201 - Josef Nicolaus - Senftenberg

Josef Nicolaus - Senftenberg A significant, museum-quality Bohemian deck chronometer in a silver case Movement No. 17, Case No. 17, Dimensions 54 mm, circa 1875, Weight 139 g, Origin: Bohemia Case: Silver, smooth. Dial: Silver. Movement: 4/5-plate movement, 1 barrel, spring-detent escapement based on Thomas Earnshaw’s design, bimetallic chronometer balance with screws and unusual weights, free-sprung blued helical balance spring. Josef Nicolaus (1855–1923) was a renowned watchmaker and collector in Vienna; he was born in Senftenberg, Bohemia, where he trained before spending some time in Geneva and then working in Vienna after 1885. He lived and worked as a reclusive, highly specialized craftsman in Vienna in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He became known, among other things, for producing precise observatory and pocket chronometers (some in large-format cases) that met the strict military specifications of the Austrian Navy. Watches made by Nicolaus himself are extremely rare today. Nicolaus made only a very small number of timepieces himself, but the collection he assembled appears to have been quite extensive; he eventually sold the watches to the watch museum in Vienna around the end of World War I—for example, in exchange for a batch of coal during the harsh winter of 1918. Unfortunately, most of these hundreds of rare timepieces were lost during World War II. Watches made by Nicolaus almost never appear on the market, and they are always of the highest quality. The watch museum in Vienna owns some of his pieces, including a seconds pendulum clock and several pocket chronometers. This heavy deck watch is a testament to the skill of this most eminent of Austrian chronometer designers and makers. A detailed report on Josef Nicolaus is available in *Klassik Uhren* 5/1994, Munich 1994, pages 29–34. Case: very good, worn. Dial: very good, slightly oxidized. Movement: very good, slightly repaired, in working order, cleaning recommended.