely with Physics Nobel prize winner Charles-Edouard Guillaume (who invented the 'Guillaume balance'). According to Professor M. Andrade of the Besançon Astronomical Observatory, Ditisheim’s work “constitutes the most important progress of modern chronometry”.