TOUCHON & Co MINUTE REPEAT/SPLIT SECONDS POCKET WATCH INCREDIBLY RARE COMPLICATED WATCH SUPERLATIVE QUALITY Start Price GBP 6,950.00 Current Price GBP 6,950.00 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price GBP 7,500.00 Reserve Price - Start Time Sunday, November 30, 2008 End Time Sunday, December 07, 2008 Location Uckfield, East Sussex See more about 'TOUCHON & Co MINUTE REPEAT/SPLIT SECONDS POCKET WATCH' Description TOUCHON & Co MINUTE REPEAT/SPLIT SECONDS POCKET WATCH BORING BITS FIRST BUT PLEASE READ   ALL OF MY ITEMS ARE GENUINE   THIS IS A RARE OPPORTUNITY. I AM SELLING ALL OF MY WATCHES !! EVERYTHING MUST GO. I have also recently closed my eBay shop, so if you want to see my other items you will have to click the 'view seller's other items' link. EVERYTHING IS ADVERTISED AT THE MINIMUM FIGURE I WILL ACCEPT, SO OFFERS BELOW THAT WILL NOT RECEIVE A RESPONSE. I have too many interests and some of them are suffering due to the lack of time I have to spend on them. I have therefore decided to cease my interest in watches altogether !!  All of my watches, gold watch chains and watch fobs are therefore being offered for sale over the coming weeks and a significant amount have already sold, on eBay and elsewhere. I am only keeping a very few watches for private use and sentimental reasons. I HAVE DECIDED TO MAKE MY LISTINGS PRIVATE FOR THE SECURITY OF MY BUYERS. NOTE :- ..... I DO NOT ACCEPT CREDIT CARDS OTHER THAN THROUGH PAYPAL..... IF I AM UNHAPPY WITH ANY ASPECT OF A PAYPAL PAYMENT e.g. IF IT LOOKS FRAUDULENT OR SUSPICIOUS IN ANY WAY, I WILL REFUND IT AND CANCEL THE SALE. ARE YOU A ZERO RATED BIDDER ?....... If so, be prepared to answer E mails I send you. If you don't I will remove your bid. *********************************************************************************  BRIEF DESCRIPTION HERE ........ MORE DETAIL BELOW            ****THIS IS A FABULOUSLY RARE AND ULTRA HIGH GRADE WATCH**** *************************************************************************** This is a MAGNIFICENT and FABULOUSLY RARE MINUTE REPEATER, SPLIT SECONDS FLYBACK CHRONOGRAPH WITH 30 MINUTE RECORDING, Pocket Watch dating from around 1910 in AMAZING condition by the ULTRA HIGH QUALITY MAKERS TOUCHON & Co for a very high end retailer in perfect working order and in a SOLID 18K YELLOW GOLD CASE..... Touchon & Co Repeaters are rare and sought after amongst watch collectors as are their split seconds flyback chronographs which represent something of a Holy Grail amongst watch collectors worldwide....This watch is both a minute repeater and a centre seconds split flyback chronograph ( Rattrapante ) with a 30 minute sub-dial and it is near perfect. NOTE :- this watch is being sold by me on behalf of an American friend. It is however in my possession and it will ship from the United Kingdom.   You are unlikely to get the opportunity to buy another one of these and offers below the starting price will not be considered. ... if it doesn't sell, I am going to 'buy it in' and keep it myself. I am the worlds leading authority on Touchon & Co and you can check this out by visiting my dedicated website...... I will happily answer any questions you have on this, so please use the ask seller a question link.    read on for further details................... ****************************************************************** DETAILED DESCRIPTION ****************************************************                             A short note on TOUCHON........The Touchon trademark started around 1907 and ceased around 1921 ( recently suggested to be 1901 to 1927 but I await confirmation of this ) as an independent entity before being incorporated into a larger company. In their short lifespan, Touchon made watches of a staggeringly high quality.........such high quality was very expensive to produce and very few people could afford them............ They supplied watches to very high end retailers such as TIFFANY who were one of their main customers. Touchon watches are every bit as good as Pateks and much more exclusive as they were only produced for 14 years...... Have a look at my dedicated Touchon & Co website.  **************************************************** THE MOVEMENT IS ULTRA RARE AND FABULOUS !!                                         it is of amazing quality as you would expect of a watch made by such an exclusive firm as TOUCHON & Co. It is signed on the barrel bridge with the retailers signature ( a Los Angeles jeweller ) but is by TOUCHON & Co. The jewel count is not indicated, but as this watch is based around a Touchon & Co minute repeater, the jewel count is in excess of 30 jewels. Several of the RUBY JEWELS are visible in the movement photograph.  All movement lettering is finished in gold.  The movement plates are brush nickel finished and in excellent condition. All visible movement screws are in polished steel.  THE GEAR TRAIN IS SOLID ROSE GOLD ALLOY.  It is in beautiful condition and perfect working order, with all elements of the watch acting as they should.  The regulator utilises screw micrometer adjustment.  The balance is of cut bimetallic compensation type with gold screws.  Although the watch keeps excellent time, neither timekeeping or reliability are warrantied due to the age of the piece.                                         The watch is wound and set by the crown and ticks away quite happily without any encouragement. The chrono starts with the crown being pushed in, pressing it again stops the chrono and a third time resets the chrono to zero. If the button at 11 in the band is pressed, the split seconds is activated and one centre seconds hand stops whilst the other runs on. Pressing the button again causes the stopped hand to catch up. If either train is allowed to run on, the minute recorder at 12 is activated and this is also reset by the crown. Look at the movement photo and be sure to supersize it.............it really is superb and ULTRA HIGH QUALITY..........everything starts, stops and resets as it should, the second split seconds hand sometimes takes a while to catch up, but it does synchronise and reset perfectly.                                        The repeater is activated by a slide in the band at 8. It sounds the elapsed hours, quarters and minutes perfectly with a combination of strikes by two polished steel hammers on two polished steel gongs. The sound is crisp and clear. THE DIAL                                        is white enamel, signed TOUCHON & Co GENEVA inside the 30 minute dial. It is in near mint condition. There is an extremely fine and hard to see hairline on the left side of the dial running from the 50 on the seconds sub dial upwards, but this really is a tiny and insignificant imperfection, so it should not be refinished. The hours are marked with Deco style Arabic numerals in black with the outer minute ring simply marked with black lines sub divided into fifths for the spilt seconds with Red Arabic numerals at intervals of 5. The ordinary running seconds are indicated by the subsidiary dial at 6 o'clock. The hands are all in excellent condition. The hour and minute hands are fine pierced gilt or gold, one centre seconds hand is gilt or gold with a circular end, whilst the other is blued steel with a fancy end fitting perfectly over the top of the circular gilt one. This allows the two to be easily differentiated when split. The subsidiary hands are gilt. All hands are in fine condition. One of the most visually perfect dials I have ever seen for this age and type. THE CRYSTAL                                        is a later plastic replacement and you may wish to source a bevelled crystal or have one cut which doesn't cost very much. THE CASE                                        is a SOLID 18K GOLD item with a nice Art Deco style to it. It is overall plain polished .... it could be mirror polished if desired. It is in excellent overall condition. The back is of hinged type and snaps in place firmly. It is unsigned, but I am certain it is an original factory case ( it is certainly original to the movement and bears the same number ). The pendant, bow and winding crown are all in excellent condition. The only small flaws I can find with this case are 3 tiny edge dinks in the band and the inner cuvette has clearly had an inscription polished out. Otherwise this case is perfect and substantial. The front bezel, rear cover and cuvette are all hinged and all hinges are firm and all covers open and close as they should. Overall diameter excluding the winding crown and slide is about 48mm ( 50mm with the slide ) and about 15 mm thick including the crystal ( will be slightly slimmer with the new crystal ). This is a very stylish and substantial watch case with a beautiful feel. IN SUMMARY                                       a MAGNIFICENT and FABULOUSLY RARE MINUTE REPEATER, SPLIT SECONDS FLYBACK CHRONOGRAPH WITH 30 MINUTE RECORDING, Pocket Watch dating from around 1910 in AMAZING condition by the ULTRA HIGH QUALITY MAKERS TOUCHON & Co for a very high end retailer in perfect working order and in a SOLID 18K YELLOW GOLD CASE.....   PLEASE ASK QUESTIONS IF YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT ANYTHING.   IF YOU ARE A ZERO RATER, I WILL REMOVE YOUR BID IF YOU DON'T CONTACT ME BEFORE BIDDING. BEST WISHES. GERMAN POINTERS FOREVER !!!      REMEMBER ... I WILL PERMIT 14 DAYS FOR YOU TO ARRANGE FUNDS, BUT I DO WANT AT LEAST A 5% DEPOSIT VIA PAYPAL PRETTY QUICKLY AFTER THE AUCTION TO INDICATE YOUR SERIOUS INTENTIONS.      Note Regarding Paypal Payments.       Ebay now require sellers to accept Paypal for all listings, however, if you pay by Paypal and I am unhappy about the Paypal transaction in any way, I will reject your payment and cancel the transaction. If the listing is a sale on behalf of a friend, I will only permit a deposit by Paypal, the bulk will have to be paid by other means as I am not willing to risk chargebacks where I have transferred payments to third parties. On conclusion of the auction, payment may be made by Paypal (but see above note ), cheque, bankers draft, postal or money order, direct payment or wire transfer into my UK bank account, details of which will be given to the winning bidder on request. MY AUCTIONS ARE TRANSACTED IN GB POUNDS UNLESS THE LISTING IS ON BEHALF OF ONE OF MY MANY AMERICAN FRIENDS WHEN US DOLLARS WILL BE SPECIFIED. Unless there is prior agreement, payment MUST be received within 14 days of close of auction or the item will first be offered to the second place bidder before being relisted. Items paid for by cheque will not be shipped until payment has cleared or you have a 100% feedback rating in excess of 50, in which case goods will be shipped immediately at my discretion. My rates for insured shipping and cost of secure packaging assuming a packed weight not greater than 500g are.......                               £ 7.50 GB Pounds Next Day Special Delivery within the United Kingdom                             £ 10.50 GB Pounds rest of the World International Signed For.  Delivery 7 to 14 working days usually. I HAVE NEVER HAD A ROYAL MAIL INTERNATIONAL SIGNED FOR PACKET GO ASTRAY IN 6 YEARS OF SENDING THOUSANDS OF WATCHES ACROSS THE GLOBE ....... *****************************************      PREMIUM INTERNATIONAL or EXPRESS DELIVERIES                      PLEASE NOTE :- I no longer offer premium express mail services for international deliveries as standard but will provide quotes on request.                           This is due to the fact that prices have increased to an unacceptably high level and also, NO ONE in the Express business and I mean NO ONE offers insurance on watches shipped internationally if their value exceeds about £ 100 and in some cases, this figure is much less. It is also the case that if the value of a watch is declared on the customs slip to exceed this figure, then officially, the company can refuse to handle it.  So, if you want it fast, then you can have it, but it won't be fully insured by the courier.                            Some companies will actually sell insurance above this level, but if you check their small print, they will not pay out in respect of watches valued above this figure. I don't care if your local shipping office tells you they do, because I have checked all of them and they don't !!!. ( FEDEX, DHL, PARCELFORCE, UPS,  ETC ETC ) So I suggest that you ensure you have your own insurance cover in place if purchasing high value watches and you may also wish to enquire why some sellers charge enormous amounts for insurance which is not actually valid.                           I will not enter into pointless communication with people who tell me that their local shipper does offer insurance on valuable watches as clearly, they don't know what they are talking about......... so don't bother E mailing me on the subject as I will just delete it.  ***************************************** DON'T WORRY TOO MUCH THOUGH BECAUSE AS STATED ABOVE I HAVE NEVER HAD A ROYAL MAIL INTERNATIONAL SIGNED FOR PACKET GO ASTRAY IN 6 YEARS OF SENDING THOUSANDS OF WATCHES ACROSS THE GLOBE. NOTE ...... The delivery times above are from me getting the packed item to the shipping depot or Post Office ...... not from when you pay. I generally ship the day after cleared payment is received. I DO COMBINE MULTIPLE ITEMS TO REDUCE SHIPPING COSTS, BUT SOMETIMES HAVE TO SLIGHTLY INCREASE CHARGES DEPENDING ON WEIGHT.  THESE RATES ARE NOT NEGOTIABLE AND WILL BE ADDED TO THE WINNING BID FOR THE TOTAL AMOUNT DUE......... I RESERVE THE RIGHT TO INCREASE THE CHARGES DUE TO ANY UNUSUAL SHIPPING REQUESTS OR IF THE ITEM IS OF PARTICULARLY HIGH VALUE.......... ANY EXTRA CHARGES WILL ONLY BE THOSE CHARGED TO ME BY THE POST OFFICE.......... I DO NOT PROFITEER FROM SHIPPING RATES ! I accept returns within 14 days of receipt only if the item is found to differ SIGNIFICANTLY from the item listing and if it is returned EXACTLY AS SUPPLIED, IF AND ONLY IF THERE IS NO EVIDENCE OF DISMANTLING WHATSOEVER. My items are however accurately described, so if you do not want it, do not bid for it. I do not refund postage charges and I do not pay customs fees or local taxes for which you are liable. I do not run an approval service. Thank you. Who am I and what are my credentials ? .....  I have recently started to dispose of my entire antique and precision watch collection in order to concentrate on working my German Pointer gundogs, so many of my recent transactions will be in relation to 4WD parts and hunting equipment, however, you can see my watch sales by clicking on the 'feedback as a seller' section of my feedback profile....I have made my recent sales private as some have been for high value items. You will of course recognise the user names of many of my buyers as the watch collecting community is fairly small.  I was a very enthusiastic collector of watches living in England.  I have over 30 years of experience and was particularly interested in highly stylised Art Deco watches.  I am also a trained engineer and so appreciate watches of complex and fine manufacture of whatever era.  Almost all of the watches I offer for sale were originally part of my collection or purchased for the sake of study. I occasionally sell items on behalf of close friends who are not quite up to speed with eBay or who are just too busy to sell for themselves.  I also have an avid interest in precious metals and gemstones.  I provide honest descriptions of the items I offer for sale.  I have hundreds of repeat customers across the Globe and aim to make your eBay experience as enjoyable as possible regardless of the size of transaction. Restoration Policy ...... my restoration policy is quite simple..... I don't !!!!.  To me a restored thing is a new thing and not to my liking.  Unless there is no other option ( i.e. the item is regarded as 'too far gone' ) , I do not ever restore items that I place for sale as I would rather the eventual decision whether to restore or not rests with the final owner.  Some people totally destroy hundreds of years of history just so they can offer a visually perfect item for sale.  To me, imperfections and patina are what antiques and vintage items are all about, so the items you buy from me may have had a light clean if necessary, but that is all.  Any defects listed are to be taken as guides and not considered as exhaustive. If you want to contact me, please use the 'E mail seller' link near the top right of the listing. I will generally get back to you within 24 hours unless the answer to your question is contained in the listing....in which case I may not !!. On 01-Dec-08 at 14:00:19 GMT, seller added the following information: Sellers: Get your own map today. Click here now. Simple." Place a Bid!