104th Auction
2021/5/22
Lot 30
Joseph Thaddäus Winnerl
A small Parisian ship's chronometer with 49h power reserve
Sold
Small is beautiful – a fine chronometer in Winnerl’s typical unostentatious design; movement and dial are in excellent condition and sit in an elaborate mahogany box with slider, window and concealed key compartment.
Joseph Thaddeus Winnerl was born on January 25th, 1799 in Mureg/Styria. He served an apprentice for Georg Schmidt Fidel in Graz, and qualified in 1816. Beginning in 1823 Winnerl worked in Breslau and then for Kessels in Altona, for Urban Jurgensen in Copenhagen and from 1829 in Paris, where among others he worked for Breguet et fils. In 1831 he produced the first pocket watch with "seconde independante". Its centrally positioned seconds hand could be stopped and then started again independently from the clockwork any number of times, however after the completion of the timekeeping it would only slowly go back to zero. Only then could a new timing process be initiated. In 1832 he started his own business in Paris and produced marine chronometers, precision pocket watches and precision pendulum clocks. He died in Paris on January 27th, 1886.
Source: http://watch-wiki.org/index.php?title=Winnerl,_Joseph_Thadd%C3%A4us_%281799-1886%29, as of 03/30/2015