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Index No. A5431 Rare Miniature Japanese Market Verge Watches
A very rare and unusual pair of 19th Century gold Swiss verge watches made for the Japanese market. The movements of the watches are almost identical although only one is signed. Full plate gilt fusee movement. Finely pierced and engraved bridge cock with steel coqueret, plain three arm gilt balance with blue steel spiral hairspring. Silver regulator dial with blue steel indicator. The dials are constructed in a similar fashion, both of gilt metal with marking for the hours that can be moved in a slot to adjust the length of the hours. One is marked in Japanese characters, the other in Roman or Arabic numerals. The hours marked in the European convention do not however represent 1 - 12 but show only the hours 4 - 9; once in Roman characters and again in Arabic numerals. The cases also differ in that one is a consular case, the movement hinging out while the other is an open face case with hinged back and bezel. This watch is wound through a gold cuvette while the other winds through the dial. The pendants on the watches also differ, one is rectangular, the other turned. Contained in a small fitted bone box lined with red velvet.
SignedThury a Geneve
ConditionCirca 1810
CaseExcellent.
DialExcellent. Diameter 27 mm
MovementExcellent.
A very rare and unusual pair of watches. The differences between them is almost certainly deliberate allowing the wearer to know which of the two was being worn. They may have been made for one person to use both systems or perhaps a couple, one Japanese and the other European. The Japanese based their method of timekeeping on a Chinese system which is somewhat eccentric, the length of their periods of time altering throughout the year. Each 24 hour day is divided into its two natural sections, day and night. These are then divided into six equal parts. This necessitates allowing mechanical timekeepers to have adjustable markings. Timepieces made for the Japanese market are rare, these are probably unique.
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