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CHAYETTE et CHEVAL
109
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A dodecagonal enamelled gold watch (weighing 70 g) for the O…
See original version (French)
109
-
A dodecagonal enamelled gold watch (weighing 70 g) for the O…
See original version (French)
Estimate €2,000 - €2,500
Voluntary lot
Description
A dodecagonal enamelled gold watch (weighing 70 g) for the Ottoman market, possibly signed ‘Courvoisier No. 10657’, circa 1830.
White enamel dial, ‘Turkish’ numerals, gold ‘Breguet’ hands (the minute hand is missing).
Movement with gilded brass bridges, cylinder escapement, four ruby jewels.
Twelve-lobed case, six of which are decorated with applied floral and fruit motifs in two-tone gold, alternating with enamel panels depicting archery, music, war, the grape harvest, hunting and geography; the bezels are adorned with similar emblems (one at the three o’clock position is damaged), with an engraved pendant.
Diameter 5.4 cm.
The inscription ‘بروكينك قلقله سي’ appears to be a rough translation of ‘spiral Breguet’. ‘كوروه’
—which can be transliterated as Kurwa, Korwa, Qurwa or Qorwa—may be an auricular transcription of Courvoisier.
Lobed watches are uncommon amongst products intended for the Ottoman market, but a few examples can be found in the collections of the Topkapi Museum, including the well-known Breguet watch featuring a map of the Ottoman Empire (Meyer 2/2183) and a few English examples (Meyer 2/2774, 2/2786).
A watch quite similar to ours, with twelve lobes alternating between fruit and emblems, is illustrated in Chapuis, plate XXII.
Wolfgang Meyer, Catalogue of Clocks and Watches on Display at the Topkapi Sarayi Museum in Istanbul, 1966.
Alfred Chapuis, History and Technology of the Swiss Watch, 1953.
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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