Ladies Chaumet et Cie Platinum & Diamonds Cocktail Watch Cal.557 c1920

Chaumet

Founded in 1780 by Marie-Étienne Nitot as a designer of fine jewellery, Chaumet, as it is known today, began to produce precious watches from the 19th century onwards and has since joined forces with Swiss watchmakers, such as Jaeger-LeCoultre and Patek Philippe, to create exceptional timepieces. As official jeweller to Napoleon, Nitot made a number of significant pieces.. A pair of bracelet watches from 1811 were created by Francois Regnault Nitot, commissioned by Eugène de Beauharnais and gifted to his wife, Princess Augusta of Bavaria. One of the watches indicates the hours, the other is used as a calendar. Made of gold, pearls and emeralds, their manufacture combined fine jewellery with a meticulous watchmaking movement. It was at this time that the house succeeded in placing miniature dials at the centre of its bracelets.

Description

Here we have an outstanding watch from c1920 in beautiful, original, unrestored and untouched condition. Some of the wonderful aspects of this watch include the platinum case, the diamonds around the bezel which are continued down the lugs, the fantastic high-grade movement and of course, the tip-top condition of the dial.

The Dial

The rectangular railway track ‘1 – 12’ standard arabic numeral ‘art-deco’ style dial is complemented by original ‘Breguet’ blued steel hands. The dial design and case complement each other beautifully and also make the time very easy to read for such a small watch. The dial also carries a unique pattern along the upper edge of the dial above 12 and on the lower edge below 6 which matches perfectly with the look and feel of the watch.

This original, unrestored and untouched Chaumet dial has been completely left alone due to its outstanding condition and to retain its originality and charm.

Please note, studio lights, professional-grade digital cameras, and macro lenses can be very unkind to an unrestored vintage watch dial. Also the dial here measures less than 1.25 inches across, so the image you see here may be between 5 – 25 times larger than the watch itself. Therefore please keep in mind you are seeing many tiny flaws which cannot be seen, or will be very hard to see with the naked eye, even under close examination. Suffice to say, on the wrist, in natural light, this dial looks much better and carries a great deal more charm than the photographs portray.

The Movement

The Chaumet et Cie Calibre.557, hand-wound movement is of exceptional quality and is original to this watch. It is signed ‘M.P.G’, ‘557’,  and ‘Swiss Made’ and has been fully overhauled and serviced by our watchmaker who reports it to be in excellent condition. We therefore happy to offer this watch with our 12 months warranty*.

Note: This watch is perfectly suited for evening wear and special occasions, but not for everyday use. Watches of this age, even with this quality of movement may gain or lose up to 2 minutes per day due to their age. They will however, run for at least 24 hours and are wonderful, both to wear and own.

*Please note – our 12 months’ warranty is only applicable if the full list price is paid.

The Case

The stunning, diamond-studded platinum case is decorated with 97 brilliantly cut diamonds and has beautiful hand-engraved sides. Although unrestored and untouched, it remains in tip-top condition. As one would expect, this is a high quality case which from all appearances seems to have been very well cared for since there are no signs of wear, over-polishing, dings, scratches or other damage, visible to the naked eye.

The inside of the case back is simply signed ‘Platinum London’.

The case measures 11mm wide, excluding the correct unsigned crown, 21mm in length, excluding the lugs and 27mm corner to corner. The case itself and hinge area in particular have been carefully inspected for any weaknesses and none were found. We can therefore guarantee the structural integrity of this watch case. This, along with the general condition of the case, leads us to believe this watch has led a charmed life and seen very little use.

Please note – as always, our standard advice applies: vintage watches should be kept clean and dry at all times.

The Bracelet

The watch is fitted with a period, black silk rope bracelet with a one step ladder clasp. This watch would have originally been sold on a black silk bracelet like this.

The Box and Papers

Although there is no original paperwork with this watch, the reference numbers, markings, signatures and hallmarks are all correct, dating the watch to circa c1920.

Detailed particulars will be included with our purchase receipt for your interest and security. A separate insurance valuation for the replacement value of this watch will also be provided at the time of sale along with our unique ‘Lifetime Authenticity Guarantee’ which states: “If this watch proves to be anything less than 100% genuine, authentic and original, a full refund will be given at any time”.

This watch comes complete with a high quality hardwood presentation box, as shown in the photographs.

Payment and Delivery

If you would like to pay by bank transfer, we will be pleased to assist you with this and pass on a 3% saving to you. Paying by bank transfer for a 3% saving will not affect your 12 months warranty. Similarly, if you wish to pay by International SWIFT or Bank Wire Transfer we will provide you with our BIC / Swift number and our IBAN number.

Please check the import duties and any taxes your government may apply, these are different for each country and, unfortunately, out of our control.

We understand there may be some ‘loopholes’ that may help you avoid these charges; however, attempting to use these could impact our ongoing ability to serve our growing international customer base.

For those who happen to visit London on occasion, we are, of course, more than happy to store your watch until we can meet you in our offices in Kensington, London, and hand your watch directly to you there.

As with all our watches, this watch will be sold under our 14 days no-quibble sale or return policy.

In Conclusion

We have here a beautiful, rare, usable and highly collectable vintage gold ladies cocktail watch, from horology’s most famous name which is something of beauty, to use, wear, treasure and enjoy!

This watch will also make an excellent investment and family heirloom piece. Even though vintage gold prices have continued to rise markedly in the past 2-3 years, we still feel fine examples such as this are undervalued. As each year goes by and the world market for vintage gold watches continues to expand, availability will become more limited, so prices are surely destined to climb ever higher!

A word about our prices – We always try our hardest to acquire the very highest quality watches we can find, before restoring them to the highest possible standards. We then offer these at the fairest prices we can, taking into account our pre and post sales care and service. This approach means we will never be the cheapest, but nor will we be the most expensive. Indeed there are some well-known stores in West London which are very successful, charging between two to three times the price you see here. We therefore consider our prices to be very fair, given the quality of watches we have to offer.

We are happy to accept PayPal as this is the quickest method of payment. However, if you would like to pay by UK cheque or by UK bank transfer we will be pleased to assist you with this and pass on a 3% transaction saving to you. Paying by bank transfer for the 3% saving will not affect your 12 months warranty.  Similarly, if you wish to pay by International SWIFT or Bank Wire Transfer, we will provide you with our BIC / Swift number and our IBAN number.

Please check the import duties and any taxes your government may apply, these are different for each country and unfortunately out of our control.

We understand there may be some ‘loopholes’ that may help you avoid these charges, however attempting to use these could impact our ongoing ability to serve our growing international customer base.

For those that happen to visit the UK on occasion we are of course more than happy to store your watch until we can meet you in our offices in Kensington, London and deliver your watch directly to you there.

Please note, we also welcome part exchanges, along with outright purchases of similar watches for us to restore, service and list. We can also offer Watch Service, Watch Repair & Watch Restoration, please see here.

If you have any questions please call 020 7727 7095 or if calling from overseas on +44 2077277095.

We are here, ready, available and awaiting your call!

Finally, please enjoy some time spent viewing our other fine vintage gold watches.

Thank you.