Clocks, Watches & Jewellery

Carl (1883-1946) and Rosa Askonas (1891-1980), were the toast of 1920s Austrian society.

The Fine Jewellery sale at Dreweatts (26% buyer’s premium) in Newbury on March 19 included two quite different lots from the subcontinent - and both were well received.

Far more fluent than us in the language of jewellery and stones, Georgians and the Victorians would immediately have made the link between snakes and eternal love.

Metal-detecting finds, properly reported to the Portable Antiquities Scheme and since disclaimed as Treasure, are increasing significantly the supply of pre-Georgian jewels. Some fine examples have appeared at auction of late.

A Cartier Egyptian revival jewel, previously known only from an advert that appeared in The Illustrated London News in the 1920s, sold for £55,000 at Woolley & Wallis (26% buyer’s premium).

A Cartier necklace with a rare pink diamond was offered by Tennants (22% buyer’s premium) of North Yorkshire on March 15. It sold towards top hopes at £190,000.

The next LAPADA Berkeley Square Fair will partner with luxury jewellery ‘collective’ Haute Jewels.

The French inventor André Romain Guilmet (1827-92) took out many patents for his ingenious designs including in 1868 the idea for a driving chain on a bicycle.

The revocation of the Edict of Nantes by the French king Louis XIV in 1685 led to the massive exodus of Huguenots, many of whom moved to Great Britain.

A private collection of clocks provided the core of the auction titled Clocks & Watches Through the Ages at TW Gaze on March 4. Seventeenth century continental European clocks provided two of the day’s top prices.

Since Patek Philippe brought out the Calatrava in the 1930s, the watch – with time-only functionality and an austere circular case shape – has been produced in many different dial and case variants.

An elaborate 18th century French skeleton clock tentatively linked with two leading names working in Paris during the golden age of French clockmaking led a recent Kidson Trigg’s (20% buyer’s premium) sale in Swindon.

The Universal Genève Tri-Compax (Ref 222973) is one of the classic post-war chronographs.

Affirming the continued interest in the watches made under the direction of Jean-Jacques Cartier (1919-2010) in London during the mid-60s to early 70s, Roseberys (26/25% buyer’s premium) sold two good Cartier London watches on February 5.

In 1953, the same year as the successful Mount Everest expedition were equipped with Rolex wristwatches, Rolex released the Oyster Perpetual Explorer.

Tiara takes highest sum as jewellery supplied to an aristocratic family features in Paris sale

Among the earliest watches in the auction titled Clocks & Watches Through the Ages held at TW Gaze (26.4% buyer’s premium inc VAT) in Diss, Norfolk, on March 4 was a Dutch timekeeper from the first half the 17th century.

A selection of stand-out watch lots coming up at sales around the UK