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Lot Essay
Made to impress, the present watch is a real showpiece, both very large-size and superbly designed and constructed. It would have been a great and very costly curiosity when it was manufactured and quite likely to have been a special order or intended as a gift for the Sultan of Turkey. The quality of the case and dial engraving and the provision for four time zones at such an early date is exceptional.
Before the advent of mass travel, there was little need to know the time in other places. The only people who would possibly require this information were sailors and frequent voyagers. Watches with provision for showing time in more than one place are very rare before the late 19th century when true “world time” watches were first made. Before this, watches such as the present piece are very occasionally found with multiple movements and dials for indicating the time in different places.
The clock and watchmaker Etienne Chantelot of Marseille was active in the late 18th/early 19th centuries.
Watches for the Ottoman market
The first documented Ottoman interest in watches dates from 1531 when Sultan Süleyman I bought a gold ring watch in Venice, impelling Western ambassadors to present clocks and watches to the Sultan to gain favours. Shortly after, local officials and rulers were receiving the same gifts, besides the traditional presents of precious textiles. Following a treaty drawn up with Austria in 1547 stipulating the payment a yearly tribute to the Ottoman Empire to prevent aggression the quantity of clocks and watches exclusively made for the Ottomans rose considerably and continued even after the termination of the agreement.
During the 18th century European watchmakers started to compete for the Ottoman market, attempting to cater their taste by adoring their products with Islamic dials, decorations of the Bosphorus and others. Many of these pieces acquired during this period are on constant exhibition at the Topkapi Palace Museum in Istanbul.
Before the advent of mass travel, there was little need to know the time in other places. The only people who would possibly require this information were sailors and frequent voyagers. Watches with provision for showing time in more than one place are very rare before the late 19th century when true “world time” watches were first made. Before this, watches such as the present piece are very occasionally found with multiple movements and dials for indicating the time in different places.
The clock and watchmaker Etienne Chantelot of Marseille was active in the late 18th/early 19th centuries.
Watches for the Ottoman market
The first documented Ottoman interest in watches dates from 1531 when Sultan Süleyman I bought a gold ring watch in Venice, impelling Western ambassadors to present clocks and watches to the Sultan to gain favours. Shortly after, local officials and rulers were receiving the same gifts, besides the traditional presents of precious textiles. Following a treaty drawn up with Austria in 1547 stipulating the payment a yearly tribute to the Ottoman Empire to prevent aggression the quantity of clocks and watches exclusively made for the Ottomans rose considerably and continued even after the termination of the agreement.
During the 18th century European watchmakers started to compete for the Ottoman market, attempting to cater their taste by adoring their products with Islamic dials, decorations of the Bosphorus and others. Many of these pieces acquired during this period are on constant exhibition at the Topkapi Palace Museum in Istanbul.