TRAVAIL SUISSE

No. 217 "Le Chien Aboyant" Gold watch with automaton featuring a "barking dog" Round case on hinge, fluted caseband with safety catch for the automaton function by triggering the pendant, numbered gold bowl, smooth back, inside a master stamp "D.D.". Dial with translucent blue enamel background, off-center hours and minutes indication, silvered background in a frame of flower garlands, Roman numerals and beaded minute track, an automaton dog with moving head making the sound of barking facing a basket of flowers with two doves. Mechanical movement with key winding, cylinder escapement, three-armed balance wheel, spiral spring, advance/delay adjustment on the balance wheel bridge. Diameter 55.5 mm Gross weight. 119.4 gr This watch with a "Barking Dog" automaton is attributed to the famous Swiss manufacturers Piguet & Meylan. The partnership between these two well-known watchmakers produced some of the finest timepieces with automata and chiming mechanisms of the early 19th century, some of which are now in major collections, like the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva. Very few have come down to us series of these watches have numbers below 300, like the one here, which is no. 217. This automaton is unusual as it reproduces the sound of a barking dog beyond the moving head by means of a striking mechanism.