96th Auction

2017/11/18

Lot 622

Hubert Sarton à Liège, Case No. 1444, 61 mm, 142 g, circa 1815
A rare, large pocket watch with cylinder escapement, quarter repeater "à toc" and secret opening
Case: 18k rose gold, signed, movement protection cap. Dial: enamel. Movm.: full plate movement, keywind, 2 hammers, chain/fusee, three-arm brass balance.
The secret opening is at the lower end of the pendant. A small quarter section has to be pushed down to open the case.
Dieudonné-Hubert Sarton (1748-1828), called Hubert Sarton was an eminent Belgian watch maker. From early childhood he showed mechanical inclination and keen scientific interest. He was trained as a watch maker by his uncle and godfather, Dieudonné Sarton, in 1762. In 1768 Sarton moved to Paris to complete his apprenticeship and to perfect his skills as a watch maker. There he worked for Pierre II. Leroy, the oldest son of Julien Leroy, who was the royal watch maker of King Ludwig XVI. After becoming master watch maker, he returned to Liège in 1772 and settled there. Sarton became the royal watch maker of Duke Karl Alexander von Lothringen, Governor of the Netherlands and worked many years in the service of the prince-archbishop of Liège, Franz Karl von Velbrück, who was his patron and sponsor. In 1799 he assigned Satron with the founding of the Société Libre d'Emulation in Liège. Sarton wrote a series of memoranda and also occupied himself with the construction of coal mining machines, as well as windmills and hydraulic machines used for draining the dutch polder landscape.
Source: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubert_Sarton, as of 08/01/2013.
This watch was part of the exhibition "L'Âge d'Or de L'Horlogerie Liégeoise, Liège remet les pendules à l'heure" and is illustrated and described in the correspondent exhibition catalogue by Ann Chevalier und André Thiry, Musée d'Amsenbourg, Liège, Belgique, November 14, 2003 to May 30, 2004, page 56.

Sold

estimated
6.5008.500 €
Price realized
7.500 €