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Audemars Piguet
Manufacturer: Audemars Piguet Year: 1892 Movement No: 4'172 Case No: 4'172 Material: 18k pink gold Calibre: Mechanical, 19''' Dimensions: 60 mm. diameter Signed: Case signed and numbered; cuvette numbered Accessories: With Audemars Piguet Certificat d'Origine dated 18 October 2002, leather wallet and fitted presentation box signed Louis Elysée Piguet. Literature: For another Audemars Piguet clock watch with comparable complication and retailed by Sir John Bennett Limited, please see Audemars Piguet by Brunner, Pfeiffer-Belli and Wehrli, pages 160 and 161. For another hunter case grande complication clock watch by Audemars Piguet, please see Audemars Piguet by Flammarion page 172 and 173. For a discussion on clock watch, please see Watches by Clutton and Daniels, pages 135 and 136. Catalogue Essay The Audemars Piguet Grande Complication Previously unrecorded anywhere in literature, we are delighted to present this Audemars Piguet Grande Complication clock watch. Fitted with no fewer than 11 complications, the present watch is one of the most complicated Audemars Piguet known to exist and is one of the earliest known examples to have been manufactured. Every Grande Complication made by the firm during the late 19th century was a unique piece. Due to the time it required to create each watch, there were always variations in their production. This watch is one of three petite and grand sonnerie watches with comparable complications manufactured by Audemars Piguet. The Clock Watch was invented hundreds and hundreds of years ago. The earliest known example is dated at around 1551 and was made by French maker Jacques de la Garde. The earliest English clock watches began to appear from around 1600. The earliest known watches usually had striking trains as they originated directly from spring driven table clocks. The grande and petite sonnerie mechanism was developed in the late 18th century. The petite mechanism strikes the quarter and the hour in passing. The grande mechanism strikes both quarter and hour at each quarter. It was Breguet who added the minute repeating mechanism to the grande and petite sonnerie clock watch in around 1801. Following the French revolution, the Swiss produced many examples of the grande and petite sonnerie clock watch for export and this really laid the foundation for very complication watches in the 19th century. It was this development in watchmaking in Switzerland that really gave the Swiss the international reputation as master watchmakers. The production of clock watches stopped in the 1st quarter in the 20th century due to the extremely high costs and hundreds of hours of labour to manufacture them. This Audemars Piguet grande complication is an exceptional example with the highest quality five-part hinge case that is extremely crisp and in many ways appears to be quite unused. The case hinges are extremely tight and the case closes extremely well. The eleven complications that make up the mechanism make this clock watch one of the most important Audemars Piguet watches to have appeared on the market in recent years. Read More