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CHAYETTE et CHEVAL
52
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Astronomical watch signed ‘Leonard Bury Abasle’, between 166…
See original version (French)
52
-
Astronomical watch signed ‘Leonard Bury Abasle’, between 166…
See original version (French)
Estimate €9,000 - €12,000
Voluntary lot
Description
Astronomical watch signed ‘Leonard Bury Abasle’, between 1660 and 1676.
Dial plate in gilded brass, finely engraved with flowers around three applied silver rings and two windows: date at 9 o’clock, age and phase of the moon at 3 o’clock, 30-minute divisions of the hour at 6 o’clock, names of the months and their lengths in a window at 12 o’clock with the corresponding zodiac sign in a window within the hour circle, fine blued steel hands.
Gilded brass movement, four openworked pillars of an unusual shape resembling a reclining oval, engraved and openworked cock decorated with a floral motif, silver rack-and-pinion regulator disc, fusee with chain, verge escapement, flat balance wheel subsequently fitted with a spiral spring and its own adjustment mechanism, the silver disc of which covers the manufacturer’s name.
Plain silver case (domed).
The cover has been modified.
Diameter 5.7 cm.
A rare example of the work of one of the pioneers of the Basel watchmaking industry. Léonard I Bury (Burry), 1633–1701, represented the fourth generation of a dynasty of watchmakers practising their craft in the city and elsewhere between 1556 and 1766.
For a similar watch but with an alarm, see the Antiquorum catalogue of 24 April 2004, lot 116.
For details of his life, see H. C. Ackermann, Master Watchmakers in Old Basel, 1986, pp. 39–40, and Chronometrophilia 2006, p. 31.
Expert: Anthony TURNER
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
About the sale
THE MECHANISMS OF TIME: WATCHMAKING AND RELATED SCIENCES
Auction location
Auction time
10/09/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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