Most visitors online was 1660 , on 12 Dec 2020
Thank you! For the uneducated, like me, what are the typical visual cues, if any, that really differentiated the unsigned LeCoultre or Audemars movements, or any of the major manufacturers. I find that I’m easily confusing them.Note that the pointing is less prominent in yours.
and from the same thread: https://mb.nawcc.org/threads/need-h...-lecoultre-repeater-watch.177365/post-1443526
Thank you for the insights. Curious, I recall reading that having a palladium balance spring was some of the earlier ways, VC was first, to prevent magnetism. If it wasn’t the norm what was the usual option? I’m trying to understand how to discern this particular nuance when viewing movements. Is it just the color, high silver vs something like blued or copper? Thanks!The pin o the center wheel is a Louis Audemars indicator in a simple watch but was used by many makers in repeaters. The dial layout looks like Louis Audemars but the movement is a very standard LeCoultre ebauche and could have been made a large number of finishers.
One thing that makes me doubt that Audemars, Louis or Audemars Piguet, is that it has a palladium balance spring. That is very unusual and not something they were known for doing.
Watches like this were made to order so a feature such as this really does not rule out anyone, if they got an order to make one with a non magnetic spring they got it done.
Yeah, saw that AP mark, but I was unclear if that was definitely Audemar Piguet or not. What I've been able to find about Eugene Legrand is that he may have been a watchmaker. I found his name or a very similar name in this book with a reference to Eugene Legrand as a watchmaker. Another Legrand came up in my searches that was auctioned back in 2011. It was a chronograph with man similarities to the movement of mine"Legrand" was most likely a retailer . The AP stamp must be for Audemars Piguet . Ebauche by Louis Elisee Piguet . Many of the complicated Audemars Piguet movements ( if not all) came from Louis Elisee Piguet . Both C Piguet and Paul David Nardin were customers of Louis Elisee Piguet .
H S
however this gold case does not appear to be Swiss and the 18 and crown is not a Swiss hallmark.The AP stamp must be for Audemars Piguet
Could the serial number be specific to the case maker and not necessarily the movement? Specifically I’m wondering if Legrand simply cased the movement with another manufacturer’s case that had its own serial number though I’m not entirely clear if such a practice existed or makes sense.I believe the case is Swiss but not by Audemars Piguet.
The engraving is in French and if the case were French it would have French hallmarks. French gold had to be hallmarked to sell as gold.
Swiss hallmarking was optional. If they did it, they had to follow certain rules but they did not have to do it at all.
I have not seen any Audemars Piguet watches of this era in cases they signed or made.
The date is wrong for the serial number, unless it was significantly back date, i.e. to a much earlier event.
I saw your watch online before you bought it, and it bears the same signature as a French navy deck watch that I own. I believe that what may look like a G is in fact an E.Yeah, saw that AP mark, but I was unclear if that was definitely Audemar Piguet or not. What I've been able to find about Eugene Legrand is that he may have been a watchmaker. I found his name or a very similar name in this book with a reference to Eugene Legrand as a watchmaker. Another Legrand came up in my searches that was auctioned back in 2011. It was a chronograph with man similarities to the movement of mine
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Sold Price: Eugene Legrand À Geneve, Switzerland chronograph - May 6, 0111 12:00 PM EDT
View sold price and similar items: Eugene Legrand À Geneve, Switzerland chronograph from Schmitt Horan & Co. on May 6, 0111 12:00 PM EDT.www.invaluable.com
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Thanks for sharing this. I found your original Swedish post and found the whole chronometer competition fascinating.I saw your watch online before you bought it, and it bears the same signature as a French navy deck watch that I own. I believe that what may look like a G is in fact an E.
E. Legrand, likely Eugene, Horloger de la Marine, was active in both Geneva and Paris. He took over the famous Charles Oudin company from Amadee Charpentier shortly before Amadee died in 1894. This also involved taking over the prestigous location of the business at the Palais Royal in Paris (number 51-52). The company also had a shop at 30 rue de Montpensier, an address that many of their watches are engraved with.
It is possible to find watches that are signed both Legrand and Charles Oudin. I used to own a repeater signed Charles Oudin on the dial and E. Legrand on the inner case lid, and I have seen other examples like it online. In 1899, the company moved from the Palais Royal to Avenue de l'Opéra number 17.
Sadly, not much is known about Eugene Legrand, but he was a member of the Swiss-French committee whose mission it was to finance two busts of Ferdinand Berthoud. In the committee, he represented the watchmakers of eastern Paris. I also believe that he was the treasurer of the Chambre syndicale de l'Horlogerie de Paris for a time, and that he, as a member there, presented an invention in the Revue Chronometrique related to some sort of new system for driving the seconds hand. I cannot quite remember the details, however.
He presented 34 deck watches, Montre Torpilleurs, to the yearly deck watch competitions arranged by the Hydrographic Service of the French Navy between 1891 and 1905. I own one of them, which placed 7th out of 52 in 1892. It also has a Palladium alloy hairspring.
During his time in Geneva, he competed with a chronometer in the 1879 Geneva Observatory competition which won a silver medal.
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à propos of not-a-lot;David-Constant Piguet founds a watchmaking workshop in the Vallée de Joux which will be taken over by his two sons.
Hi enrico,The most likely candidate is Constant Piguet, for two reasons. The first is the intermediate wheel with four screws, characteristic of Constant Piguet. I also found a similar Louis Audemars repeater (he was Piguet's client). The second feature, as pointed out by Dr Jon is the hairspring Since 1888, Constant Piguet and Paul-David Nardin, from Ulysse Nardin du Locle, have collaborated on experimental studies on the use of a platinum-iridium alloy for the balance and hairspring.
Constant Piguet was famous for four-hammer repeaters with Westminster chimes, the Swiss national anthem and God save the King.
they were built on a 42-caliber of LeCoultre ebauches (from the LeCoultre archives).
A Audermars 1890 example View attachment 640749
A Constant Piguet
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Piguet carillon
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regards enrico