BEGIN:VCALENDAR PRODID:-//eluceo/ical//2.0/EN VERSION:2.0 CALSCALE:GREGORIAN BEGIN:VEVENT UID:0e338bd3b4b260eb7ff4ed6d8e0859f7 DTSTAMP:20260404T074719Z SUMMARY:dent-london - Date de vente : 08/12/2025 DESCRIPTION:Nom du lots : Dent\, London\n\nMovement: frosted gilded three- quarter plate two-train movement\, ratchet-tooth lever escapement mounted on a one-minute tourbillon carriage\, Nielsen type 1 cage with polished st epped arms and bridge\, bi-metallic compensation balance with timing and p oising screws\, tria-in-uno balance spring\, chronograph and split-mechani sm partially visible to the backplate\, signed Dent\, Watchmaker to Her L ate Majesty\, 33 Cockspur St\, London\, no. 32274\n\nDial: white enamel d ial attributed to Willis\, Roman numerals\, four subsidiary dials indicati ng day\, date and months calibrated for four-year leap cycle combined with 60-minute register\, subsidiary seconds combined with aperture for moon p hases\, the moon age calibrated to its edge\, outer scale for minutes/chro nograph seconds calibrated to fifths and with Arabic 5-minute markers\, si gned Dent 33 Cockspur St \, London 32274\n\nCase: 18k yellow gold case\, large pusher beside crown for engaging winding\, slides in the band for s electing strike/silent\, hours & quarters/quarters only\, and trip repetit ion\, recessed pushers for calendar correction\, hinged gold cuvette\, Lon don hallmarks for 1901-2\, sponsor’s mark RN for Robert Benson North tra ding as Nicole\, Nielsen & Co.\, case back numbered 32274\, cuvette number ed 74\n\nSigned: dial and movement signed Dent\, case and cuvette stampe d RN for Robert Benson North trading as Nicole\, Nielsen & Co.\n\nDiamet er: 66.5 mm\n\nDepth: 25.5 mm\n\nHarold P. Berger.\n\nPurchased from the above in 1970 via E. Greenberg\, New York and Edgar Mannheimer\, Zurich.\n \nMercer\, Vaudrey\, Edward John Dent and His Successors\, Antiquarian Hor ological Society\, 1977\, p. 682 & 707.\n\nAmong the most exceptional\, co stly\, and mechanically complex timepieces of its era\, this remarkable wa tch stands as one of the most significant achievements of English horology at the turn of the twentieth century.\n\nNicole\, Nielsen & Co.\, who sup plied the movement to Dent in 1901\,[i] were the only English manufacturer to produce tourbillon watches incorporating additional complications such as chronograph\, minute repetition and perpetual calendar.[ii] Within the extensive individually numbered references of watches recorded in Vaudrey Mercer’s monograph on Dent\, the present example is the only piece by t he firm noted by the author to combine a tourbillon with the function of a clock watch. Furthermore\, it is distinguished by the additional complica tions of minute repetition\, perpetual calendar with moon phases\, and spl it seconds chronograph.\n\nThe well-known Nicole\, Nielsen & Co. wholesale catalogue of slightly later date (circa 1910) does not illustrate this ex act configuration\; the closest example\, featuring similar complications but crucially without a tourbillon\, was priced at £240 - the highest fig ure among the listed watches. For context\, a first-quality\, 18-carat gol d open-faced lever watch in the same catalogue was priced at £25. However \, a watch incorporating a tourbillon\, such as the present example\, had it been included\, would have been illustrated within the section marked “price on application”\, reserved for the firm’s most complex and co stly pieces\, with a markedly higher price.\n\nAs a measure of the impecca ble finishing lavished on the movement\, this watch includes the rarely se en tria-in-uno balance spring\, a form of hairspring that was notoriously difficult to make\, requiring exceptional skill on the part of the springe r to avoid distortion when forming and hardening both ends of the spiral. The invention\, by John Hammersley\, is discussed by David Boettcher in Th e Horological Journal (July 2018). The tria-in-uno was devised in 1860 to overcome the problem of “acceleration” in new chronometers\, where bal ance springs hardened and bent after tempering would initially gain rate b efore stabilising. Hammersley’s solution was a spring that required no b ending after hardening\, thereby avoiding internal stress. His design comb ined three elements in one: a central helical (cylindrical) section with f lat spiral coils at both the top and bottom\, which could be pinned direct ly to the collet and stud. This ingenious construction gave the tria-in-un o all the advantages of a cylindrical spring - excellent isochronism\, sta ble timekeeping\, and freedom from acceleration - while remaining relative ly slim\, making it particularly well suited to compact\, high-grade watch es such as this. From this concept emerged the duo-in-uno\, a simplified f orm retaining the helical section but with only one flat spiral coil inste ad of two. Introduced in 1862\, it was exhibited by John McLennan and A.P. Walsh\, both of whom claimed its invention. Hammersley\, however\, mainta ined that it was simply derived from his own tria-in-uno\, remarking that it could be made “by cutting one end off.”\n\nNicole\, Nielsen & Co.\n \nNicole\, Nielsen & Co. traces its origins to Adolphe Nicole’s partners hip with Henry Capt in Geneva around 1837\, when the firm was first known as Nicole & Capt. By 1840\, they had established a London branch at 80B De an Street\, Soho and in 1843 were already supplying watches to Dent. In Oc tober the following year Adolphe Nicole applied for a patent which include d his groundbreaking keyless winding and hand setting system. The patent ( no. 10348) was granted on 12 April 1845 and helped lay the foundation for the firm’s reputation for technical refinement and mechanical complexity . Further patents followed\, enhancing their position among the foremost w atchmakers in Britain.\n\nIn 1858\, the company relocated to 14 Soho Squar e\, where it would remain for the rest of its existence. Sophus Emil Niels en - a talented Danish watchmaker who married Nicole’s daughter in 1872 joined the company. He brought new ideas and secured Patent No. 13\,336 in 1884 for his “Up-and-Down” power-reserve indicator mechanism. The com pany became known as Nicole\, Nielsen & Co.\, continuing its tradition of innovation and high-grade craftsmanship.\n\nDuring the late 19th century\, Nicole\, Nielsen & Co. earned an enviable reputation for producing precis ion and complication movements\, including chronographs\, perpetual calend ars\, and tourbillons\, which were supplied to distinguished firms such as Dent\, Charles Frodsham and S. Smith & Son. The firm became a limited com pany in 1888 and continued to expand under Robert Benson North\, who assum ed leadership from 1898. Under North’s direction\, the company diversifi ed and included ventures into tourbillon carriage clocks and\, later\, aut omotive instruments such as speedometers\, adapting to the technological c hanges of the early 20th century.\n\nBy the 1920s\, following the disrupti on of World War I\, the company had shifted its focus primarily to speedom eter production and\, in 1917\, was renamed North & Sons Ltd. The firm’s watchmaking operations gradually declined\, and by 1934 the factory at 14 Soho Square closed\, marking the end of Nicole\, Nielsen & Co. as one of Britain’s most accomplished horological manufacturers.\n\nDent\n\nEdward John Dent was born in 1790 and apprenticed at the age of fourteen to his grandfather\, a tallow chandler. During this period he lodged with his cou sin Richard Rippon\, a watchmaker\, whose influence inspired his interest in horology. With his grandfather’s consent\, he transferred the remaind er of his apprenticeship in 1807 to Edward Gaudin\, a London watchmaker. D ent quickly established himself as an outstanding craftsman and\, between 1815 and 1829\, worked as a chronometer maker for several leading British firms\, including Vulliamy\, Barraud\, and McCabe.\n\nBy 1830\, Dent’s r eputation was such that John Roger Arnold invited him into partnership at 84 Strand\, London - a collaboration that lasted ten years. In 1831\, Dent was admitted to the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers and became a Freema n of the City of London. In 1840\, he established his own business at 82 S trand\, and by 1843 had opened further premises at 33 Cockspur Street\, th e address appearing on the dial of the present watch.\n\nEdward Dent died in 1853\, leaving his business to his two stepsons\, Frederick and Richard Rippon\, on condition that they adopt his surname. Frederick managed the firm’s premises at the Royal Exchange and the Strand\, while Richard too k charge of the Cockspur Street branch. Neither long outlived their stepfa ther - Richard died three years later and Frederick after seven - whereupo n their respective businesses passed to their widows and sisters. Richard ’s branch continued under his widow Marianna Frederica Dent as M. F. Den t\, while Frederick’s was inherited by his mother and sisters\, Elizabet h and Amelia.\n\nAmong Edward John Dent’s many achievements\, he is best remembered as the clockmaker awarded the contract to build the Great West minster Clock\, popularly known today as “Big Ben”\, housed in the Eli zabeth Tower at the Palace of Westminster.\n\n[i] Mercer\, Vaudrey\, Edwar d John Dent and His Successors\, Antiquarian Horological Society\, 1977\, p. 707.\n\n[ii] Pierantonio Maragna\, Nicole\, Nielsen Watchmakers\, Self Published\, 2025\, p. 148. DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251208 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR