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Zenith
A superb yellow gold open face pocket watch with polychrome enamel caseback based on Picasso's Harlequin Leaning on His Elbow
Full-Cataloguing
- Polychrome cloisonné enamel caseback inspired by Picasso
- Preserved in excellent condition
- Made for Basel Fair 1956
Created for the 1956 Basle Fair, the present 18K gold wristwatch stands as a compelling dialogue between horology and twentieth-century art. Its cloisonné enamel caseback draws direct inspiration from Pablo Picasso’s 1909 oil painting Harlequin Leaning on his Elbow, a seminal work from the artist’s Cubist period.
The 46 mm case, houses a gilt lever movement with bi-metallic compensation balance. The white enamel dial features applied baton numerals and subsidiary seconds, exemplifying the restrained elegance of mid-century Swiss watchmaking.
The reverse reveals the watch’s artistic triumph: finely executed cloisonné enamel in vibrant shades of green, blue and yellow, depicting a harlequin leaning pensively upon his elbow. The composition, signed D’ap. Picasso MK (loosely translating as inspired by Picasso) faithfully captures the geometry and tonal contrasts of Picasso’s 1909 canvas, a subject the artist would revisit throughout his career. The enamel scene is unmistakably rooted in the Cubist vocabulary established during the spring of that year.
Zenith
Swiss | 1865Since Zenith's beginnings, founder George Favre-Jacot sought to manufacture precision timepieces, realizing quality control was best maintained when production was housed under one roof. Zenith remains one of the few Swiss manufacturers to produce their own in-house movements to this day.
Today, the brand is best known for the "El Primero," the firm's most successful automatic chronograph movement. In an interesting twist of fate, the company that owned Zenith during the 1970s decided to move on to quartz movements and therefore sought to destroy the parts and tools necessary to make mechanical movements. One watchmaker realized this folly and hid the tools and parts before they were destroyed. In 1984, he returned them to Zenith so they could once again make the El Primero movement.