da Klaus » giovedì 22 novembre 2012, 16:57
Dal catalogo "Antiquorum" dell'asta "Important Collectors' Wristwatches Pocket Watches & Clocks" di Hng Kong, del 02.06.2007, lotto 141, pagg. 144 e 145.
During the 1860s and the 1870s very few makers in Switzerland were capable of making a tourbillion. They were Ernest Guinand, Auguste Grether, and Roulet from Pont de Martel.
The 1876 Universal Centennial Exibition on Philadelphia was a pivotal event in watchmaking history. During the exhibition, American watchmakers demonstrated that excellent watches could be made with the aid of machines.
After returning from the exhibition, where he was a judge as well as the Swiss Delegate to the Exibition, Eduard Favre-Perret made a report. The report, delivered on November 14, 1876 in La Chaux de Fonds to the Swiss watch industry, changed the way the Swiss perceived watch production. Favre Perret said “For a long time America has been the principal market for our watches – our milk cow, so to speak. Today we must earnestly prepare to struggle with the Americans on the fields where we have been the masters”.
Having said this, the Swiss contingent of 54 exhibitors received a total of 41 medals which represented the 76% of the medals awarded in the watchmaking category.
The present watch was thus demonstrated the skills of of Swiss watchmakers at this turning point in watchmaking history. In several of Favre Perret’s reports, he stated that this was the only example of a watch with tourbillion to be found in Philadelphia. If the Swiss were impressed by the Americans, the latter must have been equally impressed by the former when examining this watch.