![[EINSTEIN, Albert (1879-1955)].](https://staging.christies.com/img/LotImages/2016/CKS/2016_CKS_12139_0150_000(einstein_albert100931).jpg?w=1)
Details
[EINSTEIN, Albert (1879-1955)].
A Swiss silver open-face pocket watch.
The gilt dial with Arabic numerals, subsidiary dial for constant seconds, blue steel hands within rose coloured gilt bezel, the nickel-finished keyless 15 jewel lever movement with bi-metallic compensated balance, the engine-turned hinged case back with matching border and central vacant cartouche, German hallmarks, circa 1900, 49mm.
Movement unsigned, case no. 560365
Provenance: The watch has passed by direct descent from Albert Einstein to the present owner.
At least two other watches with an Einstein provenance are known: a Longines wrist-watch, manufactured in 1929 and presented to Einstein in 1931, which sold at auction in 2008 for $596,000; and a Longines pocket-watch dated 1943, now in the History Museum in Berne. The present, rather humbler, timepiece evokes a very different epoch in his life: 1900 is the year of the 21-year old Einstein's graduation, and also of his first published paper, a theory on intermolecular forces which he was later to characterise as 'worthless'.
A Swiss silver open-face pocket watch.
The gilt dial with Arabic numerals, subsidiary dial for constant seconds, blue steel hands within rose coloured gilt bezel, the nickel-finished keyless 15 jewel lever movement with bi-metallic compensated balance, the engine-turned hinged case back with matching border and central vacant cartouche, German hallmarks, circa 1900, 49mm.
Movement unsigned, case no. 560365
Provenance: The watch has passed by direct descent from Albert Einstein to the present owner.
At least two other watches with an Einstein provenance are known: a Longines wrist-watch, manufactured in 1929 and presented to Einstein in 1931, which sold at auction in 2008 for $596,000; and a Longines pocket-watch dated 1943, now in the History Museum in Berne. The present, rather humbler, timepiece evokes a very different epoch in his life: 1900 is the year of the 21-year old Einstein's graduation, and also of his first published paper, a theory on intermolecular forces which he was later to characterise as 'worthless'.
Special Notice
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