Rare “Barking Dog” Watch in Antiquorum's Hong Kong Auction
Saturday, June 8 & Sunday, June 9, 2002 - Hotel The Ritz-Carlton

Antiquorum's annual Hong Kong watch auction will take place on Saturday, June 8 and Sunday, June 9, 2002, at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel (3 Connaught Road, Central). After an exhibition in Tokyo, at Toshi International (June 2-3), the lots offered in this sale will be exhibited at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Hong Kong from June 6.

The selection of important pocket watches, collector's wristwatches and clocks, about 400 lots in total, gathered by Antiquorum for its Hong Kong auction, presents some truly magnificent timepieces.

One extremely rare piece is an amusing and important 18K gold, enamel and pearl-set, quarter repeating “Barking Dog” automaton watch, signed J. D. Piguet & P. Meylan, made in Geneva for the Chinese market, around 1811. It is very rare to find Piguet & Meylan's complete signature on one of their watches like in this example. On both sides of the watch, the perimeter of the case is set with pearls. On one side of the watch is the white enamel dial, below which is the varicolored gold automaton scene representing a dog chasing a goose, on a golden landscape and blue translucent enamel background. When the quarter repetition is activated, the dog moves its head and barks: “waf waf”. On the other side of the watch is a beautiful scene painted on enamel, representing a young couple in neoclassical dress admiring the delicacy of a butterfly, which is resting on the young man's hand. The painting on enamel and the automaton scene are both of excellent quality. Estimated at HK$ 372-465,000 (SFr. 80-100'000 / Euro 54-67,600 / US$ 48-60,000), only very few examples of this type of watch were made at the time, which accounts for its rarity. [See Slide: “Barking Dog”].

Read full report in our Auctions section

Source: Antiquorum press release
April 2002