Lot 559

Pt. C. Hedgethorne, Brighton, Movement No. 3733, 56 mm, 155 g, circa 1895
A gentleman's very fine, rare pocket watch with one-minute tourbillon by Auguste Grether "Type 1", Ponts-de-Martel. Hedgethorne is listed as an excellent chronometermaker in "Thomas Mercer, Chronometermakers of the world".
Case: silver, tiered, polished, case maker's punch mark "FT" (Frederick Thoms), glazed movement. Dial: enamel, off-white (Willis), radial Roman hours, auxiliary seconds, signed, blued spade hands. Movm.: specially designed bridge movement, ébauche: Roulet, la Sagne (Roulet Emile), keywind, frosted, gilt, chain/fusee, finely executed mirror-polished steel tourbillon cage with filigree decorations of a heart an two arrows, chatoned, club-tooth lever escapement, gold screw compensation balance, freesprung blued balance spring.
Not much is known about Auguste Grether (1817-1887); he trained to become a watchmaker in Ponts-de-Martel and Le Locle and later worked for the best companies in La Chaux-de-Fonds and Le Locle, where he concentrated on the production of marine chronometers. Grether specialized in the creation of fine mechanical parts that were, for example, used in the production of tourbillons.

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