Daniel Aubert

Daniel Aubert, a Swiss watchmaker known for his research and books on the history of watchmaking in the Swiss mountain valley of Vallée-de-Joux and working at Le Brassus, is a remarkable specialist in the hand finishing, skeletonizing and engraving of ultra-thin mechanical watches. Daniel Aubert is the grandson of Léon Ernest Aubert (1845–1920), who founded a small workshop in Le Brassus in 1872 and specialized in the manufacture of movements with perpetual calendars and astronomical displays for pocket watches. In particular, he worked on the famous Patek Philippe super complication pocket watch No. 198.023, which was produced for James Ward Packard in 1916.
Daniel Aubert mainly worked on commissions for other Swiss brands. Unfortunately, it is often not possible to determine the fact of his work with a high degree of certainty. Most likely he produced a series of automatic skeletonized perpetual calendars Gouverneur Perpetual Calendar Skeleton for Piaget in the 1990s, as well as pocket calendars with a movement similar to that of this lot and skeletonized hand-wound wristwatches and pocket watches based on the Frederic Piguet 15 thin caliber.
Daniel Aubert presented the Lys Royal Gold watch with a fine octagonal case and a Vendôme-type strap attachments at the 1997 Basel Fair. It is very likely that he made only a handful of these watches, only one of which ever appeared on the secondary market and was sold at an Antiquorum auction in 1998. The appearance of this perpetual calendar at auction is certainly a remarkable event and deserves great attention, as it is one of the most unusual and rare perpetual calendar wristwatches of all time. Daniel Aubert is known for the meticulous craftsmanship of the movement with its skeletonization and freehand engraving, making each watch essentially unique. The movement is equipped with an ultra-thin Frederic Piguet base caliber 71, one of the thinnest automatic movements of all time, measuring only 2.4 mm thick. The watch features a very rare and remarkably thin perpetual calendar module in a traditional design. With a case size of 35.5 mm and an exhibition caseback, the Lys Royal Gold Skeleton Ultra-thin Perpetual Calendar Piece Unique is only 7 mm thick, which is undoubtedly an outstanding figure. The dial of this watch is made of a transparent plate of synthetic sapphire and bears the ring-shaped scales of the calendar sub-dials, which have the color and texture of matte gold, while the Roman numerals are printed in black on the sapphire dial.

This Lys Royal Gold Skeleton Ultra-thin Perpetual Calendar Piece Unique, made by independent watchmaker Daniel Aubert in the second half of the 1990s, is one of the rarest and most remarkable pieces in terms of both watchmaking and the art of making and decorating skeletonized complex mechanical watches. To our knowledge, this Lys Royal Gold is only the second piece ever offered at auction. This increases the collector value and the attractiveness of this lot as a unique opportunity to acquire a skeletonized perpetual calendar by a master from the prestigious watchmaking dynasty of the Swiss Vallée de Joux, known as the Valley of Watchmakers.