A pocket watch with a gold case featuring a Polish “kosynier”, i.e. an insurgent armed with a scythe. He is standing under a banner on the battlefield. In the background, a silhouette of a house and a cross. The rear face of the mechanism has two key winding holes for strike and timekeeping, and an engraved inscription: “Cylinder escapement, / four ruby pins No 992 / Patek and Co.in Geneva”. Before the year 1845, the watch was ordered as a gift for his wife by Wiktor Kurantowski (1810-1846), an insurgent of the 1831 Uprising, a well-known lithographer and patriot from Poznan.
The watch was made in Geneva by the watchmaking company of Antoni Norbert Patek, a Polish watchmaker and founder of the Patek Phillipe company.
Interested in Natural history?
Get updates with your personalized Culture Weekly
You are all set!
Your first Culture Weekly will arrive this week.