93rd Auction
2016/5/14
Lot 477
Louis Frederic Lebete, Neuchatel / Charles Zbinden à Panama, "Remontoire Invisible et mise à l'heure Automatique Breveté", Case No. 403, 54 mm, 124 g, circa 1875
An early and fine automatic hunting case pocket watch with a rare system of automatic winding utilising the opening and closing of the front cover - made for the South American market
Case: 18k gold, slide to reveal the winding button hidden in the band. Dial: enamel. Movm.: bridge movement, "Breveté S.G.D.G.", two engraved honour medals with engraving "Paris 1867", screw compensation balance.
Louis Frederic Lebet, Neuchatel, awarded two medals at the Paris Exhibition of 1867, the same year that Humbert Ramuz of Chaux-de-Fonds was granted English Patent No 2388 for a system of automatic winding utilising the opening and closing of the cover of a hunter cased watch.
Lebet is almost certainly the actual maker of these movements and the firm went on to win a Diploma at the Swiss National Exhibition, held in Zurich in 1883, for perfecting a stem-wind system - this may be similar to the English Patent No 3945 taken out by Benjamin Haas junior, a Paris based watchmaker, in December 1873.
A similar watch is illustrated and described in "Antique Watches" by Terence Camerer-Cuss, Woodbridge 1976, page 244.
An early and fine automatic hunting case pocket watch with a rare system of automatic winding utilising the opening and closing of the front cover - made for the South American market
Case: 18k gold, slide to reveal the winding button hidden in the band. Dial: enamel. Movm.: bridge movement, "Breveté S.G.D.G.", two engraved honour medals with engraving "Paris 1867", screw compensation balance.
Louis Frederic Lebet, Neuchatel, awarded two medals at the Paris Exhibition of 1867, the same year that Humbert Ramuz of Chaux-de-Fonds was granted English Patent No 2388 for a system of automatic winding utilising the opening and closing of the cover of a hunter cased watch.
Lebet is almost certainly the actual maker of these movements and the firm went on to win a Diploma at the Swiss National Exhibition, held in Zurich in 1883, for perfecting a stem-wind system - this may be similar to the English Patent No 3945 taken out by Benjamin Haas junior, a Paris based watchmaker, in December 1873.
A similar watch is illustrated and described in "Antique Watches" by Terence Camerer-Cuss, Woodbridge 1976, page 244.
estimated
3.300—4.500 €
Price realized
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