German silver pocket watch with self winding Circa 1780

Extremely rare astronomical pocket watch
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An extremely rare astronomical pocket watch with an early self winding mechanism made by A. Sarde in Christats(z)hofen, Germany, circa 1780. This watch features a silver case glazed on both sides and a regulator enamel dial with month and day sub dials at 12 and 3 o’clock respectively, both in French; a minute and hour dial with Arabic hour numerals at 6 o’clock; a date dial at 9 o’clock; an outer center seconds track with Arabic 15 second numerals; and gold hands. The crystal case back reveals the full plate gilt movement fitted with a cylinder escapement, an early oscillating weight winding system, a three arm ring balance and floral engraving around the edge.
The movement is signed.
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Diameter: 52 mm
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Weight: 104 g
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Signed: A. Sarde a Christatshofen
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Only very few of the extremely rare pocket watches with this automatic winding mechanism are equipped with additional complications, in the case of the watch presented here four.
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Watches with an early oscillating weight winding are illustrated and described in: Jean-Claude Sabrier “The Self-Winding Watch – 18^th – 21^st century”, Paris 2011.
Swiss watchmaker and inventor Abraham-Louis Perrelet (1729-1826) was regarded as the inventor of self winding pocket watches for a long time. However, Hubert Sarton of Paris is also known for having invented an automatic winding system with a rotor mechanism for pocket watches – historians are still undecided here.
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Sarde
A. Sarde was a watchmaker in the Allgäu region of Germany around 1780. While specific details about A. Sarde’s personal biography (such as his birth and death dates) remain largely unrecorded in mainstream history, his professional identity is deeply tied to the rural horological tradition of the Allgäu region in southern Germany during the late 18^th century.