Lot 204

Achille Hubert Benoit

An exceptional graduate's piece with automatic winding by oscillating weight pedometer system, made at the Cluses watchmaking school

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"A watch of exceptional quality has recently come to light. Almost certainly the work of a student, it was never finished.
The period and the quality of the work suggest that the maker of this watch was Achille Benoit. Achille Hubert Benoit, a highly respected watchmaker, was a teacher at the Cluses horological school. He had his students make various watches with complications and pocket chronometers, inspired by the finest 19th century watches. Their silver cases all had the same features, in particular a gold pendant and bow whose shape resembles that of most early 20th century pendant-wound watches. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the only high quality selfwinding watches other than those of Lange & Söhne were the ones made by Breguet and L. Leroy et Cie upon commission by their best clients."
This particular watch is illustrated and described in: "The Self-Winding Watch" by Jean-Claude Sabrier, page 235/236.