98th Auction
2018/11/10
Lot 542
Moricand & Degrange, à Genève, Case No. 60417, 44 mm, 42 g, circa 1830
A rare, thin gold enamel pocket watch with floral champlevé enamel ornamentation and chatelaine - original box
Case: gold. Dial: silvered, apertures for digital jumping hours and minutes. Movm.: bridge movement, keywind, cylinder escapement, three-arm balance.
Both sides of this timepiece are divided in 16 flower-bedecked segments, with cutouts on the front for the digital time display. The pillow-shaped elements of the chatelaine are - like the watch - intricately decorated with champlevé enamel ornamentation.
Swiss jewellers and watch retailers Moricand & Degrange were based in Geneva and active from around 1828 to 1845.
Moïse-Etienne Moricand, known as Stefano (1779-1854), was the owner of the company Moricand & Degrange and also a renowned natural scientist. He moved to Italy at a very young age to establish a watch retailing business. He visited primarily the regions of Tuscany, Naples and Venice, where he collected plants, butterflies, mussels and minerals and met with a number of Italian scientists. After his return to Geneva in 1814 Stefano became a member of the Société des Naturalistes and a partner in his father’s company at the Rue des Corps-Saints.
He was co-founder of the Musée d'Histoire Naturelle de Genève but in everyday life he worked as a merchant for Moricand & Degrange. We have no information on the business partner Degrange.
Stefano’s uncle Pierre François Moricand (1758-?) moved to Paris in 1797 and worked for "La manufacture d'horlogerie de Versailles" (1795-1801), also called "La fabrique d'horlogerie genevoise de Versailles", until the company went into administration. Pierre François Moricand was married to the sister of famous miniature painter Jeanne-Marie Glaesner (1762-1823).
Source: https://watch-wiki.org/index.php?title=Moricand_%26_Degrange, as of 10/07/2017
A rare, thin gold enamel pocket watch with floral champlevé enamel ornamentation and chatelaine - original box
Case: gold. Dial: silvered, apertures for digital jumping hours and minutes. Movm.: bridge movement, keywind, cylinder escapement, three-arm balance.
Both sides of this timepiece are divided in 16 flower-bedecked segments, with cutouts on the front for the digital time display. The pillow-shaped elements of the chatelaine are - like the watch - intricately decorated with champlevé enamel ornamentation.
Swiss jewellers and watch retailers Moricand & Degrange were based in Geneva and active from around 1828 to 1845.
Moïse-Etienne Moricand, known as Stefano (1779-1854), was the owner of the company Moricand & Degrange and also a renowned natural scientist. He moved to Italy at a very young age to establish a watch retailing business. He visited primarily the regions of Tuscany, Naples and Venice, where he collected plants, butterflies, mussels and minerals and met with a number of Italian scientists. After his return to Geneva in 1814 Stefano became a member of the Société des Naturalistes and a partner in his father’s company at the Rue des Corps-Saints.
He was co-founder of the Musée d'Histoire Naturelle de Genève but in everyday life he worked as a merchant for Moricand & Degrange. We have no information on the business partner Degrange.
Stefano’s uncle Pierre François Moricand (1758-?) moved to Paris in 1797 and worked for "La manufacture d'horlogerie de Versailles" (1795-1801), also called "La fabrique d'horlogerie genevoise de Versailles", until the company went into administration. Pierre François Moricand was married to the sister of famous miniature painter Jeanne-Marie Glaesner (1762-1823).
Source: https://watch-wiki.org/index.php?title=Moricand_%26_Degrange, as of 10/07/2017
estimated
5.500—7.500 €
Price realized
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