Derek Pratt for Urban Jürgensen - The Geneva Watch Auction: XVII Geneva Saturday, May 13, 2023 | Phillips

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    • Manufacturer: Derek Pratt for Urban Jürgensen
      Year: Circa 1985
      Movement No: 3021
      Case No: 3021
      Material: 18K yellow gold
      Calibre: Manual, based on vintage Louis-Elysée Piguet ebauche, jeweled
      Dimensions: 59mm Diameter
      Signed: Case, dial and movement signed
      Accessories: Accompanied by Urban Jürgensen & Sønner fitted box, blank Urban Jürgensen & Sønner Certificate of Origin and outer packaging.

    • Catalogue Essay

      Derek Pratt is most certainly one of the most revered watchmakers of the past 5 decades. A British horologist, Pratt was a contemporary of George Daniels with whom he had long telephone conversations each Sunday, where each exchanged experiences and challenges they faced in their respective pursuit of chronometry. Even though not officially recognized by Daniels, the latter consulted Pratt on many of his innovations and Pratt even made some components for him.

      A watchmaker who spent his life studying the old masters such as Breguet or Tompion and mastering their techniques, Pratt never signed his watches, even under the newly reborn Urban Jürgensen & Sönner brand, where he was the technical director from 1982 to 2005. Urban Jürgensen was considered as one of the greatest watchmakers of the 19th century. Appointed to the court of Denmark, he established himself in Switzerland catering to monarchs, aristocrats and the greats of Europe. His name was abandoned in the early 20th century - even though workshops in Copenhagen were maintained all along- but brought back to life by watchmaker and entrepreneur Peter Baumberger, who first bought the name in 1979 and then the whole company in 1985.

      Pratt designed complications for Urban Jürgensen and even created the brand’s beautiful guilloché dials. However, his true passion laid in pocket watches - a passion that materialized under the form of the superb pocket watches he made for the brand using only traditional techniques and no CNC machines. The movement is based on a heavily modified vintage Louis-Elysée Piguet ebauche, with every of its components, from the bridges to the tiniest of screws, involves manual labor, may it be adjusted tolerances, polishing, angling and so on. Pratt’s attention to detail is exemplified in the fact that even the underdial components that remain hidden are finished to the same standards. The incredible guilloché dial was also hand made by Pratt, a painstaking manual work that took him close to a week to finish. The case is also hand made with a cavalcade of subtle details making it a work of art on to its own. Pratt made only 14 perpetual calendar minute repeater pocket watches and only 4 in the present configuration with a hunter stye case adding an extra element of rarity and collectability if ever there was a need. An ode to traditional artisanal watchmaking in its purest and most exciting form the present masterpiece is a must have.

184

A superlative yellow gold hunter case perpetual calendar minute repeating pocket watch and presentation box, one of only 4 made

Circa 1985
59mm Diameter
Case, dial and movement signed

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
CHF70,000 - 140,000 
€72,900-146,000
$80,000-160,000

Sold for CHF165,100

Contact Specialist

Alexandre Ghotbi
Head of Watches, Continental Europe and the Middle East

+41 79 637 17 24
AGhotbi@phillips.com

Tiffany To
Head of Sale, Geneva

+41 79 460 55 88
TiffanyTo@phillips.com

The Geneva Watch Auction: XVII

Geneva Auction 13 - 14 May 2023