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拍品专文
The present watch appears to be the only existing timepiece made by Patek et Czapek embellished with an engraved scene taken from a drawing owned by Patek Philippe in Geneva5. The drawing is by François le Villain and depicts the dethronement of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia by the Polish Senate in 1831. It bears the stamp “Patek et Czapek Fque d’Horlogerie à Genève” (fig. 1).
The inside of the back cover is engraved with a Polish inscription (fig. 2) translating to:
To Klemens Dwenicki6
29 November 1844
Godfather Jan Ledochowski
Klemens Dwernicki7 (1841 - ?) was the son of the Polish general Józef Dwernicki (1779-1857) and his second wife Alina de Broc. The general and Jan Ledochowski (1791-1864, member of parliament in Warsaw from 1825 to 1831), were not only friends but both were members of the Polish senate which dethronized Tsar Nicholas I in 1831. Both are depicted on the back of the watch.
It is a remarkable story to discover an early watch by Patek Philippe with the decorative inspiration still hanging on the firm’s wall. The remarkability is further enhanced by a puzzle which the receiver of the watch must have tried to solve, a puzzle clearly intended by Ledochowski for his godson: which one, among the dozens of people depicted in the scene, was his father and which one was his godfather?
THE DIAL
At the time, the majority of Patek & Czapek dials were made of silver with champlevé Roman numerals. Enamel dials existed, for instance in No. 161, but were quite rare. They were often ordered from Chenevard who charged less than 10CHF. The hands were almost always Breguet in style, made mostly in steel, as in this watch, but also in gold. They were bought in bulk and installed by Czapek or one of his helpers.
THE MOVEMENT
The movement is of fire-gilded brass with cylinder escapement, key wound and key set. The company used this ébauche often and purchased it from Deloche, Louis Audemars, or Piguet Frères. Their cost was around 20CHF.
THE CASE
The case is of 18K yellow gold with hinged cuvette and an engraved back cover. The company, at the time, used different casemakers, such as Chappuis or Oltramare. Some marked their cases with their trademarks, usually in a form of their initials, while some did not. The cost of the case was the most expensive singular item in the production of time-only watches but it would cost less than 100CHF for a watch like that.
THE DECORATION
When the case was ready it was to be decorated. This could have had many forms, one of which was engraving. The company at the time had very strong Polish connections. In a letter to Princess Czartoryska, Patek wrote:
“…recommend us, we can satisfy those coming to our national Polish manufactory, which one day we will move to our Motherland".1
In an outward sign of these ties, the shop was decorated with Polish engravings and paintings, some of which served as inspirations for the engravings on the backs of watch cases. The vast majority of these engravings were dispersed over the years2. There were not many that were left in the company3. Therefore, we do not know what art hanging on the company’s walls inspired Patek and Czapek for their cases.
One of the surviving engravings in the Patek Philippe archives is by François le Villian depicting dethronement of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia by the Polish Senate. It is marked with Patek et Czapek’s stamp. This engraving was the inspiration for the decoration of this watch. The engraving of the case, most likely, was entrusted to Markowski, whom Patek and Czapek often used for this type of decoration4.
Dethronement of Tsar Nicholas I
In 1815 the Congress of Vienna, convened after the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte, decided to create a Kingdom of Poland. Through the person of the Tsar, it was joined in a personal union with Russia. The Tsar and King in a single person, Alexander I, guaranteed the new Kingdom its own constitution, along with a separate government, Sejm (parliament), army, and treasury. However, the Tsar soon began to suppress the freedoms awarded to the Polish people. Nor did his younger brother and successor, Nicholas I, crowned King of Poland in 1828, intend to honour those freedoms. These developments led to an insurrection that broke out on 29 November 1830 – the November Uprising. Because the initiative to launch the November Uprising came from the milieu of officer cadets of the Kingdom of Poland’s army and was ill-prepared politically, during the first phase of the Uprising power was held by people connected with the existing regime who saw no chance for success in the clash with Russia. Thus, they endeavored to resolve the conflict through negotiations with Tsar Nicholas I and thereby to extinguish the Uprising.
Influenced by the radical patriotic sentiments sweeping the streets of Warsaw, the deputies to the Sejm resolved unanimously on 25 January 1831 to remove Nicholas I from the throne of Poland. This was tantamount to severing the personal union between the Russian Empire and Poland, declaring the Kingdom’s independence, and continuing the war against Russia. All the attempts made by the Uprising’s interim authorities in December 1830 to agree terms with Russia thus came to naught.
Following the collapse of the November Uprising, the act on dethronement was whisked away to France and safeguarded there from the Russians, who sought to obtain and destroy it.
1 See Philip Poniz, Patek Philippe: The Forgotten Beginnings, VOX, Geneva, Spring 2003.
2 As well as the vast majority of early documents
3 In 1950’s, in Germany, over forty of them were offered at public auction.
4 Whose descendants established a well-known watch-case factory.
5 In Patek Philippe, the Authorized Biography by Nick Foulkes, London, 2016, on p. 16 is a reproduction of Le Villain’s painting still owned by Patek Philippe
6 There is a spelling mistake in the engraving: Klemens’ last name “Dwenicki” instead of “Dwernicki”
7 Klemens was the second of Józef’s three children with le Broc (Józef, Klemens, Jan). The marriage took place in Paris in 1835. Klemens was a young boy when he was presented with the watch.
The inside of the back cover is engraved with a Polish inscription (fig. 2) translating to:
To Klemens Dwenicki6
29 November 1844
Godfather Jan Ledochowski
Klemens Dwernicki7 (1841 - ?) was the son of the Polish general Józef Dwernicki (1779-1857) and his second wife Alina de Broc. The general and Jan Ledochowski (1791-1864, member of parliament in Warsaw from 1825 to 1831), were not only friends but both were members of the Polish senate which dethronized Tsar Nicholas I in 1831. Both are depicted on the back of the watch.
It is a remarkable story to discover an early watch by Patek Philippe with the decorative inspiration still hanging on the firm’s wall. The remarkability is further enhanced by a puzzle which the receiver of the watch must have tried to solve, a puzzle clearly intended by Ledochowski for his godson: which one, among the dozens of people depicted in the scene, was his father and which one was his godfather?
THE DIAL
At the time, the majority of Patek & Czapek dials were made of silver with champlevé Roman numerals. Enamel dials existed, for instance in No. 161, but were quite rare. They were often ordered from Chenevard who charged less than 10CHF. The hands were almost always Breguet in style, made mostly in steel, as in this watch, but also in gold. They were bought in bulk and installed by Czapek or one of his helpers.
THE MOVEMENT
The movement is of fire-gilded brass with cylinder escapement, key wound and key set. The company used this ébauche often and purchased it from Deloche, Louis Audemars, or Piguet Frères. Their cost was around 20CHF.
THE CASE
The case is of 18K yellow gold with hinged cuvette and an engraved back cover. The company, at the time, used different casemakers, such as Chappuis or Oltramare. Some marked their cases with their trademarks, usually in a form of their initials, while some did not. The cost of the case was the most expensive singular item in the production of time-only watches but it would cost less than 100CHF for a watch like that.
THE DECORATION
When the case was ready it was to be decorated. This could have had many forms, one of which was engraving. The company at the time had very strong Polish connections. In a letter to Princess Czartoryska, Patek wrote:
“…recommend us, we can satisfy those coming to our national Polish manufactory, which one day we will move to our Motherland".1
In an outward sign of these ties, the shop was decorated with Polish engravings and paintings, some of which served as inspirations for the engravings on the backs of watch cases. The vast majority of these engravings were dispersed over the years2. There were not many that were left in the company3. Therefore, we do not know what art hanging on the company’s walls inspired Patek and Czapek for their cases.
One of the surviving engravings in the Patek Philippe archives is by François le Villian depicting dethronement of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia by the Polish Senate. It is marked with Patek et Czapek’s stamp. This engraving was the inspiration for the decoration of this watch. The engraving of the case, most likely, was entrusted to Markowski, whom Patek and Czapek often used for this type of decoration4.
Dethronement of Tsar Nicholas I
In 1815 the Congress of Vienna, convened after the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte, decided to create a Kingdom of Poland. Through the person of the Tsar, it was joined in a personal union with Russia. The Tsar and King in a single person, Alexander I, guaranteed the new Kingdom its own constitution, along with a separate government, Sejm (parliament), army, and treasury. However, the Tsar soon began to suppress the freedoms awarded to the Polish people. Nor did his younger brother and successor, Nicholas I, crowned King of Poland in 1828, intend to honour those freedoms. These developments led to an insurrection that broke out on 29 November 1830 – the November Uprising. Because the initiative to launch the November Uprising came from the milieu of officer cadets of the Kingdom of Poland’s army and was ill-prepared politically, during the first phase of the Uprising power was held by people connected with the existing regime who saw no chance for success in the clash with Russia. Thus, they endeavored to resolve the conflict through negotiations with Tsar Nicholas I and thereby to extinguish the Uprising.
Influenced by the radical patriotic sentiments sweeping the streets of Warsaw, the deputies to the Sejm resolved unanimously on 25 January 1831 to remove Nicholas I from the throne of Poland. This was tantamount to severing the personal union between the Russian Empire and Poland, declaring the Kingdom’s independence, and continuing the war against Russia. All the attempts made by the Uprising’s interim authorities in December 1830 to agree terms with Russia thus came to naught.
Following the collapse of the November Uprising, the act on dethronement was whisked away to France and safeguarded there from the Russians, who sought to obtain and destroy it.
1 See Philip Poniz, Patek Philippe: The Forgotten Beginnings, VOX, Geneva, Spring 2003.
2 As well as the vast majority of early documents
3 In 1950’s, in Germany, over forty of them were offered at public auction.
4 Whose descendants established a well-known watch-case factory.
5 In Patek Philippe, the Authorized Biography by Nick Foulkes, London, 2016, on p. 16 is a reproduction of Le Villain’s painting still owned by Patek Philippe
6 There is a spelling mistake in the engraving: Klemens’ last name “Dwenicki” instead of “Dwernicki”
7 Klemens was the second of Józef’s three children with le Broc (Józef, Klemens, Jan). The marriage took place in Paris in 1835. Klemens was a young boy when he was presented with the watch.