I · The Maker/II · The Object/III · The Record/IV · Acquisition
Room I · The Maker
The cuvette is signed Bollengier, La Haye, No. 3577. Bollengier is a documented Hague horological house: the Rijksmuseum holds a mantel clock attributed to Jacques Bollengier, c.1800-c.1825, and a separate portico clock is catalogued to the first half of the nineteenth century. A retailer name that traces to a documented workshop, not an invented signature.
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 substantial French 18 karat gold hunter pocket watch that genuinely works as a quarter repeater, striking the hours and quarters on demand, carrying a retailer name traced to a documented Hague clockmaking house held in the Rijksmuseum collection.
A full hunter in 18 karat gold, engine-turned over its whole surface, that answers a press of the pendant by striking the time: the hours first, then the quarters, on coiled gongs, confirmed working and sounding well. Quarter repeaters were expensive to make, complex to keep, and relatively few survive in working order; a gold one of this weight, at 55mm, is a serious object by any standard.
The case opens in three stages: a fingernail catch lifts the front hunter lid over the dial, the back cover opens onto an engraved cuvette, and the cuvette opens onto the movement. The dial behind the front lid is solid gold, worked in three rings: a finely engine-turned centre, a chased chapter ring of raised floral sprays on a frosted ground, one bloom between every pair of Roman numerals, and an engine-turned outer band carrying the minute marks. The numerals are cut into the gold and filled in black, and the blued steel hands are Breguet pattern with the open ring near the tip. Protected under the hunter lid for its whole life, the dial has stayed crisp, the chasing still sharp.
The cuvette is signed by hand: Bollengier, La Haye, No. 3577, and the same number is struck inside the case, so the dust cover and case have always belonged together. The Hague name traces to a documented clockmaking house held in the Rijksmuseum, and the honest position on that attribution is set out in The Record below.
The movement is a gilt full plate with a genuine lever escapement and a jewelled balance, wound and set by key. It runs, winds and strikes correctly, and the hammers land with the clear, even voice the complication was bought for.
The marks, the movement and the condition are set out piece by piece in the drawers below; the Bollengier record is set out in The Record.
Beneath the case
Open each drawer to look closer
Mark 1
18K, struck twice
The 18-carat gold mark struck twice inside the case back, with a head-shaped guarantee mark alongside.
18K gold
Mark 2
Poinçon de maître, D.F
A lozenge maker's mark with the initials D.F flanking a star, the French poinçon de maître format introduced in 1838.
poinçon de maître
post-1838
Mark 3
Matching serial 3577
Case serial 3577 struck in the hallmark cluster and engraved again on the cuvette, confirming case and dust cover have always belonged together.
serial 3577
case & cuvette matched
- ALever escapement, gilt full plateA gilt full-plate movement with a genuine lever escapement and jewelled balance, wound and set by key.
- BThe quarter-repeater trainHammers and coiled gongs strike the hours and quarters on demand through the pendant, confirmed working and sounding well.
- CHeavy, and runningNotably substantial in the hand for a gold hunter, and running, winding and setting correctly.
Case
Excellent
No dents, dings or repairs; the hunter lid closes firmly with a crisp fingernail catch, engine-turning crisp throughout, notably heavy in the hand.
Dial
Excellent
Gold engine-turned dial and floral chapter ring undamaged, black enamel numerals fully intact, no chips or hairlines.
Movement
Excellent
Lever escapement with jewelled balance and a full quarter-repeater train, confirmed striking the hours and quarters clearly; runs, winds and sets correctly.
Crystalone honest fault
Very good
Minor light wear consistent with age, no chips or cracks.
Crown
Not applicable, wound and set by key; the pendant doubles as the repeater slide.
55
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 Hague name held in the Rijksmuseum
Signed Bollengier, La Haye, the name traces across two independent sources: a Rijksmuseum-held clock attributed to Jacques Bollengier, and an independently catalogued portico clock of the first half of the nineteenth century. The 1838 hallmark sits comfortably within that window. We make no claim Bollengier made this watch himself, only that the name on the cuvette traces to his documented workshop.
- Maker
- Bollengier, La Haye
- Model
- 18k gold quarter-repeater hunter pocket watch
- Case
- 18k gold
- Diameter
- 55mm
- Case type
- Full hunter
- Movement
- Manual key-wind/key-set, lever escapement, quarter repeater (strikes hours and quarters, activated via pendant)
- Dial
- Gold, engine-turned centre and outer band, chased floral chapter ring, black-filled Roman numerals, blued steel Breguet hands
- Country of origin
- France (case)
- Hallmarks
- 18K (struck twice), French poincon de maitre (lozenge, D.F and star, system since 1838)
- Serial number
- 3577 (case and cuvette, matching)
- Retailer
- Bollengier, La Haye (traces to Jacques Bollengier, documented Hague clockmaker, c.1800-c.1825, Rijksmuseum collection)
- Documented history
- Retailer name corroborated by a Rijksmuseum-held clock and an independently catalogued portico clock (first half 19th century)
- Estimated date
- C.1838-1860s
The Estate Collection
Room IV · Acquisition
€13.800
We’d love to discuss our passion for this piece with you.
Bollengier, La Haye
€13.800
Enquiry
Gold Quarter-Repeater, Bollengier c.1850
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