This auction has ended. View lot details
You may also be interested in
Lot 123
A remarkable glazed gilt brass giant mantel timepiece with visible chronometer escapement made for the 1873 Vienna International ExhibitionSigned Samuel Králik fecit Pestini Circa 1870
16 October 2019, 13:00 EDT
New YorkSold for US$11,325 inc. premium
Looking for a similar item?
Our Watches specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.
Find your local specialistAsk about this lot
Client Services (New York)
Client Services (San Francisco)
Client Services (Los Angeles)
A remarkable glazed gilt brass giant mantel timepiece with visible chronometer escapement made for the 1873 Vienna International Exhibition
Signed Samuel Králik fecit Pestini
Date: Circa 1870
Movement: Rectangular plates joined by six doubly screwed pillars, large going barrel, supporting a detachable platform, signed Králik Sam: Pest 1, with pivoted detent escapement, four wheel train, with concentric double contrate and escape wheels, the large diameter seconds-beating cut bimetallic balance with auxiliary compensation, trapezoidal weights, timing and poising screws, blued helical spring. The escapement platform can be removed from the case independent of the movement by releasing the locking nuts and lifting it out. The contrate wheel is locked by this action to avoid damage.
Dial: Signed, rectangular white enamel with roman chapter ring below large seconds ring, blued hands
Case: With plain corner columns and glazed sides, the rear panel with hand-setting lever and button to lock the train, large winding aperture with directional arrow and engraved attrahe/dextra and further signed Králik Sam Fecit Pestini, the upper glazed superstructure with latches at the sides releasing the hinged canopy to uncover the escapement
Size: 13 in (33cm) high
Date: Circa 1870
Movement: Rectangular plates joined by six doubly screwed pillars, large going barrel, supporting a detachable platform, signed Králik Sam: Pest 1, with pivoted detent escapement, four wheel train, with concentric double contrate and escape wheels, the large diameter seconds-beating cut bimetallic balance with auxiliary compensation, trapezoidal weights, timing and poising screws, blued helical spring. The escapement platform can be removed from the case independent of the movement by releasing the locking nuts and lifting it out. The contrate wheel is locked by this action to avoid damage.
Dial: Signed, rectangular white enamel with roman chapter ring below large seconds ring, blued hands
Case: With plain corner columns and glazed sides, the rear panel with hand-setting lever and button to lock the train, large winding aperture with directional arrow and engraved attrahe/dextra and further signed Králik Sam Fecit Pestini, the upper glazed superstructure with latches at the sides releasing the hinged canopy to uncover the escapement
Size: 13 in (33cm) high
Footnotes
Samuel Kralik (b. 1815) was an Austro-Hungarian clockmaker much honored in his lifetime for his work with precision clocks. In addition to the Vienna Exposition, he showed his work at numerous international exhibitions, notably the 1851 Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace, London. In 1862, he was appointed clockmaker to the King of Hungary and in 1875 became clockmaker to the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I.
The present clock is one of several he exhibited in Vienna. These impressed the American Commissioners attending the Exhibition:
"Samuel Kralik, of Pesth, had a very creditable display of clocks showing excellent workmanship. In this collection were sixteen well-made models of different escapements for demonstration; the balances being about four inches in diameter. Two large-sized mantel-clocks were meritorious for good workmanship and ingenuity. One had a large -balance, with two escapement-wheels, acting something like a Swiss chronometer; the teeth of one of the wheels acting on the detent, and the other upon the roller-impulse jewel."
Literature:
Thurston, R. H., Ed. Reports of the Commissioners of the United States to the International Exhibition held at Vienna, 1873. Part H. Instruments of Precision. Chapter II, Art. 32 [Austrian Clocks], p 25. Washington (1876)