Gold Watch no. 486

Case: Dial: Movement: Provenance: 18?? - Potter, Geneve 1996 - Antiquorum, 12 Oct 1996, est CHF 15,000 - 18,000 , sold CHF 20,700 , "Albert Potter & Co., Geneva, No. 486, circa 1880. Fine and most interesting, 18K gold, moon phase astronomical watch with unusual perpetual calendar. C. Double body, massive, "bassine et filets", the engine-turned back engraved with the monogram "C.N.C.". D. White enamel with Roman numerals, outer Arabic minute ring, moon phase aperture and sunk subsidiary seconds with inner perpetual calendar showing only the date, with the small hand automatically jumping from the last day of the month to the first of the next, whether it is a month of 28, 29, 30 or 31 days. Blued steel "spade" hands. M. 18"', gilt brass, 18 jewels, counterpoised straight line lever escapement, cut bimetallic balance, Breguet balance spring. Signed on the case and movement In very good condition. Diam. 51 mm. The perpetual calendar work of this watch is very similar to that designed for clocks, described by Moinet in his Nouveau Traite General d'Horlogerie, vol. 2, p1. XLIV, fig. 8 and 9" 2001 - Antiquorum, est $13-16,000, sold $17,250, "Albert H. Potter & Co., Geneva, No. 486, circa 1880.Very rare, fine and most interesting, 18K gold, moon phase astronomical watch with unusual perpetual calendar. C. double body, massive, "bassine et filets", the engine-turned back engraved with the monogram "C.N.C.", gold, glazed, detachable cuvette. D. white enamel with Roman numerals, outer Arabic minute ring, moon phase aperture and sunk subsidiary seconds with inner perpetual calendar showing only the date, with the small hand automatically jumping from the last day of the month to the first of the next, whether it is a month of 28, 29, 30 or 31 days. Blued steel "Spade" hands. M. 42.2 mm (18'''), git brass, 18 jewels, straight line calibrated lever escapement, cut-bimetallic compensation balance with blued steel Breguet balance spring.Signed on the case and movementDiam. 51 mm. Notes This watch incorporates an ingenious perpetual calendar mechanism which displays the date only. The mechanism "knows" but does not display, the months as well as the leap year.. Such a display is an extremely rare feature.Albert H. Potter (1836-1908)Albert H. Potter, a pioneer of precision watchmaking in the U.S. and Switzerland, was born in Mechanicville, New York. He was christened Arnold, but later changed his name to Albert Henry. At 16 he was apprenticed to the watchmaking firm Wood and Foley in Albany. After three years he moved to New York City, where he opened a repair shop at 19 John Street and subsequently moved to 84 Nassau Street. There he began to design and manufacture watches. Although production was limited to 30 watches, alwere of a very high quality and highly priced for the period, costing $200 to over $300, while most good quality watches at the time sold for $50. Potter used lever or pivoted detent escapements, either with a fusee or with going barrels. Although his New York business was doing well, in 1861 he moved to Havana, where he opened a small, but prosperous, watchmaking shop. In 1866, he returned to the U.S. and opened a shop in Williamsburg,Virginia. It was at this time that his design ideas began tmaterialize. He patented an interesting escapement on January 21, 1868 and apparently was preparing to start a larger scale operation. That same year, he moved to Minneapolis, where he remained until 1870.After moving to Chicago, and with the assistance of his brother, William, he opened the firm "Potter Brothers", a retailing and manufacturing business. During the partnership, Albert worked on improving his ideas, which materialized in the production of a new compensation balance, patented on October 11, 1875. The Potter brother partnership lasted only five years, with William continuing the business upon his brother's departure. During this time, Albert Potter left his homeland and moved to Genva, where he produced the famous Potter watch, based on the ideas and designs that he had worked on for almost 15 years in America.In Geneva, his horological genius found a very appreciative clientele and his life at 7, Rue de Mont Blanc (just across the street from where Antiquorum is located today) was very rewarding. His mechanical skills, combined with his extensive knowledge of physics, helped him excel, and very quickly the Geneva watchmakers recognized his talent. Their admiration and respect is exemplified in the following story by Paul Berner, head of the Horological School in La Chaux de Fonds. Berner, who met Majr Chamberlain, one of the most eminent American experts on technical timepieces, in 1923, told him that it was an honor for Geneva to have had such an artist settled there. He also humorously recounted a story of an already famous American of whom "glowing tales were told". To satisfy his curiosity, he took two of his chronometer detent escapements, his masterpieces made during his apprenticeship with Calme, (escapement maker for Ulysse Nardin), and traveled to Geneva. He wanted to meet the famos watchmaker and show him that he too could produce good parts. He found a modest man, who showed him his shop, his tools and his watches. Berner admitted that having been so well received, "I did not take my detents out of their hiding". Cottet, an automaton maker, told Chamberlain that "it was the ambition of nearly every exceptional artist to work for Potter and that he had a "kindly way of spurring men on to improve their work". As one of the best, Potter was chosen as a member of the "Commision de Surveillance de l'Ecole d'Horlogerie" along with Meylan, Ekegren, Jurgensen and others. His watches were not only excellent machines, superbly finished, but were also superior timekeepers. Potter developed about a dozen escapements, improved the going barrel with a safety design, made superior pivoted detent and a number of other innovations, some of which he patented. According to one of his workmen, A. Pavid, who became an eminent adjuster himself, Potter not only made improvements inis watches, but also in the tools he used. For instance, he employed a ruby cutter for his pinions, which formed the leaves and polished them at the same time.His watches were not cheap; in fact they were very expensive. A lever escapement cost US $250; a five-minute repeater, US $300; a minute-repeater, US $400; a minute-repeater with added chronograph cost US $500; and a minute repeater with perpetual calendar was priced at US $625. Around 1886, Potter designed a reliable but inexpensive watch, "the best watch US $4 could buy". The manufacturing was entrusted to J.J. Badollet, who had a factory on the outskirts of Geneva, in Charmilles, hence the wach was named Charmilles. Production lasted from early 1890 until 1895. In 1892, Robert Ingersoll's one-dollar watch revolutionized the inexpensive watch market and destroyed one of Potter's dreams.Around 1890, Potter developed spinal problems, a typical watchmaker's disease, and, a few years later, was left partially paralyzed. He died in 1908.The approximately 100 watches that have survived give strong testimony to his horological genius and are evidence that he was among the very best in the horological world of his time.Bibliography:It's About Time, by Paul M. Chamberlain, London, 1978.Albert H. Potter & Co., by Helmutt Steffen, Klassik Uhren, May 2001. " 2002 - Antiquorum, 16 Nov 2002, est CHF 23,000 - 30,000 , sold CHF 23,000 , "Albert Potter & Co., Geneva, No. 486, circa 1880.Very rare, fine possibly unique, 18K gold, moon phase astronomical watch with unusual perpetual calendar. C. Double body, massive, "bassine et filets", the engine-turned back engraved with the monogram "C.N.C.", gold, glazed, deta-chable cuvette. D. White enamel with Roman numerals, outer Arabic minute ring, moon phase aperture and sunk subsidiary seconds with inner perpetual calendar showing only the date, with the small hand automatically jumping from the last day of the month to the first of the next, whether it is a month of 28, 29, 30 or 31 days. Blued steel "spade" hands. M. 42.2 mm (18'''), glt brass, 18 jewels, straight line calibrated lever escapement, cut-bimetallic compensation balance with blued steel Breguet balance spring.Signed on the case and movement.Diam. 51 mm.. The watch incorporates an ingeniously simple perpetual calendar mechanism, which displays only the date. The mechanism "knows", although it does not display it, how many days are in each month and when it is leap year. This is an extremely rare feature in watches. "