Important Modern & Vintage Timepieces

Geneva, Nov 08, 2025

LOT 156

BREGUET, FRANCE, AU CITOYEN FALSETY, ''RÉPÉTITION GARDE-TEMPS ÉCHAPPEMENT ISOLÉ'', JUMP-HOUR, TEN AND FIVE MINUTE-REPEATING À TOC POCKET WATCH WITH RUBY CYLINDER ESCAPEMENT, GOLD

CHF 30,000 - 60,000

HKD 292,000 - 590,000 / USD 37,500 - 75,000 / EUR 32,300 - 65,000 / JPY 5,700,000 - 11,390,000

TO BE SOLD WITHOUT RESERVE

An extremely fine and extremely rare, 20k gold, manual wind open-face key-winding, early type case by Guillaume Mermillod (master mark), engine-turned, the back with central applied gold disc decorated with a blue enamel monogram, concealed hinge. Gilt brass dust cover. Five minute repeater (a toc), Lépine caliber, standing barrel, overhanging ruby cylinder escapement. White enamel by F. Cave, Pl. Thionu, Breguet numerals, outer star minute indexes and lozenge quarter-hour indexes, secret signature. Blued steel Breguet hands


Grading System
Grade:
Case: 3-11

Good

Slightly worn

Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense

Dial: 3-71-01

Good

ENAMEL AND VARIOUS TYPES OF DECORATION Hairlines

HANDS Original

Brand Breguet, France

Model AU CITOYEN FALSETY

Year Sold the 3 Vendémiaire, An 7 (September 24th, 1799), for 1,595 francs.

Movement No. 23

Case No. 244

Diameter 56 mm.

Caliber 48 mm., gilt, Lépine caliber, standing barrel, overhanging ruby cylinder escapement, plain three-arm steel balance with parachute on the top pivot, blued steel flat balance spring, index regulator with bimetallic temperature compensation curb, all-or-nothing repeating with a single hammer on the side of the case activated by depressing the pendant.

Weight 133 gr.

Signature Dial, case and movement

Notes

In Breguet's workbooks escapements are rarely specifi ed and the present watch is one of only a handful to be described as ''répétition garde-temps échappement isolé''. Breguet must have considered this watch to have sufficient merit to be called ''garde-temps'' a description reserved only for the fi nest timekeepers. Later the term ?garde-temps? applied only to watches with chronometer escapements and is usually only applicable to those. The movement of No. 23 is of the new caliber started in 1799 and is called the Lépine caliber after the the famous Parisian watchmaker Jean- Antoine Lépine. This watch is illustrated in ''The Art of Breguet'', George Daniels, 1975, p. 154.