GrandCliff TNT BelCanto
History of the BelCanto movement
In 2007, Pierre Dubois, Managing Director of Pierre DeRoche, while hunting through the treasures harboured by an antique dealer friend of his, discovered some 19th century pocket-watch movement blanks with hour & quarter repeater and chronograph. As a worthy heir to four generations of brilliant watchmakers, his curiosity was naturally aroused by this discovery, and he decided to buy them.
In search of the movement origins
He showed them to his father, Gérald Dubois, a retired watchmaker still passionately dedicated to his art, and the latter naturally set about examining them in order to find their origin. Right from the start, Gérald Dubois was convinced they were LeCoultre movements, despite the lack of formal proof. Building on his certainty, he undertook a systematic comparison of one of these movements with the certified LeCoultre pocket-watches in his personal collection. The similarities were striking, but the precious “maker's mark” could not be found.
Gérald Dubois then took an interest in the 8172 patent number engraved on the mainplate. His research led to a decisive breakthrough when he consulted the Swiss federal registers which show a patent for a “New watch with pendant winding” dated May 5th 1894 and granted by the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property to Numa Robert-Waelti, a watchmaker in La Chaux-de-Fonds.
Looking for Numa Robert-Waelti
Gérald and Pierre Dubois then began retracing the history of this watchmaker. They consulted Daniel Aubert, a watchmaking historian based in the Vallée de Joux. They also sought advice from Mr Piguet, curator of the Watchmaking Museum in La Chaux-de-Fonds. Nobody knew anything of Numa Robert-Waelti.
Gérald Dubois went back to work and outlined the possible history of these movements:
LeCoultre produced the movements in the late 19th century and delivered them to établisseurs, watch manufacturers who assembled the various parts of a watch.
While these établisseurs were generally well-known brands, this was not the case for Numa Robert-Waelti. It is thus probable that the latter bought up LeCoultre movements, made certain modifications – such as the one bearing patent number 8172 – and then sold them to établisseurs.
These over 100 year-old movements have probably changed hands several times before an antique dealer found them and in turn sold them to Pierre DeRoche.
This scenario seemed plausible, and kind of came full circle. But there was still no proof that these movements did indeed come from the workshops of the Manufacture in Le Sentier…
The “LeCoultre & Co” maker's mark finally shows up
It was not until Gérald Dubois began taking the movements apart that the precious token of origin finally appeared. Engraved beneath the barrel bridge, and totally invisible on the assembled movement, was the “LeCoultre & Co” maker's mark.
Technical specifications of the BelCanto
Movement : Hand-wound PDR Calibre 4013 with “Maltese Cross” barrel-spring stopwork, originally made by LeCoultre & Co, modified by Numa Robert-Waelti (patent registered in 1894), 22 jewels, 18,800 vph, 2.5 Hz, Breguet-type balance-spring, balance with screws, circular-grained mainplate, bridges adorned with “Côtes de Genève”, sunburst barrel, chamfered and circular satin-brushed wheels, openworked hour and minute wheels and lower balance bridge, 30-hour power reserve.
diameter: 43.7 mm, 19 lignes, 9.2 mm thick
Functions : Hours, minutes, seconds, quarter repeater and one-minute column-wheel chronograph
Case : 18-carat rose gold, 55.5 mm in diameter
18-carat rose gold pushers, crown and crown guard
back and upper bezel fitted with 2 sapphire crystals
repeater slide at 9 o'clock
water-resistant to 30 metres
Dial : Sapphire crystal
coloured by metallization; laser engraving
hour-markers created by galvanic growth
18-carat rose gold hour, minute and seconds hands
Strap: Crocodile leather, folding clasp with 18-carat rose gold cap and grade 2 titanium fold-out piece
Limited edition: Series of three
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