Swiss gold miniature cylinder pendant watch Circa 1880

Rose gold open faced miniature keyless cylinder by LeCoultre
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A fine, very rare Swiss 18 carat rose gold open faced miniature keyless cylinder pendant watch, circa 1880. Frosted gilt movement, bar caliber, 8 jewels, cylinder escapement, three armed frosted gilt balance with flat blued steel balance spring, index regulator. Hinged gold cuvette. Off-white enamel dial with black Arabic numerals, outer gold dot and silver pyramidal minute divisions and original blued steel Breguet hands. Polished case, the back cover with foliate engraved monogram. Movement signed LeCoultre & Co.
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Diameter: 19 mm
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Signed: LeCoultre & Co
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The making of miniature watches has always been a challenge for watchmakers. Many have vied with each other to produce ever smaller mechanisms enabling them to boast of making ‘The World’s Smallest Watch’. The earliest known surviving example is a tiny gold and enamel clockwatch by an unknown German maker dating from circa 1610. This remarkable watch had once belonged to Queen Elizabeth of Bohemia (The Winter Queen) and was sold as part of the Harcourt Collection at Sotheby’s London in 1992.
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Breguet famously made a small number of miniature watches with keyless winding, these watches measuring only 18 mm. were certainly the smallest watches with keyless winding and hand setting produced by any firm before the mid 19th Century. An example was sold by Antiquorum Geneva on 20th October 1991, Lot 263. The world’s smallest tourbillon, made by Fritz-Andre Robert Charrue of Le Locle and dated 1945, was sold at Antiquorum, April 12, 2003, lot 559.