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Lot Essay
The present watch features two of Adolph Nicole's ingenious inventions, namely his early keyless winding and hand-setting system, English Patent No. 10348 of 14 October 1844, preceding Adrien Philippe's French patent for his first keyless winding system by some months. Philippe's design however did not require a separate button for the setting of the hands. The watch is moreover fitted with English patent no. 1461 granted to Nicole in May 1862 for the first English chronograph mechanism where the hands for seconds and minute recording could be reset to zero and furthermore started, stopped and reset consecutively by a single button. For a comparable chronograph, also dating from 1866-7, signed Dent, however with the addition of a second chronograph hand and subsidiary seconds, see The English Watch 1585-1970 by Terence Camerer Cuss, p. 405, pl. 258,
By 1846, the renowned watchmakers E. Dent & Co. had acquired the rights for Adolphe Nicole's keyless winding patent no. 10348, becoming sole licensees. For a watch signed E. Dent with comparable movement fitted with this system see op.cit., p. 400, pl. 253.
Nicole Nielsen
Towards the end of the Victorian era and for the first 30 years of the 20th century, Nicole, Nielsen & Co. crafted some of the finest and most complicated English watches ever made.
In 1839 Adolphe Nicole and Jules Capt, both talented Swiss watchmakers, set up business in London at 80B Dean Street. The firm later moved to 14 Soho Square where it remained until the company finally closed in 1934. Nicole & Capt were highly successful and won medals in many international exhibitions such as Paris in 1855 and 1867, Philadelphia in 1878 and Sydney in 1879. In 1876 Jules Capt died and in the same year his place as partner was filled by the Danish-born watchmaker Sophus Emil Nielsen and the company became Nicole, Nielsen & Co. By 1880 the company was being run by Nielsen. They specialised in making super-complicated keyless watches often incorporating specifications such as perpetual calendar, chronograph, split seconds chronograph, repetition, temperature, equation of time and their most famous escapement; the Nicole Nielsen tourbillon.
Many of their best watches were made for London's leading firms for high quality and complicated watches at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, notably E.J. Dent and Charles Frodsham.
By 1846, the renowned watchmakers E. Dent & Co. had acquired the rights for Adolphe Nicole's keyless winding patent no. 10348, becoming sole licensees. For a watch signed E. Dent with comparable movement fitted with this system see op.cit., p. 400, pl. 253.
Nicole Nielsen
Towards the end of the Victorian era and for the first 30 years of the 20th century, Nicole, Nielsen & Co. crafted some of the finest and most complicated English watches ever made.
In 1839 Adolphe Nicole and Jules Capt, both talented Swiss watchmakers, set up business in London at 80B Dean Street. The firm later moved to 14 Soho Square where it remained until the company finally closed in 1934. Nicole & Capt were highly successful and won medals in many international exhibitions such as Paris in 1855 and 1867, Philadelphia in 1878 and Sydney in 1879. In 1876 Jules Capt died and in the same year his place as partner was filled by the Danish-born watchmaker Sophus Emil Nielsen and the company became Nicole, Nielsen & Co. By 1880 the company was being run by Nielsen. They specialised in making super-complicated keyless watches often incorporating specifications such as perpetual calendar, chronograph, split seconds chronograph, repetition, temperature, equation of time and their most famous escapement; the Nicole Nielsen tourbillon.
Many of their best watches were made for London's leading firms for high quality and complicated watches at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, notably E.J. Dent and Charles Frodsham.