S. Smith & Son. A very fine and extremely rare 18K gold anti-magnetic keyless lever watch with Bonniksen patented 52 1/2 minute Karrusel regulator, Especially Good Class "A" Kew rating with 82-3 marks, original S. Smith & Son Ltd. presentation box
S. Smith & Son. A very fine and extremely rare 18K gold anti-magnetic keyless lever watch with Bonniksen patented 52 1/2 minute Karrusel regulator, Especially Good Class "A" Kew rating with 82-3 marks, original S. Smith & Son Ltd. presentation box
Signed S. Smith & Son, 9 Strand, London, Makers to the Admiralty and H.M. The King of Spain, “Non-Magnetic”, no. 188-261, the case with London hallmarks for 1908-1909
Movement: cal. 21''', jewelled to the centre, ring-turned pillars, going barrel, lateral lever escapement, free-sprung balance with winged arms, gold temperature adjustment screws and platinum mean time screws, palladium Breguet balance spring, diamond endstone, Bonniksen 52 1/2 minute Karrusel carriage, signed and numbered, Bonniksen patent number on the pillar plate
Dial: signed and numbered
Case: four-body, by Samuel Smith (maker’s mark SS), hinged back engraved with a coat of arms and motto, swivel bow, hinged gold cuvette inscribed "Hugh Vivian, 1909", 57 mm. diam., punched with case maker’s mark and numbered
With: original S. Smith & Son Ltd. presentation box
, Hugh Vivian
The first owner of this watch, Hugh Vivian, was born in Portugal in 1884 where his father William Vivian was a mining engineer. Hugh went to school in England but later studied engineering and metallurgy in Germany. In 1909 he was made technical director of the Vivian & Sons copper smelting business in Swansea. In 1922 he became managing director.
Hugh Vivian was also a member of the governing body of the University of Wales and the National Museum of Wales. His long involvement with the metals industry may well explain his purchase of this highly sophisticated anti-magnetic watch. ,
This lot is offered without reserve.Offered at auction for the first time in over a decade, the present watch is extremely well preserved. This superb example of a Bonniksen karrusel watch made by one of the very best English firms of the period, S. Smith & Son. It is one of the exceptionally rare anti-magnetic karrusel watches, part of a small series which Smith destined for the Kew Observatory trials. The company’s no. 191-222 won a 3rd place in 1898, no. 192-256 an 11th place in 1915. Smith's no. 192-233, classified as a deck watch, took part in the 1918 trial. The movement of the present watch would have been supplied by Bonniksen and then adjusted by Smith for entry into the Kew Observatory trials in which patent Karrusels enjoyed particular success. In the Smith & Son catalogues of the time, English revolving escapement watches of this type with special Kew certificates sold for 55 pounds. The karrusel mechanism was invented around 1890 and patented in 1893 by Bahne Bonniksen (1859-1935), a Danish watchmaker working in England. Recognizably similar to the tourbillon, the karrusel was designed to ensure that a watch kept time regardless of how it was positioned. Although the rotating escapement of the karrusel has the same equalizing effect on positional errors as the tourbillon it is constructed in an entirely different way. The genius of Bonniksen’s invention was that, unlike the tourbillon, it could be made in quantity and serviced by any competent watchmaker. Furthermore, the karrusel watch was an exceptionally good timekeeper due largely to the relatively slow rotation of 52 ½ minutes. In fact, the timekeeping performance of the karrusel is usually equal, in many cases better and certainly more consistent than the tourbillion. Various testing laboratories around the world were responsible for grading and testing watches. The most stringent being the Kew (Teddington) Observatory, just west of London. A standard Swiss chronometer test would last 15 days, however, the Kew test lasted 44 days. The tests consisted of observing the time keeping of the watch in various positions and at various temperatures and awarding points for accuracy in these differing states. The present watch with 82.3 marks is regarded as especially good although scores of over 90 were regularly obtained by 1900. S. Smith & Son. The leading London firm for high quality and complicated watches at the end of the 19th Century and during the opening decades of the 20th, was founded by Samuel Smith, jeweler and watchmaker, c.1851. Watches were made for him by Nicole Nielsen. Alongside the wide range of civilian watches and clocks, Smith's also made chronometers which performed well and made the firm a supplier to the Admiralty. Under the guidance of Herbert S.A. Smith, the firm developed into a large manufacturing company with its own research laboratories, the family succession being continued a further generation by Sir Alan Herbert Smith, with the company going on to make automobile and aircraft instruments alongside clocks and watches. The company won a medal for their “non-magnetizable” watches for which they became well known.
