Auction
GUY DIERCKX COLLECTION, A CENTURY OF WATCHMAKING CREATION
Aguttes will auction off the Dierckx Collection on June 7, 2023, in Neuilly-sur-Seine, which consists of 49 clocks and one watch. This collection showcases the golden age of the pendulum clock and offers a remarkable panorama of the work of "Clockwork Mechanicians" between 1750 and 1850. Of museum-quality, this Belgian collection celebrates the greatest moments of artisanal watchmaking with all its major names.
"Whatever the type of escapement, balance wheel, or complications used, the clocks, pendulums, or regulators of the Dierckx Collection pay tribute to the most beautiful pages in the history of precision watchmaking since the end of the 18th century when the clock also became a precision instrument. Beyond the merely decorative aspect. This unique selection of clocks, pendulums, or floor regulators reflects the taste and eclecticism of the collector, who, through his passion for watchmaking, brought together all the art of European watchmaking, mainly in the 18th and 19th centuries."
Geoffroy Ader, watchmaking expert
A century of watchmaking creation
This Belgian collection includes pieces usually seen in museums. A true personality in the world of watchmaking, Mr. Dierckx purchased from the best, notably at the Tefaf in Maastricht, and kept all the invoices. The estimate for the pieces today ranges between €5,000 and €60,000. For 60 years, this great collector patiently searched and selected clocks with a discerning eye. Beautiful to look at, they also reveal hidden movements with prodigious mechanisms. The Dierckx Collection appears as a counterpart to A History of Time, a sale that took place on September 28, 2022, and offered a clock among a selection of watches; A Watchmaking Passion, on the other hand, showcases one watch and 49 clocks. Moreover, after the infinitely small, the Aguttes teams are interested in the infinitely large, particularly with a floor regulator measuring 3 meters high.
"Mr. Dierckx's collection is emblematic of table watchmaking: it is clear that his name will be inscribed as a reference cited at every stage of the exceptional pendulums that make up the collection."
Grégoire de Thoury, Head of the Furniture, Sculptures and Objets of Art Department
"Clockwork Mechanicians" at the forefront of technology
These clocks are technical objects, and Geoffroy Ader, a watchmaking expert, compares the Clockwork Mechanicians to tech people: according to him, they embody the Steve Jobs of the 18th and 19th centuries. This collection brings together creations of mainly Belgian, Liège, and French watchmakers, thus paying tribute to European craftsmanship. The collection highlights not only the pendulum clocks but also the pendulum invented in 1675 by Christian Huygens, a physicist, and astronomer. Several big names have marked the history of watchmaking, including Hubert Sarton, Thomas Tompion, and Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin. The sale expert confesses that for the first time in his career, he sees so many Sarton pendulums in a single collection: 4 creations by the watchmaker recognized as one of the inventors of the automatic watch. Speaking of watches, only one appears in the catalog of this sale: it is a creation by Tompion. He initiated the division of labor between specialized workers and the numbering of watches. As for the "father of modern magic," Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin, the catalog includes two of his mysterious pendulums.
Catalog summary
● Primitive European watchmakers
● French decorative pendulums
● Wall and table cartels from Louis XV to Richard Wallace
● Small clocks known as capucine or alcove clocks
● Time measurement and unusual watchmaking art objects
● Mysterious pendulums by Robert-Houdin
● The art of skeleton pendulums and their watchmaking compilations
● A masterpiece of French enameled skeleton pendulum
● Watchmaking masterpieces by Hubert Sarton in Liège
● Reinvented travel clock and marine chronometer
● The regulator or the art of watchmaking precision
● Floor regulator with equation of time or calendar
● Watchmaking in Europe with its different styles and periods
● From the art of the pendulum to the watch by Thomas Tompion
● Barometer and thermometer precision instruments
● Collector's documentation
"The Dierckx collection is a tribute to the watchmaking of the 18th and 19th centuries and more particularly to Liège watchmaking, through the clockwork mechanic and inventor Hubert Sarton (1748-1828). Beauty, technique, and rarity come together to form this magnificent ensemble, which is the fruit of sixty years of research and passion by the collector."
Ernest van Zuylen, head of the Brussels representation office
A PASSION FOR WATCHMAKING CREATION
Guy Dierckx Collection (1937-2022)
Auction
Wednesday, June 7, 2023, at 2:30 pm
Partial exhibition
From Tuesday, May 23 to Friday, June 2, 10 am - 1 pm and 2 pm - 6 pm
Public exhibition
Monday, June 5 and Tuesday, June 6, from 10 am to 1 pm and from 2 pm to 6 pm
Wednesday, June 7, 10 am - 12 pm