91st Auction
2015/5/16
Lot 596
Baudin Frères à Genève / (attributed to) Sylvain Mairet Le Locle, Case No. 655, 47 mm, 62 g, circa 1855
A gentleman's rare pocket watch with regulator dial, temperature indication in "Reaumur" and date
Case: silver, engine-turned, engraved hatchment, florally engraved case band. Dial: enamel, eccentric chapter ring with radial Roman numerals for the hours at "9", eccentric chapter ring with Arabic numerals for the date at "3", auxiliary seconds, thermometer sector with Reaumur scale at the top, signed, blued Breguet hands. Movm.: bridge movement, keywind, frosted, gilt, bimetallic steel and brass thermometer curb acing on spring-loaded rack-and-pinion transmission, screw compensation balance, counterpoised lever.
The Réaumur temperature scale
The Réaumur temperature scale is named after French scientist René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur, who introduced the scale in 1730; its freezing point and the boiling point of water are set to 0 and 80 degrees respectively.
Sylvain Mairet
Sylvain Mairet grew up with his uncle; F.I. Favre-Bulle was a renowned watchmaker of his period. Mairet was to become one of the best watchmakers in Le Locle. He lived in London from 1831 until 1834 where he struck up a friendship with J.F. Cole and mostly worked for B.L. Vulliamy. He often created the watches to his own design; he invented a keyless winding system for watches with two-train movements (see lot No. 218). Sylvain Mairet was the official Swiss agent to the London Universal Exhibition in 1862 and wrote the official report; he received a gold medal at the 1867 Paris Exhibition "as a testimony to his ability and the beneficial influence which he had exerted on the progress of watchmaking in the Canton of Neuchatel".
A gentleman's rare pocket watch with regulator dial, temperature indication in "Reaumur" and date
Case: silver, engine-turned, engraved hatchment, florally engraved case band. Dial: enamel, eccentric chapter ring with radial Roman numerals for the hours at "9", eccentric chapter ring with Arabic numerals for the date at "3", auxiliary seconds, thermometer sector with Reaumur scale at the top, signed, blued Breguet hands. Movm.: bridge movement, keywind, frosted, gilt, bimetallic steel and brass thermometer curb acing on spring-loaded rack-and-pinion transmission, screw compensation balance, counterpoised lever.
The Réaumur temperature scale
The Réaumur temperature scale is named after French scientist René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur, who introduced the scale in 1730; its freezing point and the boiling point of water are set to 0 and 80 degrees respectively.
Sylvain Mairet
Sylvain Mairet grew up with his uncle; F.I. Favre-Bulle was a renowned watchmaker of his period. Mairet was to become one of the best watchmakers in Le Locle. He lived in London from 1831 until 1834 where he struck up a friendship with J.F. Cole and mostly worked for B.L. Vulliamy. He often created the watches to his own design; he invented a keyless winding system for watches with two-train movements (see lot No. 218). Sylvain Mairet was the official Swiss agent to the London Universal Exhibition in 1862 and wrote the official report; he received a gold medal at the 1867 Paris Exhibition "as a testimony to his ability and the beneficial influence which he had exerted on the progress of watchmaking in the Canton of Neuchatel".
estimated
4.000—5.000 €
Price realized
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