NickP
7
One grain for your heap...
Thank you so much for all those observations. Like me you have clearly spent many hours with the AP book looking for connections and patterns and trying to wring out every last drop of history from the images and numbers.
Until yesterday I hadn't given much thought to the question of the letters next to the movement numbers, but since then I have found online some photos of an AP pocket watch movement with a letter:
Movement number 18863 C (dating to 1916) signed "Audemars, Piguet & Co.", 19 jewels, 7 adjustments, subsidiary seconds, in a platinum and gold case with dial signed "Spaulding & Co" (who had shops in Chicago and Paris I believe).
It doesn't help in trying to work out what the "C" meant, but I also found photos of another Spaulding & Co pocket watch, presented in 1916, with a movement signed "C.H. Meylan Brassus". A nice picture emerges of the two representatives from the same small village, one from AP and the other from Meylan, quite possibly with family connections, in competition to gain the favour of the buyer at Spaulding.
Best regards
NickP
Any Vintage AP's Out There? - Let's see some!
After following this forum on it's old site for more than a few years and now that it's finally here on this new platform: I'd finally like to see some more Vintage AP's appear! IMHO vintage AP's are some of the best watches there are out there, yet they ...
Thank you, Sebastian!
What a great piece! I couldn't agree with you more, by the way - vintage AP's are great watches, and always considered part of the Big Three (AP, PP, VC) but relative to their peers in this august group, are screaming values relative to their cost to acqu...
Thanks for your comments
Thanks for responding, and for enjoying the watch. What I find charming about these APs, especially those from 1930-1944 are that they represent watches from a time when AP produced very few watches. I guess it's the 'story' behind them, the many tribulat...
These movement photos are astonishing...
It's amazing to see that some of the same values towards movement finishing and design have been upheld over the past so many decades.
So true Thomas ...
and I would venture to say, if " intrinsic value " is your criteria, although to a slightly lesser extent, the same holds true for early Vacheron pieces. In the end, true quality always wins !
A beauty!
Hi Sebastian Thanks for all the pictures and info. I love that style of lettering on many of the pre-1950s AP movements - do you know what the "B" denoted underneath the movement number? Best regards NickP
Good question- no real answer :)
Thanks for taking the time to reply to my post. The question you have is a good one and I've tried to answer it for myself a while ago and didn't come up with too much. Maybe a fresh pair of eyes to the following info will help? Here's what I've seen. AP ...
One grain for your heap...
Thank you so much for all those observations. Like me you have clearly spent many hours with the AP book looking for connections and patterns and trying to wring out every last drop of history from the images and numbers. Until yesterday I hadn't given mu...
A 'C' pocket watch!
Thanks for letting me know about this 'c' on the pocket watch movement. Now you've gotten me completely confused ! I thought I had some type of understanding of this, i.e. that these letters were used on wristwatch movements, but that has just been thrown...
C.H.Meylan
Hi Sebastian I read that C.H. Meylan is the one brand collected by Georges-Henri Meylan, formerly MD of Audemars Piguet: http://www.thepurists.com/watch/features/interviews/MeylanApr04/index.htm . NickP
you're right
Now I remember this, I had read this interview a while ago. Thanks for reminding me! HAGW, S
Well Shame on us !
What an excellent posting,like a breath of fresh air and long overdue - people who ignore vintage AP's, are overlooking one of the best (vintage) brand investment opportunities ever. I have looked at earlier manual models myself from the 40's and will loo...
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for posting this beauty! I agree that the 2120 is an amazing movement- I've owned one about 4 years ago, and unfortunately let it go after owning it for a few months (I regret letting it go now... the movement was pristine, but the dial in pretty b...
Beautiful watch, Sebastian!
Fabulous movement, especially! Actually, my only AP at this time is vintage, almost my first watch purchase ever (guess I got lucky!). It is this beautiful VZSS circa 1948, 37mm of platinum and diamond elegance! beautiful brushed case: historic movement: ...
Magical watch...
Steve, Thanks for posting these pictures and for taking the time to reply to my post. I'm flattered you have posted them! As its these same pictures that really made me fall in love with the VZ cal. I remember seeing them from your website (if I'm correct...
THESE OLD AUDEMARS MOVEMENTS ARE ...
SOOOOOOOOO ELEGANT ! Thanks so much for the amazing images Steve ... !
Some critical mass achieved!
Thanks for posting these beauties! I'm in love with the Jump Hour and the 40s chronograph!!!!!!!!! And the RO... terrific!! Thanks again for posting these!! Sebastian
Well, mine's not really vintage yet...
...but I feel left out! So here's my only AP at the moment: First generation Millenary, from 2000. Bought it when I was was searching for a vintage AP caliber 2120 gold dress watch to replace one I had decades ago. Found this one and just couldn't resist!...