Lot 447

Baudin Frères, Genève, Case No. 1824, 51 mm, 90 g, circa 1850
A quarter repeating presentation pocket watch with duplex escapement and exquisite miniature enamel - a gift from Empress Augusta to the longtime physician of Emperor Wilhelm I, Dr. Fritz Timann; from the emperor’s estate
Case: 18k gold. Dial: enamel. Movm.: bridge movement, 2 hammers / 2 gongs, screw compensation balance.
The engraved dedication reads: "Geschenk I. M. d. K. u. K. Augusta aus dem Nachlass S. M. d. K. u. K. Wilhelm I. - Dr. Timann, Berlin, 24.5.88" (a gift from Her Majesty the Queen and Empress Augusta from the estate of His Majesty King and Emperor Wilhelm I - Dr. Timann, Berlin, 24.5.88). Emperor Wilhelm I had passed away on March 9, 1888 in Berlin. His widow, Empress Augusta (1811-1890) presented this watch from her husband’s property to his personal physician; the dome of the watch is decorated with a city square under an evening sky.
Dr. Fritz Timann (1848-1931) was a native of Neustadt a. D. and received his doctor’s degree in 1872 from Kaiser Wilhelms-Akademie in Berlin; he was Wilhelm’s personal physician from 1878 until the emperor’s death in 1888. He was made a Knight of the House Order of Hohenzollern in the same year. Until 1908 Timann had the position of surgeon general, holding the rank of major general. He was a member and so-called "Zwingherr" (chairman) of the "Gesetzlose Gesellschaft zu Berlin" (lawless society, as it had no internal rules); the associacion still exists today and has many prominent members - it sees itself as an institution of tradition, culture and science.

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