Center Seconds Karrussel
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Front, Dial, Back, Cuvette, Hallmark, Movement, Second view of movement, Inner Hallmark This form of Bonniksen's Karrussel drives the carriage from the 4th wheel rather than the 3rd wheel and places the 4th wheel in the center of the movement. This makes the carriage revolve once every 37 minutes rather than once every 52 1/2 minutes as in the conventional arrangement. A nice example of the other form of Karrussel, the 52 1/2 minute movement, is shown in the Barraud group. The Karrussel provides the advantages of the tourbillion in mitigating positional errors in the escapement but is much more robust. In the tourbillion, the carriage is actually one of the wheels in the train. In the Karrussel, the carriage is driven from the train but is not in the power transmission sequence. This watch is in an 18K case with the Chester hallmark for 1899. It is signed for Pyke of Birkenhead and obtained a Kew Class A certificate. The number of marks obtained is not engraved on the movement and was probably not particularly high. It may be possible to find the rating, but I have not yet done that. The appearance of the watch is the same as the much more common center seconds chronograph. However, this watch has no hack mechanism. |
