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Lot Essay
Preserved in excellent condition, this highly complicated, unusual and large gold Grande and Petite Sonnerie clockwatch exemplifies the height of luxury watchmaking in the late 19th century.
The firm of Le Roy were famed for supplying some of the very best complicated watches, the present watch with a total of nine complications is no exception. In addition, it is constructed with several special features: the arrangement of the subsidiary dials is particularly unusual and differs from the “standard” layout with the seconds and moon phases at 3 o’clock instead of the usual 6 o’clock and months with leap-year indication at 9 o’clock instead of the usual 12 o’clock. More significantly, this arrangement in turn requires the movement itself to be of a different construction and was therefore far more costly to produce. The three-quarter plate matte gilt movement engraved “Part English & Swiss” is certainly in the “English style”, it was probably made by Louis Audemars in Le Brassus and finished by the firm of Nicole Nielsen & Co. in London who did occasionally inscribe their movements in this way. The escapement is the classic English lateral lever with diamond endstone rather than the Swiss straight line lever. In addition to the perpetual calendar, the present watch has Grande and Petite Sonnerie striking, one of the most difficult complications for the watchmaker to construct. The grand strike whereby both the hours and the quarter hours are struck every quarter and small strike whereby only the quarter hours are struck, with the hours only struck on the hour can be selected as required as well as a silent mode. To audibly know the time to the nearest minute, the repeating mechanism can be activated by the trip-slide in the band with the lightest of touch. The substantial gold case neatly and ingeniously disguises the levers and adjusters for the striking and calendars beneath the hinged front cover. When released by depressing the crown, the cover opens to access the setting levers and reveals a second glazed bezel protecting the dial.
Since the 17th century, the ancient firm of Le Roy has been one of the great names of French watchmaking having been watchmakers to the Dukes of Chartres and Bourbon and then Watchmaker to the King and the Duke of Orléans. Until 1989 when Patek Philippe made the Calibre 89, it held the distinction of having made the world’s most complicated watch, the “Leroy 01” finished in 1904.
By the 1850s the company had no less than fifty employees and in 1854 the first Le Roy boutique in London was opened under the name "Le Roy & Sons" at 296 Regent Street. The success of the first boutique was followed by the opening of a second outlet at 57 New Bond Street where the present watch was sold. In 1863 Queen Victoria granted Le Roy & Sons the much sought-after Royal Warrant, authorising the firm to use the coveted title "Watchmakers to the Queen" – a great honour for a French company, Le Roy was in fact the only active foreign House to have earned the title. Within a few years, the Emperor of Brazil and Her Majesty Queen Isabella II of Spain would grant the company the same honour. in 1889, the company’s name was changed to "Leroy & Co, formerly The House of Le Roy & Sons".
The firm of Le Roy were famed for supplying some of the very best complicated watches, the present watch with a total of nine complications is no exception. In addition, it is constructed with several special features: the arrangement of the subsidiary dials is particularly unusual and differs from the “standard” layout with the seconds and moon phases at 3 o’clock instead of the usual 6 o’clock and months with leap-year indication at 9 o’clock instead of the usual 12 o’clock. More significantly, this arrangement in turn requires the movement itself to be of a different construction and was therefore far more costly to produce. The three-quarter plate matte gilt movement engraved “Part English & Swiss” is certainly in the “English style”, it was probably made by Louis Audemars in Le Brassus and finished by the firm of Nicole Nielsen & Co. in London who did occasionally inscribe their movements in this way. The escapement is the classic English lateral lever with diamond endstone rather than the Swiss straight line lever. In addition to the perpetual calendar, the present watch has Grande and Petite Sonnerie striking, one of the most difficult complications for the watchmaker to construct. The grand strike whereby both the hours and the quarter hours are struck every quarter and small strike whereby only the quarter hours are struck, with the hours only struck on the hour can be selected as required as well as a silent mode. To audibly know the time to the nearest minute, the repeating mechanism can be activated by the trip-slide in the band with the lightest of touch. The substantial gold case neatly and ingeniously disguises the levers and adjusters for the striking and calendars beneath the hinged front cover. When released by depressing the crown, the cover opens to access the setting levers and reveals a second glazed bezel protecting the dial.
Since the 17th century, the ancient firm of Le Roy has been one of the great names of French watchmaking having been watchmakers to the Dukes of Chartres and Bourbon and then Watchmaker to the King and the Duke of Orléans. Until 1989 when Patek Philippe made the Calibre 89, it held the distinction of having made the world’s most complicated watch, the “Leroy 01” finished in 1904.
By the 1850s the company had no less than fifty employees and in 1854 the first Le Roy boutique in London was opened under the name "Le Roy & Sons" at 296 Regent Street. The success of the first boutique was followed by the opening of a second outlet at 57 New Bond Street where the present watch was sold. In 1863 Queen Victoria granted Le Roy & Sons the much sought-after Royal Warrant, authorising the firm to use the coveted title "Watchmakers to the Queen" – a great honour for a French company, Le Roy was in fact the only active foreign House to have earned the title. Within a few years, the Emperor of Brazil and Her Majesty Queen Isabella II of Spain would grant the company the same honour. in 1889, the company’s name was changed to "Leroy & Co, formerly The House of Le Roy & Sons".