The clock has an Asian-inspired design that incorporates architectural details from temples, including slender columns and a sculpted lion figure. This particular clock has been in the same private collection since 1978 and will be auctioned at Sotheby’s Important Watches event in Geneva on 9 November.
The clock is expected to return more than $USD3.79 million ($AUD5.77 million) at auction. Sam Hines, Sotheby’s global chairman of watches, noted the auction’s importance for collectors and the world of horology.
“This is a landmark moment in the world of horology and in collectors’ circles, given how extraordinarily rare Cartier Portico mystery clocks are at auction,” he said.
“To present this 1923 model, one of the earliest in the six-strong series ever created, for the first time in nearly 50 years, is not only a privilege but also an event of remarkable importance, especially to international collectors.”
Mystery clocks display the illusion of floating hands that appear detached from the movement on a translucent dial. Cartier horologist Maurice Couët, inspired by French illusionist and watchmaker Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin, perfected the Portico model in the early 20th century by concealing the entire mechanism within the dial.
With architecture-inspired shapes and materials like rock crystal, onyx, mother-of-pearl, and jade, Portico mystery clocks are in high demand among collectors. Sotheby’s will exhibit the clock during Geneva Watch Days, prior to the auction.
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