Swiss gold repeating automaton The Tightrope Walker Circa 1810

Gold and enamel musical watch with automaton
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A rare and fine Swiss gold and enamel quarter repeating two train musical watch with a tightrope walking automaton and two musicians playing music, made for the Chinese market by Dubois et Fils, circa 1810. This watch features a highly decorative engraved movement with a cylinder escapement, a plain three arm brass balance, and a barrel for the going train. It also has a barrel for music and automata, with a pinned cylinder plucked by a comb with 33 tines. The repetition sounds on coiled gongs, and there’s a small offset gold engine turned dial for time, enamel roundels carrying Arabic numerals, an enamel minute ring, and blued steel moon hands. The dial is surrounded by a polychrome enamel painted lakeside scene, with a village and mountains visible in the background. The automaton tightrope walker is applied in varicoloured gold to the foreground, and two further automata figures beneath depict a man playing a lyre and a lady playing a guitar.
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The watch also has a gold case with an engine turned back and bezels, a plunge pendant repeating with a locking slide beside the pendant at 11 o’clock, and a small slide by 3 o’clock to activate the music and automata. There’s a gilt metal cuvette with two apertures with indicators for winding the going and music trains, and it’s signed DuBois et Fils.
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Diameter: 62 mm
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Signed: DuBois et Fils
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The case is in excellent condition, with sharp and unworn engraving. Gold marks and case numbers are visible inside. The inner cuvette has a very faint scratch near the winding hole. The dial is in good condition with undamaged enamel. There are some scratches and dirt marks on a few of the number lozenges, specifically 10, 11, and 1. The automata dance and play their tune smoothly when the button and bow are activated. The movement repeats functions correctly, and the music plays as intended. The watch runs well when wound.
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Musical watches featuring an automaton tightrope walker are among the most captivating in their category. Only a few similar watches are known, including:
1. Tightrope Walker within a Landscape signed by Grand Jean, Marseille – Sotheby & Co., The Palace Collections of Egypt, 10–20 March 1954, lot 463
2. Tightrope Walker in a Garden with Neo-Classical Temple, A. Chapuis, E. Droz, Automata, 1958, p. 178, fig. 197
3. Tightrope Walker in Front of a Mountain, attributed to DuBois & Fils, retailed by Perrin Frères – Patek Philippe Museum, Inventory S-193.
4. Tightrope Walker in Front of a Lake, attributed to DuBois & Fils, Patek Philippe Museum, Inventory S-194
5. Tightrope Walker in Front of a Lake, signed by DuBois & Fils, present lot
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All of these watches share a similar design, featuring a tightrope walker and two figures playing music in the foreground. The tightrope is strung between two varicoloured gold trees. When activated, the tightrope walker appears to bounce up and down on his right leg as the rope flexes realistically beneath him, while his left leg kicks and he adjusts his balancing pole. The two musicians at the base of the scene accompany the tightrope walker’s movements by strumming their instruments.
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The DuBois family had been producing watches since the mid-18th century, but the firm of DuBois & Fils was officially founded in Le Locle in 1785.