12-08-200912-08-2009
Skinner Auctions
Skinner AuctionsBoston MA
2487Boston
December 8, 2009 10:00 AMCalender
253

Art Deco 18kt Gold Open Face Pocket Watch, Cartier

Sell one like this
$2,133$1,800
Auction: Fine Jewelry - 2487Location: BostonDate / Time: December 08, 2009 10:00AM

Description:

Art Deco 18kt Gold Open Face Pocket Watch, Cartier, the engine-turned dial with Roman numeral indicators and inner 24-hour scale, enclosing European Watch & Clock Co. movement, reverse with enamel initials R.W., French guarantee stamps, 45 mm.

Provenance: Richardson Little Wright (1887-1961). Wright served the editor of Conde Nast's House and Garden from 1920-1954 and was a bon vivant, traveler, and prolific writer on a variety of subjects including early American history, Soviet Russian culture, and of course gardening. His aim was always to entertain and delight the reader with series of short essays, gathered as volumes with titles as "The Gardener's Bed-Book: Short and Long Pieces to Be Read in Bed", "The Story of Gardening: From the Hanging Gardens of Babylon" and "Revels in Jamaica, 1682-1838". Readers reported that that his books were so amusing that they were "devoured in a single sitting". Conde Nast presented this Cartier watch to Wright in 1921, shortly after he began his tenure at the company.
Estimate $1,500-2,000

inscription dated 1921 from Conde Nast
dial resilvered
runs and sets
19 jewel movement EWC signed

Keywords

Conde Nast, Little Wright, European Watch & Clock Co., editor, prolific writer, Gardener, Jamaica, EWC