I was just offered a wonderful 18k Tiffany minute repeater in a 49mm. 18k demi hunter case dated 1893. Signed Tiffany dial, case & movement. Watch runs & chimes, but the problem lies in the chimes. It is not chiming the correct time. For example, at 2:00 it chimed 4 times. At 2:23 it chimed 9 times. At different times I get all three chimes, sometimes only the hour & quarter hour. Is this just an adjustment or something much more serious. My watchman does not work on them. Is there someone here that does. I have to figure the cost of the repair in with my offer. We are $1000 apart & don't want to up my offer until I can get a handle on this repair. Also can anyone tell me if there is a way to tell if it is a "trip" movement. This is a very high quality, highly jeweled nickel movement. I am unable to identify the maker as of now, but the serial number corresponds with Patek's serial numbers for that date. I would love to buy this watch, seeing I have never seen a demi hunter Tiffany minute repeater before. Any thought? Thanks much... Jim

James
Tiffany used several different co,s for their repeaters but most all were high grade ,some were patek ..Hard too tell for sure but a lot of times they dry out and the various parts under the dial don,t move free anymore which will cause the problems you have..For instance the Minute snail is mounted on the cannon pinion and will have four arms each with 15 steps that correspond too the 4 quaters for striking the 0-14 minutes in each quater..If the rack that drops down too engage the snail is gummed up and does not drop free when it should you will get a wrong count..



Check with Chris i am sure it can make it right for you ,won,t be cheap but this sounds like a watch that should be worth repairing.

Hi James,

Repair on these are a considerable amount, if someone has attempted repair previously the damage can easily cost the same again to reverse if not more should he have been filing, bending parts and no irreversible damage or missing parts. I looked at several of these at a show this weekend, none where working, I myself have one here that is not worth repair and is little more than parts watch due to the time to repair.
The best advice I would give is before purchasing, agrees a fair price on condition that the watch be made 100% serviceable prior to sale at his expense. Or for him to allow you send off for a repair estimate as his expense prior to agreeing any final price (secure registered shipping will run about $50 return to start! plus estimate cost so I would tell him to expect $100-$150 to obtain a estimate alone) If he will not agree to either option no matter how good a deal it looks I would walk away.

Around 3 years ago, I made a serious mistake buying at an Antiquorom auction a Koehn minute repeater that was not in perfect shape. It cost me about another 40% to restore it. It was working more or less well when I had my local watchmaker overhaul it. A year and $350 later, he returned it to me saying that it would never work properly again. My other watchmaker, Chris Abell, returned it to me today after a year's efforts on it. It now looks great (see below) and works properly. I would not buy another minute repeater unless I was sure it was working properly or I was sure it could be restored and and that it would be worth spending another couple grand on restoration. Through hard experience, I now only would let Chris Abell work on my repeaters.

You asked how to tell whether the watch you are looking at is a "trip" repeater. None of my four minute repeaters are trip repeaters, and I only have seen photos of trip repeaters. My understanding is that they have two mainsprings, one for the repeater function and one for the timekeeping function. These two springs are wound simultaneously by the same shared main wheel. When activating the repeater function, one simply pushes a button, there being no need to slide a bar an inch or so to wind the repeater spring, as on all my repeaters. Trip repeaters are rare and often cost 2-4 times what the same repeater would cost if not a trip repeater.

Movement

Thanks everyone. Some great advice here. I had offered $2,500 for the watch, they want $3,500. I really like this watch, it is beautiful piece. You have to see it with it's demi hunter case with black enamel Roman numerals on the cover. Dial has a very different Tiffany script with your double spade minute hand. Has anyone seen a minute repeater in this style case before? It is a nice size watch measuring 49mm. I'm running a little scared now. If they take my offer, do I gamble? Best, Jim

It sounds like an expensive, but potentially worthwhile gamble. If it is a high grade repeater, as I assume it to be, e.g., fully jeweled through the hammers, and it is restorable, you probably won't lose anything even if you pay $3,500 and then have to spend another $1,500 to restore the watch. If you do not buy this watch, please ask the sellers to contact me (ethanlipsig@paulhastings.com) so that I can consider buying it.