Lot 536

Jacob Auch in Weimar, 55 mm, 147 g, circa 1800
A gentleman's important, German pocket watch with double wheel duplex escapement
Case: silver, polished, reeded gilt case band. Dial: enamel, radial Roman hours, auxiliary seconds, blued Breguet hands. Movm.: full plate movement, keywind, frosted, gilt, signed, chain/fusee, round pillars, brass "duplex" double wheel, four-arm brass balance with screws.
Jacob Auch
He began his apprenticeship in the workshop of Philipp Matthaeus Hahn in Echterdingen. From 1787 until 1798 he had his own small workshop in Vaihingen an der Enz and worked for the Institute of Physics in Karlsruhe. As court mechanic for the Duke of Weimar he worked mainly for the new Seeberg Observatory from 1798 on. The renowned astronomer Baron Franz Xaver von Zach headed the observatory until 1806 and was one of Jacob Auch's most important customers. Auch supplied numerous watches and instruments for the observatory, which was at the time the most modern in Europe. His work was at the time always measured against the quality of English chronometer makers such as Josiah Emery and Thomas Mudge. Auch also created important astronomer's pocket watches in the style of his master Philipp Matthaeus Hahn, with dials on both sides; they showed the traditional watch face on one side and planetaria on the other. One of the most famous customers of Auch was Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.