97th Auction

2018/5/12

Lot 440

Baudin Frères à Genève / (attributed to) Sylvain Mairet Le Locle, Case No. 655, 47 mm, 62 g, circa 1855
A pocket watch with regulator dial, temperature indication in "Reaumur" and date
Case: silver. Dial: enamel. Movm.: bridge movement, bimetallic steel and brass thermometer curb acing on spring-loaded rack-and-pinion transmission, screw compensation balance.
The Réaumur temperature scale
The Réaumur temperature scale is named after French scientist René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur, who introduced the scale in 1730; its freezing point and the boiling point of water are set to 0 and 80 degrees respectively.
Sylvain Mairet
Sylvain Mairet grew up with his uncle; F.I. Favre-Bulle was a renowned watchmaker of his period. Mairet was to become one of the best watchmakers in Le Locle. He lived in London from 1831 until 1834 where he struck up a friendship with J.F. Cole and mostly worked for B.L. Vulliamy. He often created the watches to his own design; he invented a keyless winding system for watches with two-train movements (see lot No. 218). Sylvain Mairet was the official Swiss agent to the London Universal Exhibition in 1862 and wrote the official report; he received a gold medal at the 1867 Paris Exhibition "as a testimony to his ability and the beneficial influence which he had exerted on the progress of watchmaking in the Canton of Neuchatel".

Sold

estimated
2.2003.000 €
Price realized
3.300 €