20th Century Yellow Gold Ring Watch
Inventory Number: PW2206004
Made circa 1920 in Geneve, signed Henry Capt. 17mm diameter, 18K yellow gold openface case. White enamel dial with radial Roman numerals, Breguet hands. Accompanied by winding key and original box.
Lépine IV key-winding movement, cylinder escapement. This type of movement was first in production in approximately 1835, and during the 1900s, many simple time-only watches still use this movement in mass production.
Functions: hours and minutes.
About HENRY CAPT
The brand of Henry Capt was founded by the famed Henry-Daniel Capt (1773-1841) in Geneva and flourished for many decades.
Born in Chenit in the Vallée de Joux. Henry-Daniel Capt was an independent and famous watchmaker who specialized in watches with additional functions such as musical watches and automata. He was one of the first in Geneva to use the musical mechanism with pinned cylinder and tuned teeth comb, and one of the first to introduce chronographs to Geneva. His automata are considered some of the best of the 18th and 19th centuries.
Around 1789 Capt settled in Geneva and worked for several renowned companies such as Jaquet-Droz, Godet, Leschot, and his brother-in-law Isaac Daniel Piguet (1775-1841).
In 1802 he went into partnership with Isaac Daniel Piguet which lasted until 1811. When this partnership ended, Capt kept producing his own pieces for some time before entering another partnership with Aubert et Fils in 1830. The firm was taken over by his son in 1844.