Art Deco period (1928)
Table clock known as ‘Mignonette’ 18k yellow gold (750‰) enamelled in red and black with geometric decoration, carved nephrite jade on the base and top Guilloché silver dial with railway track, Arabic numerals and blued steel hands Mechanical hand-wound movement signed Majestic Watch & Co, Switzerland
Signed, case numbered 28910, engraved ‘Made in France’
Dimensions: 5.2 x 3.8 x 2.5 cm
Gross weight: 117.6 g
Signed key and case
Bibliography: - G. Neret ‘Boucheron, le joaillier du temps’ (Boucheron, jeweller of time), Edita SA, Lausanne, 1992, illustrated on page 95, no. 181. Made in 1928
Little is known about Majestic Watch & Co, except that the trademark was first registered in 1907 in New York, then in Geneva in 1927 by Wittnauer & Co of New York (Albert Wittnauer was Swiss). Upon his death in 1916, his sister Martha Robers became CEO of the watch company, which was very rare at the time. By studying the second-hand market, we were able to identify other ‘mignonette’ models with the same enamel decoration, including two signed by Cartier and one by Mauboussin, suggesting that Majestic was the supplier of the model and that retailers chose the model they wanted based on their needs, affixing their signature to it.
