{"product_id":"retro-bracelet-watch-in-18ct-gold-diamond-set-lugs-c-1945","title":"Retro Bracelet Watch in 18ct Gold, Diamond-Set Lugs, c.1945","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eA 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.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLeroy \u0026amp; 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. Here the case measures 15.5mm, and everything around it is larger.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEach 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe dial is gilt in two tones, a centre disc and an outer ring that change places as the light moves across them. 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 \u0026amp; 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe back of the case is polished and engraved with the name of the house, its address and the name of the man who ran it, and the French eagle's head for 18ct gold is struck on the back of each stirrup. The signatures, the marks, the condition and the measurements are set out in the rooms and drawers below.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Leroy \u0026 Fils","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55841003602259,"sku":"WW-0019","price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1080\/3121\/3907\/files\/leroy-fils-retro-diamond-bracelet-watch-gold-1.jpg?v=1794423678","url":"https:\/\/estatecollection.nl\/products\/retro-bracelet-watch-in-18ct-gold-diamond-set-lugs-c-1945","provider":"The Estate Collection","version":"1.0","type":"link"}