Result
GUY DIERCKX COLLECTION, A PASSION FOR WATCHMAKING

On 7 June, Claude Aguttes sold a museum-quality Belgian collection in Neuilly-sur-Seine. The Guy Dierckx Collection, witness to the golden age of the clock, retraced a century of watchmaking. This collection, which fetched €365,430 (including fees), offered a remarkable panorama of the work of the "Horlogers Mécaniciens" at the cutting edge of technology, and its well-documented catalogue should be a landmark.

Top 5 lots in the sale :
1. Lot 26 - D. KOHN, Minimalist skeleton clock - €45,500
2. Lot 36 - PAUL GARNIER, Horloger de la Marine, Precision regulator - €44,200
3. Lot 30 - SARTON, Liège, Column clock - € 35 100
4. Lot 34 - BAILLY, Paris, Precision regulator - € 27 300
5. Lot 31 - SARTON, Liège, Parquet regulator - € 22 100

"An appreciable success for the sale of a great collector, whose heirs placed their trust in Aguttes. Guy Dierckx's name lives on and remains a reference in the new lives of each of his clocks.
Grégoire de Thoury, Head of the Furniture and Works of Art Department

"Following on from Une histoire du temps (September 2022), Une passion horlogère confirms Aguttes' leadership in all aspects of watchmaking. This time, a chapter devoted to complicated clocks and regulators proves that Aguttes is in pole position in the field of watchmaking as well as in the dispersal of collections. Lot 26, a 'minimalist' skeleton clock, is a case in point.
Geoffroy Ader, watch expert

For 60 years, Guy Dierckx has patiently sought out and selected clocks with a discerning eye. Beautiful to look at, they also reveal a hidden side with prodigious movements. A true personality in the world of watchmaking, this great collector bought from the greatest, notably at Tefaf Maastricht, as demonstrated by a so-called "minimalist" skeleton clock (lot 26), which held bidders spellbound for up to €45,500.


Lot 26 - D. KOHN - Early 19th century, "minimalist" skeleton clock with visible escapement and special balance. The central part resting on two mahogany columns with a quadrangular beige stone base resting on four adjustable feet, a level is in the central part to balance the whole. Skeleton dial resting on a fixed silvered metal blade featuring a white enamelled circle with Roman numeral hour indication and railway minute track, the stylised hands in the shape of a "lance". The movement has a visible anchor escapement, the wheel and pallet are fitted with rubies, the whole is linked to a glass tube balance driven by two inertia blocks which originally must have contained mercury, the whole is linked by a large centre wheel which perfectly balances the mechanism. Height. 59 cm
Provenance: Mentink & Roest, TEFAF Maastricht, 2006.
Result: €45,500

Another fine auction battle centred on a precision regulator (lot 36). This model by Paul Garnier, Horloger de la Marine, almost tripled its high estimate, fetching €44,200. This watchmaker made a small series of this type of precision table regulator between 1840 and 1870, and his creations differed only in details, such as the simple dial or the "regulator" type like this one, still used today on ultimate precision timekeepers.


Lot 36 - PAUL GARNIER, Horloger de la Marine - Mid 19th century, Precision regulator in the form of a terminal. The cubic black marble base with gilt bronze moulding. In the upper part is the white enamelled dial with a central second hand on Arabic numerals, off-centred hour and minute dial with Roman numerals, double minute track graduation, winding square at the base with a toothed wheel that drives the barrel spring. Movement with patented "Mahler" type compensating balance, pin escapement, the movement bearing the number 2718, signed on the plate "Paul Garnier, Horloger de la Marine à Paris". Height. 50 cm 
Provenance: Richard Redding Antiques Ltd, Masterpieces of the Past, , 2012. 
Literature: D. Roberts, Precision Pendulum Clocks: France, Germany, America and Recent Advancements, Atglen, 2004, p. 103, figs. 31-21A-31-22. Dictionnaire des Horlogers Français, Tardy, p. 246. 
Result: €44,200

In preparing the catalogue, the sale's expert confided that, for the first time in his career, he was seeing so many Sarton clocks in the same collection: 4 creations by the watchmaker acknowledged as one of the inventors of the automatic watch. Among the top bids was the Pendule à colonnes (lot 30), which fetched €35,100. Clocks with painted glass dials like this one are among the rarest in Hubert Sarton's output. According to Jacques Nève's research, only six examples of this very specific model are known to date.


Lot 30 - SARTON, Liège - Late 18th century. Column clock with astronomical indication of the dates, phases and ages of the moon. The central part rests on two gilt brass columns, supporting a main dial in the shape of a triangle with a fixed under painted glass. The main dial is in the centre and shows the hours and minutes in stylised Arabic numerals, a central second hand to indicate the seconds and an arrowhead hand to indicate the months in 28, 30 or 31 days. Two auxiliary dials near the winding squares, one for indicating the date and the other for the days of the week with astronomical signs, with the phases and ages of the moon in the centre. At the top is the graduated advance and delay indication on Arabic numerals for the precision of the mechanism (the hand is missing). Movement with pendulum balance, pin escapement, double barrel, striking with a hammer on a gong.Height. 49 cm
Provenance: Somers Antiquaire, 1993.
Literature : This regulator is described in Jacques Nève's reference book, Les pendules d'Hubert Sarton : 1748 - 1828 - Horloger, Mécanicien, Inventeur.
Result: €35,100​​​​​​​

A Régulateur de parquet by Sarton (lot 31) also caught the eye of connoisseurs and sold for €22,100. At first glance, this piece impressed with its gigantic dimensions. This object, which bears witness to the infinitely large in the field of watchmaking, is also an extremely precise instrument designed for scientists. The Guy Dierckx Collection is the counterpart to Une histoire du temps (28 September 2022): after the infinitely small, the Aguttes teams are turning their attention to the monumental, notably with this 2.5-metre-high floor regulator.

Geoffroy Ader, a watchmaking expert, compares Horlogers Mécaniciens to techies: in his view, they are the Steve Jobs of the 18th and 19th centuries. This regulator made by Bailly (lot 34) echoes this, as its construction is very impressive: it contains its balance wheel in the upper part of the watch mechanism, a technical feat that is very difficult to achieve. Bailly, a Parisian watchmaker, was renowned for his horological creations and collaborations with the great bronziers and gilders of the period, such as Thomire (1751 - 1853). Bidders rewarded this technical and aesthetic achievement with €27,300.

Lot 34 - BAILLY, Paris HAVELANGE, Liège - Early 19th century. Bronze and gilt brass precision regulator with constant-force escapement. The upper part reveals the compensated "gril" balance wheel fixed on a double "knife" suspension, with the escape wheel visible. The lower part with the white enamel dial, stylised Arabic numerals, signed "Bailly à Paris", two openings with square winding for the mechanism. The square base with stylised columns resting on "toupie" shaped feet. Movement with compensated balance and constant-force escapement, one lost beat, signed on the plate "V. Havelange à Liège" on the plate. Height 58 cm
Provenance: Sotheby's sale, London, lot 285, 18 December 1996.
Literature: A regulator with a similar escapement is listed in Heuer and Maurice, Europaiche Penduleuhren, p. 72, fig. 126.
Result: €27,300

To view all the results of this auction, click here.

For further information, please contact
Grégoire de Thoury
+33 (0)1 41 92 06 46
thoury@aguttes.com