Pocket watch: unique, historically significant Cartier ‘Shutter’ gold/enamel minute repeater No. 3154 for the Tsar’s court, Paris 1818

287-4159  Pocket watch: unique, historically significant Cartier ‘Shutter’ gold/enamel minute repeater No. 3154 for the Tsar’s court, Paris 1818

Historically significant, very fine and slim pocket watch with minute repeater and shutter-covered dial, a unique and historically valuable gift manufactured by Cartier for the Russian imperial court under Nicholas II – with original red Cartier leather case featuring an embossed Russian double-headed eagle and extract from the archives! ca. Ø47mm, 66.5g, 18K gold, dial concealed by the ‘shutter mechanism’, opens via a button on the pendant, beneath which lies the signed, engine-turned dial; dial cover featuring a blue enamelled monogram ‘OHC’ (Otis H. Cutler), beneath which is an engraved presentation monogram ‘from H.P.D.’ (Henry Pomeroy Davison), engraved year 1919 beneath the pendant, the reverse featuring a central translucent red enamelled cross on a white ground, recessed slide for striking, pressed back, very fine bridge movement, 2 hammers, 2 gongs, gold-screw-mounted balance wheel, in superb condition and in working order. Records from the Cartier archives indicate that the watch was originally intended as a gift for a member of the Russian imperial family, prior to the assassination of Tsar Nicholas II and his entire family on 17 July 1918. The imperial family had close ties to the Russian Red Cross, a fact that was also reflected in the commission of the so-called “Red Cross Egg”; Fabergé created the egg, which features portraits of Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna and her two eldest daughters, in 1915. The egg is now part of the Lillian Thomas Pratt Collection at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Due to the Russian Revolution, the watch was never delivered and remained in Cartier’s inventory. The archives reveal that the initials “OHC” were applied in blue enamel on the instructions of Henry Pomeroy Davison, who purchased the watch on 13 May 1919. Henry Pomeroy Davison was a well-known figure in the world of high finance – he was a partner at JP Morgan Bank in New York and president of the American Red Cross. In the course of his work, he was on a mission to Russia in 1917 and travelled to France in the spring of 1919. There he acquired the Cartier watch and had it inscribed with the initials of his employee and confidant, Otis H. Cutler. The watch comes with the original Cartier extract from the archives, which confirms the authenticity of the original box bearing the Imperial Eagle. Provenance: Sotheby’s Geneva 2009 with extensive documentation on its history; estimated price at the time CHF 80,000 to CHF 120,000