Manufacturer: Daniel Roth Year: Circa 1995 Case No: N°9 Model Name: Split Seconds Chronograph Material: 18k pink gold Calibre: Manual, based on Angelus 179, 26 jewels Bracelet/Strap: Alligator Clasp/Buckle: 18k pink gold Daniel Roth pin buckle Dimensions: 39mm width X 42mm length Signed: Case, dial, movement and buckle signed
Catalogue Essay
Daniel Roth was not only an incredibly talented watchmaker but also an artist who created a design language with his ellipsocurvex case shape, hands with pointed tips and dials with a horizontal or Clous de Paris guilloché patterns, he was also a man with deep historical watchmaking knowledge and his finger on the pulse of the market. He was also a pioneer as he was one the earliest master watchmakers who decided to branch out and go "independent" with his vision in 1987 after having revived the Breguet brand.
We are delighted to offer one of Roth's most elusive watches as to the best of our research the present split seconds chronograph is the first ever to appear in an international auction market in the past two decades.
In the early 1990s a batch of vintage Venus 179 split seconds chronograph ebauches were found in the Vallée de Joux in Switzerland and used by some brands including Girard-Perregaux and Ulysse Nardin to create a small number of wristwatches using this iconic model.
Another to use this movement was Daniel Roth who had already introduced his manual winding chronograph ref C147 using a Lemania base and the moopusher chronohtraph using a vintage Lemania 2220 caliber.
According to scholarship Roth made only 60 of these split second chronographs making it part if the rarest models ever made by him.
The present example offered by the original owner and fresh to the market offers the rare opportunity of obtaining a model so rare that not only none has been seen on the international market for at least the turn of the millennium but of which very few photos can be found.