THE
COIN - #005
SLOT
JANUARY
1975
Coin Slot Magazine
- 1975 - January [International
Arcade Museum]
one of the iinest and most diverse collections of watches ever ass
embled.
making,
The exhibition, entitled Four Hunched YeiUJr of Watch
is on view at the Rolex Building. (•;!") Fifth .*vi>. . l\i\
.York City, through December 197-1
It consists of about 128 dii-
L: rent pieces on loan iron) the Metropolitan Museum of Art (N. 3f.)
the Zalr Collection. the Wilsdoil Collation (nnei1 ]^ fore mj«mi
(-■J1;-idr of Geneva), and the collection of Di . Anthony BeniF.
Theoi etically the collection is oilview by invitation u\ ly ln.t ir
practice ai.; me may £0 to the Rolex Buildin):. and aftei tinung
in. wi 11 be permitted to see the exhibit. Upon entering each guest
is handed a very expensively printed full color book of about 100
pageF, which illustrates almost all of the pieces on display. The
book it1 elf would probably cost $10 if it wcro for sale, but the
nice folks at Rolex insist upon giving it away. A pleasant devi
ation from othe norm of today's standards.
Tin oldest watch shown is a late Kith Century Gc i man striking
clockwalch. It has a single hand (for thohourb). ; . i touchpioros
on the dial to be used as feelers whentrying todet( i nine 1 lie* time
ii the dnrK Probably the prettiest ot the lot is a mid-17th Century
£ )ld enameled dress watch with n catgut fusee mo\ < ment by Thom
as Williamson of London. The bassine case is painted inside and
out in multicolored enamel bjr Huaud Le Puisne (1665-1723).
1 here are mythological landscapes inside, and the back shows
Cleopatra and the 4fP-
Two very interesting watches, both
circa 1700, are unique in the fact that they.-each have an aperture
in the dial through which may be viewed jxn traits of contempoi-
ary stage personae. Oh the one by Baitazard Faure of Geneva,
the tigures move by depressing the pendant. On the ether, Ly
Denis Miroglio, also Geneva, the pictures move automatically
as the hands turn.
To this writer,
Both are extremely rare,
and beautiful.
the most impressive watch there is one
that I have always hoped to own someday.
It is unsigned, but
typical of Vaucher of Geneva, circa 1830. On the white enamel
dial is a gold figure of Chronos, Greek mythological deity of
Time. She has two moving arms; the one on the left continually
pointing
to the hours, and the one on the right pointing to the
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ttp:/ , circa 1890. This type became
mintucs.
This is a very rare piece. The last time that I saw
one for sale was in London in 1969. It commanded $10.hU0.
Amidst all of these priceless gems was a real surprise.
There, among all the gold and enamel cased rarities was one
of the original dollar watches by R. A. Ingersoll & Bros., Wat-
v ?Uch that
display,
made the dollar famous"
known as "The
Being the final watrh on
it was a very imaginative way of bringine the ex
hibit to aclose.
I wish to thahk the Rolex folks for treating me to such a
© The International Arcade Museum
pleasant afternoon.
http://www.arcade-museum.com/
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