In-Depth: The Unique and Magical Oval Tourbillon Watch by Derek Pratt
I first met Derek Pratt (1938-2009) at a sale held by Ineichen, a Zürich-based auction house, in 1975. He was in the company of Peter Baumberger (1939-2010), an antique watch dealer and trained watchmaker that took over long-dormant Danish brand Urban Jürgensen & Sonner in 1981 . A contemporary and friend of George Daniels, Derek was a talented English watchmaker who restored many of Baumberger’s outstanding historical pocket watches. Amongst them was then the most complicated Vacheron Constantin ever, the grand complication N°402833 made for King Fuad of Egypt in 1929, which Baumberger bought at auction – the watch was lot 202 at the October 7, 1979 sale at Galerie d’Horlogerie Ancienne (the business founded by Osvaldo Patrizzi that would later become Antiquorum). Baumberger would have trusted no one else other than Derek to restore that watch. In the following years, I visited Derek’s workshop several times with Peter, often in the company of illustrious watch collectors and enthusiasts, all fascinated by Derek’s knowledge of traditional watchmaking and his beautifully equipped workshop. Not long after, Peter recruited Derek to be consultant and technical director at Urban Jürgensen. As such, he was responsible for the company’s greatest technical achievements in pocket watches, which was the leading genre in watch collecting at the time. Derek at work According to Urban Jürgensen records and my personal archive, Derek completed around 34 watches for the...
Time+Tide
