Manufacturer: Ulysse Nardin Year: 1915 Movement No: 200’921; number repeated on dial Case No: 673’045 Material: 18K yellow gold Calibre: Manual, cal. 20’” lever escapement with Guillaume balance, 18 jewels Bracelet/Strap: Leather Dimensions: 52mm Diameter Signed: Case, dial, and movement signed. Movement additionally signed with patent number 54714; dial additionally signed with movement number. Provenance: Habsburg Feldman, December 7th, 1988, lot 142.
Provenance
Habsburg Feldman, December 7th, 1988, lot 142.
Catalogue Essay
A truly remarkable horological reemergence, the present oversized Ulysse Nardin split-seconds chronograph wristwatch, measuring an incredible 52mm in diameter, has been treasured in a private collection since its acquisition at auction in 1988. What’s most notable is that the watch was not a converted pocket watch with soldered lugs, but a pocket watch movement cased as a wristwatch. It is the largest split-seconds chronograph wristwatch in existence.
Hidden beneath the hinged caseback lies an extremely high-grade, Ulysse Nardin-signed movement with Guillaume balance. A Guillaume balance with blued steel hairspring, which minimizes errors across temperatures, was the ultimate escapement for precision timekeepers and is extremely rare to find in any wristwatch. The extremely impressive downturned lugs are perfectly proportionate to the case, and the icing on the very large cake is a beautiful, well-preserved enamel dial with its serial number at 6 o’clock and bold black Breguet numerals.
According to the original cataloguing from 1988, the present watch was made upon special request sometime between 1918 and 1925. Another example in steel is known, with a movement number only three digits away from the present example. One of the most important wristwatches ever made by Ulysse Nardin, it is a true treasure for the discerning connoisseur.
Founded in 1846 in Le Locle, Switzerland, Ulysse Nardin is a widely acclaimed Swiss watch manufacturer that earned recognition for its precision chronometers during the early to mid-twentieth century. Ulysse Nardin himself was a trained watchmaker under the guidance of his father, Leonard-Frederic Nardin, as well as master watchmakers Frederic William Dubois and Louis Jean Richard-dit-Bressel. Collectors in particular seek this brand's oversized vintage chronograph wristwatches, including the reference 7536-2.
A very oversized, highly important, and possibly unique yellow gold split-seconds chronograph wristwatch with enamel dial, Guillaume balance, and hinged caseback
1915 52mm Diameter Case, dial, and movement signed. Movement additionally signed with patent number 54714; dial additionally signed with movement number.
