Pocket watch: very rare pocket watch with calculator scales, Meyrat

Ca. Ø61mm, original nickel case, signed Meyrat & Perdrizet, glazed movement, cylinder escapement, enamel dial, 2 rotating calculator scales, movement intact and well preserved, mainspring still works but urgently needs servicing, very rare. The watch is identical to all other watches of this type manufactured by Alse Beaudroit Fabricant, Seloncourt (Doubs), under the patent registered by Meyrat & Perdrizet for their watches with calculators. See the Antiquorum auctions: New York, 20 June 1988, lot 25, and Geneva, 17 October 1993, lot 34. There are two versions, with and without center seconds. Meyrat & Perdrizet was a French partnership of inventors who became renowned for their groundbreaking development of the first pocket watch with an integrated calculating disc (the equivalent of a slide rule). This invention is regarded as the direct historical precursor to modern slide-rule watches (such as the famous Breitling Navitimer). It enabled engineers, scientists and merchants to perform mathematical calculations directly on their watch – long before the age of electronic calculators.

Estimate:£1,274.14

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