Very unusual pocket thermometer, Late 18th century (circa 1780) skelotonized, in a steel case glazed on both sides. Blue steel hand indicating the temperature in Centigrade, Fahrenheit and Reamur scales. Signed:- Salon & Co. Sold for $5655 (£2900, €4350)
I recently featured the antique rotating eyeball clock genre (here), but since I can't seem to stop featuring death related timepieces, here are a few more of the very rare skull versions. These eight day novelty clocks were built by Oswald of Germany between 1926 and 1944. These models are quite hard to find and generally cost a few thousand dollars.
The dials are represented as the eyes separating the hours on the left and minutes to the right. Most of their collection feature cross-eyed genies, monkeys, gnomes, owls, and dogs (LOTS of dogs).
Always the sucker for cloaked clocks & watches, I recently discovered the genre of antique walking stick timepieces and couldn't resist sharing...
Above, a 1900 lion cane with sliding panels for hidden watch, keyless winding by the revolving bezel.
A fascinating 1900 walking stick topper with bezel rotating like the iris of a camera shutter. Twisting of the bezel revealed the concealed watch. The top was also hinged to house a photograph and to access the winding and hand-setting crowns. Sold for nearly $30,000-->Link
1860 Walking Stick with Sundial inside hinged globe. The sphere made from ivory and horn, the equator in tortoise shell.
1890 walking stick with silver cane handle and patented keyless concealed watch by Albert Bertholet and Louis Burry-Haldi, Bienne.
1815 Snake Stick by Ch(ris)t Moricant à Genève. Concealed watch and tobacco compartment.
An interesting little flyback sector double retrograde watch by Jozef Op de Beeck appeared here-->Link
The hours on the lower right, minutes on the upper left, both indicated by hands that fly-back diagonally across the dial. And it's not really raunchy like some graphic antique automaton watches, but does have a few bas-reliefs of a naked lady lounging on the bezel.
Warning, this post features Victorian porn! YOU'VE BEEN WARNED. SEND THE KIDS INTO THE OTHER ROOM NOW...
Before the Internet, before porn videos, before XXX theatres on 42nd st, before you could imagine a time there was porn...there was porn. There has always been porn.
Brequet et Fils "Calvacade" 1820
Very austere & traditional timepieces with concealed secret compartments depicting graphic mechanically animated and intricately painted sex acts. Some featuring such taboo match-ups as three-ways and multi-ethnic couples. Generally, the animation consisted of the "thrust" with others much more complex. All produced by integrated or separate automaton movements.
Henry Moser & Cie "Local Hospitality" 1910
(click to enlarge - ha, if it were only that easy)
"Theatre of Love" 1820 Non-animated scene with concealing cover (click to engorge)
It's a rich & dirty tradition that continues today with some of the most respected watch companies (Ulysse Nardin, Blancpain, Chopard, Hublot and Gerald Genta) selling their own modern haute-porn. Rarely advertised by any of them and some with price tags well over $100,000 US.
Since my more detailed "Wristwatches of War" post->Link, I've discovered some other interesting antique trench grille watches from World War I. Issued to infantry officers ofBritish Expeditionary Forces, the 1917 Jaeger LeCoultre above and unsigned model below. Both available from VintageMilitaryWatches.com.
Antiquorum has offered a wide array of antique erotic automaton pocket dating from past three centuries. If you haven't seen these before, you might be shocked at how graphic these animated depictions were for the time. For additional examples, see my previous post on the subject here--> "Debbie Does Switzerland - Victorian Porn"
"Outside the Abbey Walls" (above)
Outside the Abbey Walls Swiss, No. 1339. Made circa 1910. Fine and amusing, large, 18K pink gold and enamel, hunting-cased, keyless minute-repeating pocket watch with chronograph and painted on enamel concealed erotic automaton.
C. Four-body, “bassine et filet”, engine-turned covers with polished borders, the front cover with a black champleve enamel monogram, polished band, gold hinged cuvette with painted on enamel erotic scene depicting two monks enjoying local hospitality in the woods. D. White enamel, radial Roman numerals, outer minute track and Arabic five minute numerals, outermost fifths of a second divisions, subsidiary seconds. Gold stone-set hands. M. 49 mm (21'''), rhodium plated, fausses cotes decoration, 21 jewels, straight-line lever escapement, cut-bimetallic compensation balance with blued steel Breguet balance spring, index regulator, repeating on gongs activated by a slide in the band. Diam. 61 mm.
Detail of "Outside the Abbey Walls"
Auctioned for 25,000 Swiss Francs
"Chaudoir a Geneve"
Chaudoir a Geneve, circa 1820. Fine 18K gold quarter repeating half skeletonized watch with automaton Jacks and a small concealed automaton erotic scene.
Three body "Empire" case with a reeded band and engine- turned back. Gilt brass cuvette.Small white enamel chapter ring with Breguet numerals. Blued steel Breguet hands. On each side of the dial, applied on the visible engraved gilt front plate and the polished steel repeating work, two three coloured gold chased automaton are striking the quarter and hours on two bells. Below the dial, a three coloured gold chased scene with a Cupid is applied on blue steel shutters, disclosing the automaton erotic scene, driven by the striking train. Gilt brass full plate movement with cylindrical pillars, fusee and chain, verge escapement with a plain brass three armed balance, a continental cock with a polished steel endpiece. Repeating on gongs by means of the depressing pendant.. Signed on the dial, the cuvette and the movement. In good condition. Diam. 55 mm.
Close-up of Automaton Erotic Scene at 6 o'clock
And of course, the tradition continues to this day, watchmakers create these erotic scenes on the "backsides" of the watches allowing only the wearer to know what carnal mechanics are occurring "under his dial" N° 01, "Sailing Dream" by Antoine Preziuso
"Sailing Dream" No. 01 of a limited edition series of 30 examples. Made in 1997. Very fine and rare, tonneau shaped, center seconds, water-resistant, 18K yellow gold gentleman's wristwatch with 42-hour autonomy and three color gold erotic automaton scene with an 18K yellow gold Antoine Peziuso buckle. Accompanied by a luxury fitted box.
C. Two-body, massive, polished, transparent case back secured by 8 screws, sapphire crystal. D. Satiné silver with painted radial Roman numerals, outer minute/seconds divisions; on the other side: a multicolor gold erotic scene animated by means of a mechanism hidden in the band and motioned by the winding-crown. Blued steel "feuille" hands. M. Cal. Based ETA 2801, rhodium-plated, "fausses côtes" decoration, 17 jewels, monometallic balance, shock absorber, self-compensating flat balance spring. The erotic automata and the engraved background are in 18K yellow, pink and white gold. Dial, case and movement signed. Dim. 34 x 41 mm. Thickness 10 mm.
Close-up of "Sailing Dream"
Sold in 2007 for 15,600 Swiss Francs
And if you thought this was a perverted subculture of watchmakers, think again, the most respected watchmaker of all time, Abraham Louis Bréguet, watchmaker to Louis XVI and Queen, Marie-Antoinette also produced their own erotica-horologica, like this past auction below, by the way, it sold for 1,500,000 Swiss Francs (about a million dollars at the time in 1990):
Swiss, bearing the signature Breguet A Paris, circa 1825. Fine 18 ct. pink gold quarter-repeating watch with erotic automaton.
C. Four body, massive, "Empire" style and engine-turned. GiIt brass cuvette. D. Gold, engine-turned with polishecl Roman numeral plaques, a sliding plaque revealing the erotic scene. Blued-steel Breguet hands. M. Frosted and gilt full plate, fusee with chain, verge escapement, plain 3- arm balance, continental cock with marquasite end stone. Push pendant operated erotic automata with vari coloured gilt figures operated in unison with the push pendant quarter-repeating on gongs. Signed sliding automaton plate. In very good condition. Diam. 56mm.
Close-up of animated coupling at 6-o'clock
And here is one upcoming auction for a simple pocket watch with a little hidden door revealing the happy couple. It will be held October 3rd in Geneva Switzerland and the entire catalog can be seen here--> Antiquorum Auction Link
"Lit D’Amour Prouvarelle a"
Lit D’Amour Prouvarelle a Paris, No. 1, Swiss. Made circa 1820. Fine and rare, 18K gold, quarter repeating pocket watch with concealed erotic automaton scene.
C. Three body, “Empire” with reeded band and engine-turned back. Concealed in the hinged gilt brass cuvette, a small automaton scene presents an amorous couple on a bed. D. White enamel with Breguet numerals, outer minute divisions. Gold scotties hands. M. Gilt brass full plate with cylindrical pillars, fusee with chain, verge escapement, plain brass three-arm balance, flat balance spring, gilt brass continental cock with ruby end-stone, repeating on gongs activated by depressing the pendant, the automata driven by the repeating train by means of a small lever. Signed on the automaton lid. Diam. 55 mm. Lot Link
"The story of the radium watch-dial painters is a classic case in the history of occupational disease. Attracted by easy work and high wages, these young women painted the luminous numbers on wristwatches that, designed for soldiers involved in the trench warfare of World War I, became a consumer fad in the 1920s. The women were taught to sharpen the tips of their paintbrushes between their lips and, as a result, they absorbed substantial quantities of radium. Their tragic illnesses and deaths led to crucial discoveries in radiobiology and contributed to the establishment of standards for the level of exposure to radiation in the workplace." -From The New England Journal of Medicine
I first learned about the Radium Girls when reading this AlanWatch article. He had conducted his own interesting X-Ray and Geiger Counter tests of antique watches with lingering radioactivity. And further explained "In the late 1920s, some dentists began to notice a high incidence of jawbone deterioration among young women, most of whom had worked at the dial company. Later, cancers of the head and neck, anemias, and other disorders were found, resulting in some early deaths." (and it has been said that 90% of these women died by 1931) Alan's false-color optical density analysis shows that the crystal spotting is most intense at 10 and 4 o'clock, where the red color is indicated.
Undark Advertisement
Radium Girls Wikipedia page-->Link Damn Interesting article-->Link
There is a incredible new feature for exploring the upcoming Antiquorum "Important Collector's Wristwatches, Pocket Watches, and Clocks" auction on Sunday December 5th in New York City.
Antiquorum developed a really fantastic online flip-catalog where you can view over 400 lots including some of my favorites like a vintage asymmetric Gilbert Albert Patek Philippe, ginormous Omega Ploprof, iconic Heuer Monaco Chronograph, as well as some really interesting antique 1930's Leon Hatot & Atmos Art Deco clocks, classic Rolex Explorer & Daytona, and modern masterpieces such as the mind-boggling F.P. Journe Vagabondage & Seconde Morte, bizarre Gerald Genta retrograde Grand Complicaton, revolutionary Urwerk Nightwatch, stylish Patek Philippe Nautilus, Pagoda & Bombe, retrograde Vacheron Constantin Mercator, confounding Audemars Piguet Grande Complication, and 1 of only 3 ultra-complicated Breguet 250 year anniversary watches. Go here for the flip-catalog-->Link
Paul Boutros of Timezone also features some of the above in his large intimate four-part photographic reviews-->Link
Check out my $100-$100,000 holiday gift guide!-->LINK
Two vintage mystery dial watches from the late sixties/early seventies with secret dials revealing a not-so-subtle message from a pair of scantily clad tarts. Each of these mechanical erotic novelty watches had a unique feature of discs that obscure the dial most of the time but slowly unveil the other dastardly dirty time of day.
One for those with highly overactive libidos (hourly display) and the other with a more respectable twelve hour time frame. Although anyone who actually wore these was likely not getting any anyway.
One with a transparent disc with floating seconds arrow.
Around the same time, a digital version existed with the same message electronically requested in LED display. If anyone has seen the movie Autofocus about Bob Crane, Willem Dafoe shows his off at a bar to an unsuspecting lady. The filmmakers of Autofocus actually contacted me at the time of production seeking this watch but I could only provide some traditional vintage LED from Hamilton and Compuchron. They did use it for the scene but had to edit the message in.
Not only is today is my two year wedding anniversary but also the first year anniversary of The Watchismo Times! Just one year ago today, I decided to share my particular and sometimes peculiar horological tastes of extraordinary antique, vintage and modern timepieces on this blog. All part of a sincere and sometimes obsessive attempt to spread my passion for perfect design, complex watchmaking, and appreciation for the unusual.
To celebrate, I'm giving away this 1970s vintage chronograph pictured above. Complete with original gradating circular cut racing bracelet, stainless steel case, automatic winding mechanical movement, and original box -- all in fantastic condition.
To be in the running, all you have to do is enter your email below. Your entry will also subscribe you to the regular email updates to the blog. That ain't so bad, is it? Anyone already subscribed by email updates will automatically be entered into the giveaway, no need to re-enter. And for all my feed subsribers that want to be entered into the giveaway should also enter their email below.
Deadline for submissions is by Halloween (October 31st, 2007). The winner will chosen (by random) by the lovely Mrs. Watchismo and announced the following week.
Yup, I'm quoting Leon Kowalsky's parting words from the futuristic movie Blade Runner... I just saw the latest director's Final Cut at the Ziegfeld theater in Manhattan recently and must say, it was one of the best cinematic experiences of my life. If you get a chance to see it on a big screen during the current re-release, do it!
This antique 19th century alarm clock (circa 1840-1880) couldn't be further from the future and wish there were more information about its functions to share with y'all but alas, you must imagine the Steampunk-esque automaton mechanics for yourself. I will say the obvious; the skeleton is sitting on an alarm bell, the coffin-boat, complete with Chadburn Telegraph is the clock dial and there are two holes in the coffin that might have something (or someone) that pops out.
A very rare private collection of vintage LIP watches are now available. Ranging from gunmetal and sterling silver pocket watches of the early 1900s to the iconic French designer series of the early seventies. Original Mach 2000 chronographs from Roger Tallon, very rare Prince Francois de Baschmakoff Jump Hours and some nearly singular examples from a rich history in time!
Above, a Sixties sterling silver LIP wristwatch with actual wood inlaid bracelet and wood dial. Never seen another like it, ever!
back view
by Claudia Clark;
