Last October 21, 2019, at the Aste Bolaffi auction held in Milan at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, the “Sistema Magini” split-seconds monopusher chronograph by Eberhard in its “Mod. Mag.” version (lot 150) achieved the remarkable sales result of Euro 125,000 plus buyer's premium from an starting price of Euro 25,000.
Last October 21, 2019, at the Aste Bolaffi auction held in Milan at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, the Eberhard “Sistema Magini” split-seconds monopusher chronograph in its “Mod. Mag.” version (lot 150) achieved the remarkable sales result of Euro 125,000 plus buyer's premium from an starting price of Euro 25,000.
Produced in the early 1940s, the “Sistema Magini “ pocket watch was instrumental for the success of an epic Italian Air Force mission during the Second World War, the first Rome-Tokyo visual flight in 1942. The model was named after the heroic pilot to whom it was issued, Publio Magini.
Eberhard later received an order for an additional ten split-seconds chronographs, which were never delivered to the Royal Air Force due to the end of the conflict.
This made this historically important pocket watch a unique piece, just like the wristwatch example, part of the private collection of one of the most important collectors in the world, before the appearance of this lot.
Housed in a 45 mm stainless steel tripartite case with a snap-on caseback and concave lugs with fixed bars, the Eberhard “Sistema Magini” split-seconds monopusher chronograph wristwatch features a co-axial monopusher on the winding crown and a pusher for the split-seconds function placed at 4 o’ clock.
The signed silver dial has 24-hour indication with Arabic numerals as well as a minute rail track showing 1/5th of a second fractions. Breguet hands, blued for the hours and gilded for the minutes.
The hand-wound movement is based on a Valjoux 55 calibre with column wheel, lever escapement, monometallic balance with screws, Breguet hairspring, index regulator. astebolaffi.it and eberhard-co-watches.ch
Produced in the early 1940s, the “Sistema Magini “ pocket watch was instrumental for the success of an epic Italian Air Force mission during the Second World War, the first Rome-Tokyo visual flight in 1942. The model was named after the heroic pilot to whom it was issued, Publio Magini.
The Eberhard "Sistema Magini" pocket watch sold at the Phillips Watches auction held in Geneva in 2015 for the amount of CHF 112,500 - Courtesy of Phillips Watches
Eberhard later received an order for an additional ten split-seconds chronographs, which were never delivered to the Royal Air Force due to the end of the conflict.
This made this historically important pocket watch a unique piece, just like the wristwatch example, part of the private collection of one of the most important collectors in the world, before the appearance of this lot.
Housed in a 45 mm stainless steel tripartite case with a snap-on caseback and concave lugs with fixed bars, the Eberhard “Sistema Magini” split-seconds monopusher chronograph wristwatch features a co-axial monopusher on the winding crown and a pusher for the split-seconds function placed at 4 o’ clock.
The signed silver dial has 24-hour indication with Arabic numerals as well as a minute rail track showing 1/5th of a second fractions. Breguet hands, blued for the hours and gilded for the minutes.
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