EARLY 20TH CENTURY CLOCK, CARTIERImportant information about this lot
Price Realised CHF 30,000
Estimate
CHF 15,000 - CHF 25,000
Estimates do not reflect the final hammer price and do not include buyer's premium, any applicable taxes or artist's resale right. Please see the Conditions of Sale for full details.
RADIUM PAINT Radium (Ra) is a chemical element discovered by Marie and Pierre Curie on 21st December 1898. Combined with paint, it was used in the early 20th century on the dials and the hands of clocks, allowing the time to be read at night without using electricity. Typically the radium dials were painted by young women, using their tongues to sharpen brushes before painting fine lines. Unfortunately due to the strong radioactivity of radium this lead to serious jaw-bone diseases. In 1925 in the United States a group of these women got together, the Radium Girls, and sued. By 1930 all dial painters stopped pointing their brushes to their mouth. Nowadays the most common substance used to make dials luminesce is Super Luminova, which is a barely radioactive substance.
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You have agreed to be bound by the Conditions of Sale and if your bid is successful, you are legally obliged to pay for the lot you have won. The purchase price for a successful bid will be the sum of your final bid plus a buyer’s premium, any applicable taxes and any artist resale royalty, exclusive of shipping-related expenses.
Condition report
A Christie's specialist may contact you to discuss this lot or to notify you if the condition changes prior to the sale.
The condition of lots can vary widely and the nature of the lots sold means that they are unlikely to be in a perfect condition. Lots are sold in the condition they are in at the time of sale.
- Overall condition fair. Traces of tarnish to the metal. Gross weight: 443 gr. - O.Bachet & A. Cartier, 2020, expertise no. BC2003-44: Art Deco desk clock, Cartier Paris, circa 1935. Particularity: this clock, with its assertive geometrical shape and simplified decorations, is very representative of Cartier's watchmaking production in the early 1930s. Moreover, the use of a stand to place a standard square hardstone clock is certainly unusual as is the use of reddish jasper and malachite in Cartier's production. - The case has been later replaced. Movement signed European Watch & Co. - Dial signed Cartier France. - The dial stained and tarnished. - The luminous accents on the dial are slightly worn, reacting strongly to Geiger. The hands are later made and reacting slightly to Geiger. - The jasper in good condition. - Some losses to the enamel throughout. - The malachites in good condition, a few chips, traces of glue. - Movement ticking at time of cataloguing, working order and timekeeping cannot be guaranteed at time of purchase. - Please see Important Notice at the back of the catalogue for all clocks and watches and regarding coloured stones.
Cost calculator
Lot 65Sale 19662
EARLY 20TH CENTURY CLOCK, CARTIEREstimate: CHF 15,000 - 25,000
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