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拍品专文
It is a very rare event indeed when a documented early high-precision portable chronometer made by one of the great geniuses of watchmaking is offered for sale at auction. The present watch, made by Louis Berthoud, is one of such timepiece, furthermore, it was purchased by one of the richest men in Europe at the time – Prince Radziwill. Berthoud’s surviving notes reveal that two watches were ordered by Prince Radziwill, a repeater for 60 gold Louis and another, the description of which corresponds to the present watch, for 100 gold Louis, with a further remark that they were to be delivered to Monsieur Grand before the end of the year (1789). Monsieur Grand was Prince Radziwill’s banker in Paris.
A magical combination of exceptional workmanship, historic importance, great rarity and exalted provenance come together in this Berthoud masterpiece which would be a prize worthy of inclusion in the very best of international collections.
The present timepiece, dating from 1789, is highly important and historic as one of the earliest portable high-precision timepieces to be made in France. Berthoud's invention was to make a profound contribution to French precision horology. In addition to the pivoted detent chronometer escapement, it features Berthoud’s now instantly recognizable system of friction rollers which revolutionized the timekeeping abilities of his watches to the extent that they could be confidently used for navigational purposes. The advantage being that a watch is highly portable and therefore much more convenient than a bulky and fragile full-size clock. Louis Berthoud was also the first French watchmaker to use pierced jewels for the pivot holes of his watches. This watch has the distinction of being one of the earliest French jewelled watches and one of the first to be fitted with friction rollers which had hitherto only ever been used in clocks.
The present watch is closely related to the very first of Berthoud’s Garde Temps timekeepers - no. 9-2280. Finished in 1786 for Count Chastenay de Puységur, after testing, its performance prompted the French Academy of Science’s organ the Lycée des Arts, to report in 1793 that: "France is indebted to several very knowledgeable men who should be congratulated and encouraged. Among them one has to be especially encouraged. His high reputation does leaves no doubt about whom we are speaking – Louis Berthoud. Several years ago he made a Montre à Longitude (no. 9-2280), the precision of which was so great that it surpassed all that had been made at the time. Its rate was as good as the excellent clock from the Observatory of Paris of which we have already spoken. Jean Baptiste LeRoy and Berny." The present watch represents a continuation of the development of Berthoud’s design for his groundbreaking portable precision timekeepers as described above, for which he obtained the highest French National awards with distinction and a payment of 6000 livres.
Berthoud No. 2370, the present watch, can be considered one of the best early chronometers built by Louis Berthoud along the principles described in the famous sealed packet that he deposited at the French Academy of Sciences in 1792. These watches were priced at 2400 livres (100 gold Louis).
On 9 May 1792, Louis Berthoud deposited a sealed document at the French Académie des Sciences. The document was lost during the Revolution and was only rediscovered in 1977, at which time it was opened and read by the president of the Académie. The document revealed Berthoud’s concepts of precision watchmaking which were quite revolutionary for the period and concentrated on his thoughts on a new portable precision Marine Watch. This treatise contained in the sealed packet deposited with the French Academy of Sciences explained those ideas which were used in the construction of the present watch. "I should explain principles that I have used until now, show the reasons that led me to change them… Considering the essential basis for accuracy in a watch, that is constancy and the reduction of friction, the isochronism of its beats and compensation for heat and cold…In the seven years that I have devoted to this end, I have used virtually every metal to make the pivot holes, whether in pure gold, gold combined with copper, silver… Finally, these last two years I have used platinum. I think that I have to abandon this metal too. I believe that it is absolutely indispensable for watches of which the accuracy has to be assured for 3 to 4 years, to use the most reliable means, either very carefully pierced and polished rubies or friction rollers….I have observed in repeated experiments that pivots of 3/48 ligne, running in rubies can not carry a balance of more than 15 to 18 grains without being subject to wear. This weight of balance is not sufficient for a regulator... moreover oil is needed with rubies as with metals. It was these considerations that let me to run the balance of the watch that I constructed in 1787 for Monsieur de Chastenay Puységur between very light rollers having very fine pivots. I think that I can assure myself that it is the first of this kind and of so small a size. It has only 24 lignes, each of the rollers is equal in diameter to the radius of the balance. The three are held in the frame between a cock set on the top plate and three bridges. I extended the balance arbor almost up to the dial and instead of rollers, put a ruby…"
Berthoud continues: "…Another way of reducing friction to which I applied myself concerns the teeth and meshing, whether between pinions or the wheels. Ordinary manufacturing does not give us anything but 10 or 8 (pinion) leaves. I constructed several machines in which I made the same pinions with 16, 18, or even 20 leaves. Making them becomes infinitely longer and more difficult, but the precision of the gears, and the equalizing the pressure on the arbors, amply repays the trouble. I draw here only the essential pieces and the detent just as I made it for M. Puységur’s watch. … It weighs less than half a grain. The return spring is very weak and its thickness at the bottom is only 1/96 of a ligne. … I have made some with inclination reaching 80o, but detent becoming much heavier, I had to abandon it… I turn now to the compensation….The first that I thought of were formed of a simple strip of brass and steel riveted together…but I soon recognized the imperfection of this method. ...In 1785 I devised the following composed of three arms and a steel band to which I riveted a second band of brass, each of them cut close to the arms. …It was still necessary to add the weights and make them adjustable. To this end I made brass band with a suitable slot to hold the ring of the compound balance, leaving as much outside as inside and above. …The care that these balances require is in-finite and I must say that it is incredible that they keep their equilibrium so well as they pass through different temperatures... …That of Monsieur de Puységur’s watch was the fourth of this kind….Coming to the details of the balance spring, subject no less important than the preceding. … The first that I have made had eight or ten coils, the steel hardened by rollers and not by dousing…. But they did not allow for a very large arc as the coils knocked against each other... I decided to make springs in a form of a helix. …While acquiring greater experience in making them I won the advantage of hardening them already formed. The first that I used is that in the watch of M. de Puységur. These balance springs seem to me in every respect preferable to others…I experi-mented with gold, silver and laminated brass to make my balance springs and I admit that I could not imagine what can be the advantage over steel."
Karol II Stanislaw Radziwill (1734-1790)
Sometimes known as the Palatine of Vilna, Radziwill was one of the richest men in Europe and had his own private army. He owned land that was equal to almost the size of Belgium and had an annual income of around half a million pounds at that time. He was first elected a senator when only 14 years old and by 1762 he became governor of Lithuania. Radziwill opposed the Russian influence in Poland and tried to avoid the annexation of his homeland to Russia. Despite his best efforts, he was unable to prevent Stanislaw II Poniatowski, the protégé of Catherine II of Russia, from ascending the throne as the last king of Poland. As a descendant of one of the oldest Polish/Lithuanian families, their motto, "The Lord is Our Counsel" is used on his coat of arms.
A magical combination of exceptional workmanship, historic importance, great rarity and exalted provenance come together in this Berthoud masterpiece which would be a prize worthy of inclusion in the very best of international collections.
The present timepiece, dating from 1789, is highly important and historic as one of the earliest portable high-precision timepieces to be made in France. Berthoud's invention was to make a profound contribution to French precision horology. In addition to the pivoted detent chronometer escapement, it features Berthoud’s now instantly recognizable system of friction rollers which revolutionized the timekeeping abilities of his watches to the extent that they could be confidently used for navigational purposes. The advantage being that a watch is highly portable and therefore much more convenient than a bulky and fragile full-size clock. Louis Berthoud was also the first French watchmaker to use pierced jewels for the pivot holes of his watches. This watch has the distinction of being one of the earliest French jewelled watches and one of the first to be fitted with friction rollers which had hitherto only ever been used in clocks.
The present watch is closely related to the very first of Berthoud’s Garde Temps timekeepers - no. 9-2280. Finished in 1786 for Count Chastenay de Puységur, after testing, its performance prompted the French Academy of Science’s organ the Lycée des Arts, to report in 1793 that: "France is indebted to several very knowledgeable men who should be congratulated and encouraged. Among them one has to be especially encouraged. His high reputation does leaves no doubt about whom we are speaking – Louis Berthoud. Several years ago he made a Montre à Longitude (no. 9-2280), the precision of which was so great that it surpassed all that had been made at the time. Its rate was as good as the excellent clock from the Observatory of Paris of which we have already spoken. Jean Baptiste LeRoy and Berny." The present watch represents a continuation of the development of Berthoud’s design for his groundbreaking portable precision timekeepers as described above, for which he obtained the highest French National awards with distinction and a payment of 6000 livres.
Berthoud No. 2370, the present watch, can be considered one of the best early chronometers built by Louis Berthoud along the principles described in the famous sealed packet that he deposited at the French Academy of Sciences in 1792. These watches were priced at 2400 livres (100 gold Louis).
On 9 May 1792, Louis Berthoud deposited a sealed document at the French Académie des Sciences. The document was lost during the Revolution and was only rediscovered in 1977, at which time it was opened and read by the president of the Académie. The document revealed Berthoud’s concepts of precision watchmaking which were quite revolutionary for the period and concentrated on his thoughts on a new portable precision Marine Watch. This treatise contained in the sealed packet deposited with the French Academy of Sciences explained those ideas which were used in the construction of the present watch. "I should explain principles that I have used until now, show the reasons that led me to change them… Considering the essential basis for accuracy in a watch, that is constancy and the reduction of friction, the isochronism of its beats and compensation for heat and cold…In the seven years that I have devoted to this end, I have used virtually every metal to make the pivot holes, whether in pure gold, gold combined with copper, silver… Finally, these last two years I have used platinum. I think that I have to abandon this metal too. I believe that it is absolutely indispensable for watches of which the accuracy has to be assured for 3 to 4 years, to use the most reliable means, either very carefully pierced and polished rubies or friction rollers….I have observed in repeated experiments that pivots of 3/48 ligne, running in rubies can not carry a balance of more than 15 to 18 grains without being subject to wear. This weight of balance is not sufficient for a regulator... moreover oil is needed with rubies as with metals. It was these considerations that let me to run the balance of the watch that I constructed in 1787 for Monsieur de Chastenay Puységur between very light rollers having very fine pivots. I think that I can assure myself that it is the first of this kind and of so small a size. It has only 24 lignes, each of the rollers is equal in diameter to the radius of the balance. The three are held in the frame between a cock set on the top plate and three bridges. I extended the balance arbor almost up to the dial and instead of rollers, put a ruby…"
Berthoud continues: "…Another way of reducing friction to which I applied myself concerns the teeth and meshing, whether between pinions or the wheels. Ordinary manufacturing does not give us anything but 10 or 8 (pinion) leaves. I constructed several machines in which I made the same pinions with 16, 18, or even 20 leaves. Making them becomes infinitely longer and more difficult, but the precision of the gears, and the equalizing the pressure on the arbors, amply repays the trouble. I draw here only the essential pieces and the detent just as I made it for M. Puységur’s watch. … It weighs less than half a grain. The return spring is very weak and its thickness at the bottom is only 1/96 of a ligne. … I have made some with inclination reaching 80o, but detent becoming much heavier, I had to abandon it… I turn now to the compensation….The first that I thought of were formed of a simple strip of brass and steel riveted together…but I soon recognized the imperfection of this method. ...In 1785 I devised the following composed of three arms and a steel band to which I riveted a second band of brass, each of them cut close to the arms. …It was still necessary to add the weights and make them adjustable. To this end I made brass band with a suitable slot to hold the ring of the compound balance, leaving as much outside as inside and above. …The care that these balances require is in-finite and I must say that it is incredible that they keep their equilibrium so well as they pass through different temperatures... …That of Monsieur de Puységur’s watch was the fourth of this kind….Coming to the details of the balance spring, subject no less important than the preceding. … The first that I have made had eight or ten coils, the steel hardened by rollers and not by dousing…. But they did not allow for a very large arc as the coils knocked against each other... I decided to make springs in a form of a helix. …While acquiring greater experience in making them I won the advantage of hardening them already formed. The first that I used is that in the watch of M. de Puységur. These balance springs seem to me in every respect preferable to others…I experi-mented with gold, silver and laminated brass to make my balance springs and I admit that I could not imagine what can be the advantage over steel."
Karol II Stanislaw Radziwill (1734-1790)
Sometimes known as the Palatine of Vilna, Radziwill was one of the richest men in Europe and had his own private army. He owned land that was equal to almost the size of Belgium and had an annual income of around half a million pounds at that time. He was first elected a senator when only 14 years old and by 1762 he became governor of Lithuania. Radziwill opposed the Russian influence in Poland and tried to avoid the annexation of his homeland to Russia. Despite his best efforts, he was unable to prevent Stanislaw II Poniatowski, the protégé of Catherine II of Russia, from ascending the throne as the last king of Poland. As a descendant of one of the oldest Polish/Lithuanian families, their motto, "The Lord is Our Counsel" is used on his coat of arms.