Lot description
Movement: No. 16869, with 26’’’ “English” style, three-quarter plate, “Swiss” lever escapement, one-minute tourbillon with three-arm polished steel cage Dial 1: front; white enamel mean time dial, Roman numerals, four subsidiary dials indicating perpetual calendar calibrated for leap cycle, date combined with day of week, register for elapsed 60 minutes and 12 hours, ages and phases of the moon combined with up/down indication, the outer ring calibrated for equation of time Dial 2: back; Sidereal time, the dial silvered and gold over engine-turning, calibrated for 24 hours, in Arabic numerals enclosing an aperture revealing the celestial chart and its progress over London (51.5072° N, 0.1276° W) at any time of the day or night, showing 315 stars and various labeled constellations, all labeled in gold against a blue enamel ground, the chart further labeled on two silvered plaques Western Horizon and Eastern Horizon. Olivette hand setting for each dial Case: the massive 18k yellow gold case, with molded bezels. The case band set with slides for choice of silent/striking and another for quarters/hours. Five-bar hinged case. Thief-proof swivel bow stamped with English hallmarks. The sky chart with the following named constellations: Perseus, Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Cepheus, Cygnus, Pegasus, Draco, Lyra, Serpens, Taurus, Scorpion, Corona Borealis, Hercules, the Great Bear, Virgo, Hydra, Cancer, Gemini, and Orion Signed: dial signed S. Smith & Son, Trafalgar Square, bezel interior stamped FT for Frederick Thoms, and London hallmarks Size: 85 mm Accompanied by a fitted wood box, with plaque labeled Astronomical Watch by S. Smith & Son Ltd., London, an album assembled by the former director of the Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet, Martin Werhli, who co-authored the 1993 monograph on the watches of Audemars Piguet. The album contains photocopies of the workbook records, including a copy of the Audemars Piguet Registre d'Établissage (Establishment Register) listing the movement number, components, and the ordering agent, a copy of two documents referring to the inspection of the jewelling, one dated 1915, and signed Ami Meylan. It is further accompanied by what appears to be a photocopy of the invoice or ledger for the finished watch, dated 1921 to Guignard & Golay, London, the agents who ordered the watch on behalf of S. Smith & Sons, and an Extract from the Archives of Audemars Piguet Further accompanied by an invoice from Sydney (“Sid”) Rosenberg confirming the sale of $23,350 in March of 1970 to Robert Olmsted
