Oliver White
Head of Department
Lot 120*
A fine gem-set and enamelled gold minute repeater pocket watch made for and bearing the initials of Awn al-Rafiq, Sharif of Mecca, by Constant Piguet Switzerland, circa 1900
11 June 2020, 11:00 BST
London, New Bond Street£50,000 - £70,000
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A fine gem-set and enamelled gold minute repeater pocket watch made for and bearing the initials of Awn al-Rafiq, Sharif of Mecca, by Constant Piguet
Switzerland, circa 1900
Switzerland, circa 1900
the 18 karat gold case decorated to each side in red Guilloche enamel decorated in diamond inlay with the initials S.A. in the form of a monogram to the front surmounted by a star and crescent, the reverse with a scrolling vine, the edges with a band of alternating diamonds and moonstones, the dial with black Roman numerals, four subsidiary dials, blued steel hands, perpetual calendar, carillon chime (four hammers strike four different gongs for the minute repeater) chronograph with moonphase, with brevet (Swiss patent No. 11948), case maker's mark for Louis Brandt & Frère to pendant and Swiss 18 carat gold mark to pendant and suspension loop
8 cm. max.
8 cm. max.
Footnotes
Provenance
'Awn al-Rafīq Pāshā ibn Muḥammad ibn 'Abd al-Mu'īn ibn Awn, Emir and Sharif of Mecca (1841-1905).
The collection of Princess Alia Al Hussein of Jordan.
Inherited directly from her mother, Princess Dina Bint Abdul Hamid, former Queen of Jordan and Sharifa of Mecca.
Awn al-Rafiq was born in Medina in 1841, a member of the Awn clan of sharifs and the fourth son of Sharif Muhammad ibn Abd al-Mu-in ibn Awnswas. On the death of his eldest brother Abdullah in 1877, he became the heir apparent and was summoned to Istanbul and appointed to the Ottoman Council of State with the rank of vizier. When his elder brother Husayn was assassinated in 1880, Sultan Abdulhamid, who suspected the late Emir of conspiring with the British to establish an Arab government in opposition to the Caliphate, decided not to appoint Awn al-Rafiq to the Emirate. The British ambassador in Istanbul, Austen Henry Layard, immediately intervened in the interests of the British who saw Awn al-Rafiq as 'liberal and enlightened', but the Sultan announced that he had already made his decision and appointed the role to a member of the Zayd clan. The Sultan, however, did assure the British that Awn al-Rafiq would be appointed following the death of the new Emir Abd al-Muttalib. Two years later, in 1882, Abd al-Muttalib was deposed and Awn al-rafiq became emir until his death in 1905.
Swiss patent No. 11948 was registered on March 20, 1896, and was granted to Constant Piguet from Le Sentier for a carillon watch repeating on four gongs with four hammers. Minute-repeating watches with four tone Carillon are very rare. Constant Piguet is best known for these watches and all bear his patent number on the movement.