I · The Maker/II · The Object/III · The Record/IV · Acquisition
Room I · The Maker
Bataille aîné owned and operated a cylinder-escapement factory in Besançon, and the dust cover of this watch is unambiguous on the point: it reads Échappement à cylindre, huit trous en rubis, Bataille aîné à Besançon, a maker's statement, not a retail label. He studied Breguet's architecture carefully and reproduced it in a small Doubs workshop, working from direct observation; the bridges are individually shaped rather than stamped from a generic ébauche. The family continued in watchmaking for over a century.
The Complication · Listen
Hear it strike
A repeater sounds the hours and quarters on tuned gongs at the press of a slide, a mechanism made, before electric light, for telling the time in the dark by ear alone.
We’ll send you this watch striking the hours and quarters.
The Object
A fully functioning quarter-repeater in 18k gold, signed by its maker on the dust cover, a maker whose work is held in the Royal Museums Greenwich collection. One of the most demanding complications of the 19th century, in a case that rewards close examination.
Between 1849 and 1851, Besançon's output of watches grew from ten thousand a year to more than a hundred thousand. This watch was made in the middle of that boom, and it was made to stand above it: an 18k gold full hunter of 49.6mm that strikes the time on demand.
Pull the gold pendant push-piece, give it a quarter turn, and the watch counts the hours and then the quarters on two gongs, clearly and correctly. A quarter repeater asked more of a nineteenth-century workshop than almost anything else: the striking train has to read the position of the hands at any moment and translate it instantly into the right count, every time. Surviving examples that still strike properly are the exception; this one has been tested and does.
The case opens in three stages, each with its own click: the front lid over the dial, the back cover, and the cuvette over the movement. The dial is white enamel with slim black Roman numerals and a bar minute track, under gold hands in the scrolled Louis XV style. The enamel is complete, with no chips or losses; under raking light a few fine hairlines show around eleven and twelve, the honest surface of enamel fired a century and a half ago. The caseback carries a deeply engraved heraldic cartouche in foliate scrollwork, the bezel a rope-pattern guilloché border, and the ornate floral bow and pendant are original and intact. At 68.7 grams it is a substantial thing to hold.
Bataille aîné made the movement himself, in his own Besançon factory, and signed it as a maker rather than a retailer; the standing of the name, and the museum record behind it, are set out in the panels below. What the movement shows in the hand is the ambition: hand-shaped bridges and blued steel screws, provincial France working to Paris standards.
It winds and sets on its key, runs, and strikes. It is presented in its original purple velvet and cream silk box.
The marks, the movement and the condition are set out piece by piece in the drawers below; the maker's record is set out in The Record.
Beneath the case
Open each drawer to look closer
Mark 1
French horse-head, 18k gold
The French horse-head guarantee hallmark, used from 1838, struck on the case. It confirms 18-carat gold and places the watch in the second quarter of the nineteenth century.
18k gold
horse-head, post-1838
Mark 2
The maker's dust-cover signature
The cuvette reads Échappement à cylindre, huit trous en rubis, Bataille aîné à Besançon, an eight-jewel cylinder specification signed by the maker himself, not a retailer's label applied to another workshop's work.
maker's signature
eight-jewel cylinder
Mark 3
Numbered 304 within the case
The interior of the case is stamped 304, the individual number given to this watch in the workshop and carried inside the gold rather than on show.
case no. 304
workshop number
- ACylinder escapement, eight jewelsA manual-wind cylinder movement running on eight rubies, the more complete of the two known Bataille specifications.
- BBridges shaped by handThe bridges are individually shaped rather than pressed from a generic ébauche, and blued steel screws are used throughout, Breguet's architecture reproduced in a provincial workshop from direct observation.
- CThe repeating train, two gongsA quarter-repeater reads the position of the hands on demand and translates it instantly into a correct count, hours then quarters, striking on two gongs. It is activated through the gold pendant push-piece, pulled out and given a quarter turn.
Overallone honest fault
Very good
A fully functioning quarter-repeater in honest, original condition, documented by the same hand in the national collections.
Caseone honest fault
Very good
18k gold, engraved heraldic cartouche caseback with foliate scrollwork, rope-pattern guilloché bezel; ornate floral bow and pendant original and intact, light wear consistent with age.
Dialone honest fault
Very good
White enamel, Roman numerals, Louis XV style gold hands with scrolled filigree; minor age patina.
Movementone honest fault
Very good
Cylinder escapement, eight jewels; winds and runs correctly, and the quarter repeater strikes hours and quarters correctly on two gongs.
Crownone honest fault
Very good
Gold pendant push-piece for the repeater intact and functioning.
Box
Original purple velvet and cream silk presentation box included.
49.6
This watch
25.75
€2 coin
A €2 coin is 25.75 mm. This case is more than two and a half times its area.
Room III · The Record
A hand documented in the national collections
A second Bataille aîné repeating watch survives in the permanent collection of Royal Museums Greenwich (object ref. 79691); this is the eight-jewel version, a more complete movement by the same hand. The family's later workshop in Maîche is catalogued by the Patrimoine Bourgogne-Franche-Comté regional heritage database (ref. IA25001382), a maker traceable through the record rather than a name on a dial.
- Maker
- Bataille aîné à Besançon
- Model
- 18ct gold quarter-repeating pocket watch
- Case
- 18k yellow gold
- Diameter
- 49.6mm
- Case weight
- 68.7g
- Case type
- Hunter
- Hallmarks
- French horse head guarantee hallmark (18k gold, post-1838)
- Dial
- White enamel, Roman numerals
- Hands
- Louis XV style gold, scrolled filigree
- Movement
- Cylinder escapement, manual wind
- Jewels
- 8
- Complications
- Quarter repeater - strikes hours and quarters on two gongs
- Country of origin
- France (Besançon)
- Estimated date
- C.1850-1865
- Box
- Original purple velvet and cream silk presentation box
The Estate Collection
Room IV · Acquisition
€10.000
We’d love to discuss our passion for this piece with you.
Bataille Aîné à Besançon
€10.000
Enquiry
18ct Gold Quarter-Repeater, Bataille c.1850
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