A Paris cocktail watch of the mid 1940s, made as a jewel first: gold stirrups, scroll lugs banded with diamonds and square-cut orange garnets, around a watch fifteen and a half millimetres across.
The ring carries black Arabic numerals at the even hours with small square markers between them, and the hands are leaves of blued steel. Leroy & Fils is printed above the centre. The dial has mellowed with the years: the signature and two of the numerals have worn, and there is light spotting toward the edge.
- 1The signatureLeroy & Fils is printed above the centre.
- 2Two-tone giltA centre disc and an outer ring that change places as the light moves across them.
- 3The numeralsBlack Arabic numerals at the even hours, with small square markers between them.
- 4The handsLeaves of blued steel.
Leroy & Fils sold this watch from 35 avenue de l'Opéra, on the avenue that runs from the Palais-Royal to the Opéra, in the middle of the 1940s. Paris jewellers were then working in polished yellow gold and setting it with warm coloured stones, and the house made watches to match: built as bracelets, with the timepiece as the smallest part.
The case is a small round drum with a plain polished bezel, a fluted crown and a tall, straight-sided crystal that stands clear of the bezel. Above and below it the lugs are rolled into scrolls, and a band of round diamonds in a white setting runs over the curve of each scroll and on round to the back.
Each stirrup is hinged inside its scroll, so the bracelet falls away from the case and follows the wrist. The stirrups are cut from thick gold: two broad arms, polished flat on the face, that curve apart around an open centre. Each arm ends in a band of square-cut orange garnets set edge to edge, which turns the corners and carries on along the sides. The bracelet begins directly behind the stones.
It is made in two parallel rows of flat, wave-shaped links that close into a smooth and flexible band. The rows run side by side to a folding gold clasp, stamped Breveté on both halves and numbered 830. Each half carries a small sliding catch in a slot, which adjusts the length of the bracelet by a few millimetres.
The dial is signed Leroy & Fils. The caseback is engraved Leroy et Fils, 35 Av. Opéra, and opposite it T. Garnier Sr with the case number 1596xx. The number places the watch in the house's series of the mid 1940s, among jewelled bracelet watches numbered within a few hundred of it. The French eagle's head, the mark for 18ct gold, is struck on the back of both stirrups, and the clasp is stamped Breveté on each half, beside its two sliding adjusters, with the number 830.
- Maker
- Leroy & Fils, Paris
- Model
- Retro bracelet watch
- Date
- C.1945
- Case
- 18ct yellow gold
- Case diameter
- 15.5mm
- Lug to lug
- 32.2mm
- Across the stirrups
- 48.4mm
- Stones
- Diamonds and orange garnets
- Dial
- Two-tone gilt, black Arabic numerals
- Hands
- Blued steel
- Movement
- Manual wind
- Bracelet
- Integral double-row gold bracelet, adjustable folding clasp stamped Breveté
- Hallmarks
- French eagle's head (18ct gold), both stirrups
- Signatures
- Dial and caseback
- Case number
- 1596xx
- Warranty
- 12 months, mechanical, through Vintage Times Amsterdam from date of delivery
12-month mechanical warranty through Vintage Times Amsterdam from date of delivery.
