• 鍍金工字輪擒縱機構，錶環啟動二問報時、犬吠及自動人偶 • 偏心白色琺瑯小錶盤，彩色黃金自動人偶及動物場景，車床雕刻背景飾綠色琺瑯彩 • 18k金錶殼，錶圈及錶側鑲珍珠，錶背蓋畫琺瑯，黃金內蓋附雕刻、飾透明及實色多彩琺瑯 • 內蓋及機芯印有品牌標誌PM，錶殼、錶圈及內蓋印有280

* 拍品資料以英文圖錄為準。

Please note the estimate is now $100,000 - 150,000 and not $80,000 - 120,000 as stated in the printed catalogue. Movement running at time of cataloging, however not tested for the accuracy of time and may need service at the buyer's discretion. Barking in phase. Case in very good condition with no pearls lacking. Bow with loss of green enamel. Dial in good condition. The enamel and figures are in very good condition, no loss to the front, light patian to the edges of the figures and the applied ground. Case back panel likely reset as there is a small gap between the gold ring and the bezel.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. All dimensions in catalogue descriptions are approximate. Condition reports may not specify mechanical replacements or imperfections to the movement, case, dial, pendulum, separate base(s) or dome. Watches in water-resistant cases have been opened to examine movements but no warranties are made that the watches are currently water-resistant. Please note that we do not guarantee the authenticity of any individual component parts, such as wheels, hands, crowns, crystals, screws, bracelets and leather bands, since subsequent repairs and restoration work may have resulted in the replacement of original parts. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue. In particular, please note it is the purchaser's responsibility to comply with any applicable import and export matters, particularly in relation to lots incorporating materials from endangered species.NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

**Please be advised that bands made of materials derived from endangered or otherwise protected species (i.e. alligator and crocodile) are not sold with the watches and are for display purposes only. We reserve the right to remove these bands prior to shipping.

Important Notice regarding importation into the United States of Rolex watches
Sotheby's cannot arrange for the delivery of Rolex watches to the United States because U.S. laws restricts the import of Rolex watches. The buyer or a designated agent may collect the property in the country of sale."

The present lot is one of only three Barking Dog automata with a diameter measuring at 39 mm.  The majority of these pieces have a much larger diameter, measuring at 59 mm.  Of the two other known smaller Barking Dogs, one, no. 282, only two numbers away from the present lot, was sold by Antiquorum Hong Kong, lot 311, in 2007.  Sotheby's New York sold the other in June 2015, lot 113.

Of further interest is 🅷the position of the dog and cat.  The present lot features the dog on the left with the cat on the right, whereas the no. 275 and no. 280 each featured the reverse layout of the dog and cat.

Piguet & Meylan, are thought to have only produced an approximate twenty 'Barking Dog' watches. The present lot possibly being offered for the first time at auction would make it the twenty-first. ꦉPiguet and Meylan Barking Dog watch all have numbers lower than 300.

The sound of a barking dog is ingenious🌊ly reproduced by a set of bellows activated by depressing the pen🏅dant, thus also marking the hours and quarters. To achieve the sound, the mechanism exerts a sharp pressure on a miniature bellows connected to a whistle vented through an open aperture on the case side.

The Barking Dog automata were typically produced with a dog and a swan, (presumably based on engravings of Jean Baptiste Oudry's famous painting of the subject) whereas the theme of the present lot, featuring a dog and a cat, is found in perhaps less than half a dozen pieces. For further information on barking dogs with cats, see Bernard Pin, Watches and Automata The Maurice Sandoz Collection, cat. I. 22, pp 134-139. 

The ‘incomparable’ Bohemian painter Johann Wenzel Peter (1745-1829) who lived and worked in Rome from 1774, specialized in painting animals in conflict. His design of a dog barking at a cat (though not identical to this) was much copied by Roman mosaicists after it was first recorded in the studio of the mosaicist Puglieschi in 1805/6. An example signed by Gioacchino Barberi (1783-1857) is set into the lid of a contemporary gold box by A.J. Strachan, London, 1807/8, and is now in the Gilbert Collection, London (Charles Truman, The Gilbert Collection of Gold Boxes, vol. I, Los Angeles, 1991, p. 328, no. 113). Another example, in a private collection, signed by the mosaicist Domenico Moglia (1780-1862) is also set into the lid of a snuff box by Strachan, again of 1807/8; the base is set with a micro mosaic of a dog barking at a swan. It is not inconceivableꦯ that Piguet & Meylan were aware of these fashionable mosaics, since many were bought as plaques by 🧸travelers on the Grand Tour and mounted by Geneva gold box makers.