Quarter-repeating Watch
Artist
Courvoisier & Company
(Swiss, active 1811 - 1845)
Date1825-1850
MediumGold, enamel, silver, diamonds, steel
Dimensions69.9 x 54 x 19.1 mm
ClassificationsT&E FOR TIMEKEEPING
Credit LineProctor Collection, Frederick T. Proctor Watch Collection
Terms
Object numberPC. 144
DescriptionGold open face quarter repeating watch with painted dialSwiss
gilt full plate, polished steel balance bridge flanked by furniture chased with scrolls, blued steel regulation disc, repeating on wire gongs by depressing pendant
CASE: Concentric engine turning
On View
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Copyright<a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/4.0/80x15.png" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License</a>.
Label TextThe house of Courvoisier played a large role in the history of watchmaking in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. Founded about 1770, it remained in business for more than seventy-five years. The firm produced a large volume of watches and sold them at prices lower than many of their competitors. Courvoisier & Company also exported its products to numerous European countries and Russia, Egypt, China, and India.
The art of enameling on a watch dial was revived after 1765 when technical improvements led to thinner watches and, accordingly, flatter, more expansive dials. On this watch, the center of the gold dial is embellished with an enameled scene of a shipwreck; two castaways on land watch their ship at sea.
