102nd Auction
2020/6/29
Lot 265
Abraham Tappy met previlege tot Veere en Goes, Movement No. 312, Case No. 312, 51 mm, 105 g, circa 1770
A remarkable, double case pocket watch with date, early cylinder escapement and bidirectional winding system in a Repoussé case: "Aeneas and Venus"; matching chatelaine with wax seal stamp and key as well as a custom made model of a fusee with planetary gearing
Case: outer case - silver, "repoussé" decoration. Inner case - silver, polished, signed movement protection cap. Dial: enamel. Movm.: full plate movement, chain/fusee, fusee with planetary gearing for winding in both directions, three-arm steel balance.
Only very few timepieces created by Abraham Tappy remain; Tappy (1735-1773) was a native of the Canton Vaud who spent the last 10 years of his life in the Netherlands.
Tappy’s watches display several remarkable technical solutions – one of the most interesting being the winding mechanism with a key that works clockwise as well as anti-clockwise.
Tappy trained as a watchmaker in London and kept in close contact with England all his life; he had most of his ebauches and some individual components delivered from England. He was acquainted with the bidirectional winding system first used by English maker Thomas Moore, which ensured that the watch would not be damaged if the key was turned the "wrong way". Rumour has it though that the mechanism was invented to protect the watches from improper use by owners who where too drunk to tell left from right. At the time the pocket watches were traditionally fitted with verge escapements. Attempts to update this escapement proceeded only slowly and the production of the required parts was difficult and expensive. Tappy’s watch no. 312 was originally designed to use a verge escapement but then he decided to use an early version of the cylinder escapement and modified the movement accordingly. This had the advantage of higher accuracy but came at the price of an increased level of wear.
Tappy also employed some new ways of constructing the gearing by attempting to use as many wheels with identical numbers of teeth as possible; this was a way of reducing the production costs.
The pocket watches made by Abraham Tappy are important witnesses of technical innovation. Their commercial success, however, was unfortunately very poor.
Source: Chronometrophilia no. 77, summer edition of 2015
This watch is described in detail in: Tijdschrift no. 13/3, edition September 2013, pages 24-32 and Tijdschrift no. 13/4, edition December 2013, pages 4-19.
A remarkable, double case pocket watch with date, early cylinder escapement and bidirectional winding system in a Repoussé case: "Aeneas and Venus"; matching chatelaine with wax seal stamp and key as well as a custom made model of a fusee with planetary gearing
Case: outer case - silver, "repoussé" decoration. Inner case - silver, polished, signed movement protection cap. Dial: enamel. Movm.: full plate movement, chain/fusee, fusee with planetary gearing for winding in both directions, three-arm steel balance.
Only very few timepieces created by Abraham Tappy remain; Tappy (1735-1773) was a native of the Canton Vaud who spent the last 10 years of his life in the Netherlands.
Tappy’s watches display several remarkable technical solutions – one of the most interesting being the winding mechanism with a key that works clockwise as well as anti-clockwise.
Tappy trained as a watchmaker in London and kept in close contact with England all his life; he had most of his ebauches and some individual components delivered from England. He was acquainted with the bidirectional winding system first used by English maker Thomas Moore, which ensured that the watch would not be damaged if the key was turned the "wrong way". Rumour has it though that the mechanism was invented to protect the watches from improper use by owners who where too drunk to tell left from right. At the time the pocket watches were traditionally fitted with verge escapements. Attempts to update this escapement proceeded only slowly and the production of the required parts was difficult and expensive. Tappy’s watch no. 312 was originally designed to use a verge escapement but then he decided to use an early version of the cylinder escapement and modified the movement accordingly. This had the advantage of higher accuracy but came at the price of an increased level of wear.
Tappy also employed some new ways of constructing the gearing by attempting to use as many wheels with identical numbers of teeth as possible; this was a way of reducing the production costs.
The pocket watches made by Abraham Tappy are important witnesses of technical innovation. Their commercial success, however, was unfortunately very poor.
Source: Chronometrophilia no. 77, summer edition of 2015
This watch is described in detail in: Tijdschrift no. 13/3, edition September 2013, pages 24-32 and Tijdschrift no. 13/4, edition December 2013, pages 4-19.
Sold
estimated
2.800—6.000 €
Price realized
3.500 €