Exceptional Discoveries: The Olmsted Complications Collection
Charles Frodsham, London
An exceedingly rare yellow gold open-faced two-train keyless one-minute tourbillon watch with trip quarter repetition and Kew A rating, No. 09428, 1911-12
Auction Closed
December 8, 10:03 PM GMT
Estimate
30,000 - 60,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Movement: frosted gilded half plate two-train tandem wound Nicole, Nielsen & Co. movement, going barrel for time train, ratchet tooth lever escapement with double roller, bi-metallic compensation balance, blued steel hairspring with overcoil, one-minute tourbillon carriage with polished steel Nicole Nielsen Type 2 cage, separate train for quarter repeat activated via depression of the crown, polished steel hammer repeating on coiled gong, the backplate signed Chas Frodsham, by Appointment to the King, 115 New Bond St, late of 84 Strand London, No. 09428
Dial: white enamel dial attributed to Willis, Roman numerals, subsidiary seconds with Arabic numerals, blued steel hands, signed Chas Frodsham 09428 Ad. Fmsz
Case: 18k yellow gold, glazed cuvette, olivette for time setting, button release for the quarter repeater at the crown, swiveling thief-proof bow, glazed cuvette, inside case embossed 11th June 1920, London hallmarks for
1911-12, sponsor’s mark HMF for Harrison Mill Frodsham, numbered 09428
Signed: dial and movement signed Charles Frodsham, case stamped HMF for Harrison Mill Frodsham
Diameter: 55 mm
Reinhard Meis, Das Tourbillon, Munich: Laterna Magica, 1986, p. 346.
Vaudrey Mercer, The Frodshams: The Story of a Family of Chronometer Makers, Antiquarian Horological Society, 1981, pp. 217 & 278.
Frodsham no. 09428 was submitted to the Kew Observatory trials on two occasions - in April and August 1912, achieving its highest result in the April trials with 75.8 marks.
Although Frodsham produced at least fourteen minute-repeating tourbillons (including three clock watch tourbillons), this is the only quarter-repeating tourbillon by Charles Frodsham recorded by either Reinhard Meis or Vaudrey Mercer. Its rarity and quality are further distinguished by its two-train movement, with separate trains for the going and repeating mechanisms. Instead of requiring the repeating train to be wound via a slide before each activation, the tandem winding system ensures that the repeating train’s power is stored in its own spring barrel, with the repeat mechanism released by depression of the winding crown, which here also acts as a button.