Lot 71

Louis Audemars a Brassus

Quarter Repeater

An extremely rare, very fine quarter repeating hunting case pocket watch with stoppable independent jumping centre seconds and independent jumping chronograph with zero set device

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Louis-Benjamin Audemars was one of the most important "unsung" movement manufacturers, who decided early on in his career to forego the recognition he would have received from signing his work for the steady income from clients such as Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, Tiffany, and others. There is no doubt though that Louis-Benjamin Audemars was a horological genius. Born in 1782 in the Vallée de Joux, he was apprenticed at the age of 16 to the already famous Philippe Meylan, who had specialized in making blank (raw) movements. Audemars' manual skills, keen perception and intelligence impressed Meylan (who was later to become his brother-in-law) so much, that a partnership was offered to him. He was so skilled that he once agreed to a bet to file a quarter-repeater mechanism between two meals - and won it. In 1811 Meylan went to Geneva and made Audemars his successor. He left Audemars the workshop which produced movements for other companies. The new company Meylan formed with Piguet became the most important customer for Audemars. While in France and occasionally in Geneva a new bridge caliber was introduced, the Vallée de Joux produced only full-plate caliber movements at the time. Audemars, however, quickly realized that the future was in the new bridge caliber and converted his production accordingly, thus immediately becoming the most important manufacturer of movements in the Vallée. His clients included Le Roy, Breguet, Jürgensen, Charles Oudin, LeCoultre, Piguet Frères, Bautte, Piguet & Meylan, Patek, Frodsham, Dent, and Benson. In 1832 Audemars decided to produce complete watches to sell under his own name. Adapting the company profile to the new strategy was not easy and took some time. Louis died a year later leaving this challenge to his eight sons, who continued running and developing the Audemars company. It was not until 1848 that their father's ambition was was finally fulfilled. Between 1832 and 1837 the company invented the keyless winding/setting system, which is known today as the Audemars system. Audemars catalogues list "Breguet" caliber watches, "Breguet style" repeaters with independent centre seconds, "demi Breguet" calibers and Breguet anti-shock devices (pare-chutes). The Audemars company was soon recognized as one of the best. At the London Exhibition of 1851 it showed 10 watches with different escapements and complications. The company became famous for its ultra-complicated watches. Among the honors Audemars received were: London 1851 First Class Medal, New York 1853 Bronze Medal, Paris 1855 First Class Medal, London 1862 First Class Medal, Academie Nationale de France 1856-1863 First Class Honor Medal, Vienne 1873 Medal of Progress, Philadelphia 1876, Paris 1878 1ère Medaille d'or, Croix de la Légion d'Honneur, Diplôme d'Honneur, Sidney 1879 First Class Medal, London 1880. Audemars was named Watchmaker to the Queen of English, which was a very rare honour to be bestowed upon a foreigner. In 1885 the firm split into three companies established by the grandsons of Louis-Benjamin: Audemars Frères (founded by Hector Audemars and his brother Charles-Henri), François Audemars fils and Louis Audemars (by Louis Audemars-Valette). It should be noted that the Audemars Piguet Company, which was established in 1881 by Jules-Louis Audemars and Edward-Auguste Piguet, has only a remote connection with Louis Audemars; Jules-Louis was a great-grandson of Louis brother.