GIRARD TOURBILLON PRECISION GOLD POCKET WATCH WITH ENAMEL PORTRAITS

GIRARD & COMP(LATER GIRARD-PERREGAUX),ONE-MINUTE TOURBILLON PRECISION GOLD HUNTING CASED POCKET WATCH WITH ENAMEL PORTRAITS OF NAPOLEON I AND EMPRESS JOSEPHINE,No. 40066,MADE CIRCA 1855

Estimation: HKD 750,000-1,000,000; USD 96,000-127,900; EUR 91,100-121,500

Description

Dial: matte silver regulator-type, the hour dial with radial Roman numerals, minutes with Arabic numerals, seconds dial with Arabic numerals, decorated with red and blue champleve enamel flowers, blued steel hands

Movement: matte gilt, half-plate, fusee with chain and maintaining power, pivoted detent Chronometer escapement, cut bimetallic 

compensation balance, blued steel Breguet balance spring with terminal curve, one-minute tourbillon regulator with polished equidistant three-arm steel cage, index regulator

Case: 18K yellow gold,front cover decorated with a finely painted on enamel portrait of Napoleon I after the painting by Paul Delaroche,the 

back cover with a finely painted on enamel portrait of the Empress Josephine

Dimensions: 56mm

Signed: case,dial and movement

Note:

The gold case is finely decorated with enamel portraits of Napoleon I and Empress Josephine, the portrait of Napoleon taken from the famous portrait by Paul Delaroche (1797-1856). The movement with one-minute tourbillon regulator is fitted with a fusee and chain to equalize the power transmission to the pivoted detent Chronometer escapement - much more rarely used in tourbillon watches because of it's delicacy and the immense skill required to build it. Both these features combined with a tourbillon carriage and bimetallic balance are to ensure that the effects of temperature, friction and erratic power transmission are reduced as much as possible. During the mid-19th century very few makers in Switzerland were capable of making a tourbillon, one of these was Constant Girard-Perregaux (1825-1903).In 1856, the name of the company was changed to Girard-Perregaux, Constant having taken to using both family names. He was very technically minded, devising fine time-measurement instruments for his customers. A perfectionist, he was constantly trying to design increasingly sophisticated, meticulously fashioned movements. His years of experimenting and experience culminated eventually in the three parallel bridge construction. Performance took on greater importance, spurring the development of progressively more complex and accurate watches, with an increasing variety of indications. This was the heyday of chronometry and observatory contests between the great watchmakers of the period. Constant Girard-Perregaux was a talented contestant, winning no less than 13 Gold Medals and other distinctions in America and in Europe.

Condition Report 

a little bit scratches and chips on the portrait of NAPOLEON I; movement is running at cataloguing; the watch is in very good overall condition