{"product_id":"french-18k-gold-quarter-repeater-hunter-pocket-watch-c-1838-1860s-bollengier-la-haye-rijksmuseum-documented-history","title":"18k Gold Quarter-Repeater from The Hague, c.1838-1860s","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eA 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.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe 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.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bollengier, La Haye","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54429830283603,"sku":"PW-0105","price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1080\/3121\/3907\/files\/bollengier-la-haye-18k-gold-pocket-watch-1_hero.jpg?v=1785286819","url":"https:\/\/estatecollection.nl\/products\/french-18k-gold-quarter-repeater-hunter-pocket-watch-c-1838-1860s-bollengier-la-haye-rijksmuseum-documented-history","provider":"The Estate Collection","version":"1.0","type":"link"}