DESCRIPTION:
Nicole & Capt., for Dent, London, England, man's split seconds pocket watch, 17+ jewels, stem wind, pin set, gilt plate movement with lever escapement, cut bimetallic balance, and gold timing screws in an 18 karat, yellow gold, snap back, hunting case with London hallmark, and date letter for the year 1865, Roman numeral, white enamel dial, blued steel spade and poker hands, serial #31743, 50mm, 119.7g TW.
CONDITION:
CASE: Minor dings; Minor scratches on outer surface of case; Fine scratches on inner surface of case; Crown worn; Precious metal content marked. DIAL: Very good. HANDS: Very good. MOVEMENT PLATES: Minor scratches on plate; Minor scratches on winding wheels; Case clamp with a few minor patches of oxide. MOVEMENT FUNCTION: Running order (winds, sets and ticks). COMPLICATION FUNCTION: Functions properly. This watch uses Nicoles keyless winding, and also the firms snap back case, and eliminating the inner dome, resulting in a thinner, more fashionable watch. It is also interesting in its use of a mechanism a split seconds function more closely related to the original type, departing from the earlier design in that one must depress the button for each stop and start of the split hand. The two hands continuously run together as in a sweep seconds watch, and may be split at will by pushing a button in the band to time events lasting less than 60 seconds. Pressing the button a second time reunites the hands. The hands cannot be stopped and returned to zero, as they can in the modern chronograph. David Penney provides an excellent bit of historical information, as quoted in this excerpt from his website: "This term 'split-seconds' can be very confusing as most of the earliest simple chronographs, including Nicole's in the 1844 patent, were designed to have two concentric seconds hands moving as one. Pushing a pin in the watch band would stop one of the hands, leaving the other to rotate with the running of the watch. On releasing the pin the stopped hand would immediately catch up with the moving hand, neither of which could be returned to zero. Such chronograph work was, for the obvious reason, called split-seconds, but the term has since come to be universally used with the later, post 1871 meaning."
ESTIMATE:
$4500
-
$5500
PRICE SOLD:
$4000
VIDEO:
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