Important Collectors' Wristwatches, P...

Geneva, Hotel Noga Hilton, Oct 16, 2005

LOT 179

?Montre Médaillon à Tact? Breguet No. 852, third series, sold to Monsieur Tambu from Poland on 14 Nivose, an 10, (January 3, 1803) for 1680 Francs. Fine 18K pink gold, enamel and rose diamond-set montre médaillon à tact, with Breguet ratchet key and later Breguet fitted box.

CHF 30,000 - 40,000

EUR 20,000 - 25,000 / USD 25,000 - 32,000

Sold: CHF 51,750

C. Three-body, 'forme collier', by Tavernier No. 1637, both covers overlaid with translucent royal blue enamel, the front cover with eccentric ellipse pattern engine-turning and with a rose diamond-set monogram, finely reeded bezel edges, revolving back cover with sunburst effect engine-turning, arrow à tact hand set with rose-cut diamonds, coin-edge band set with 11 rose-cut diamond touch pieces, the elongated diamond-set pendant with loose bow forming the 12th, detachable gold cuvette engraved ?Breguet N. 852?, with apertures for the dial and the regulator. D. Small, eccentric, mounted on the barrel bridge, silvered with Arabic numerals and outer minute markers. Blued steel Breguet hands. M. 35 mm., gilt brass 'souscription' caliber with center barrel wound only from the front, five-wheel 45-hour going train, ruby cylinder escapement with three-arm brass jeweled balance, flat blued-steel balance spring, blued steel regulation arm. Diam. 40 mm.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 3

Good
Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 3-01

Good

HANDS Original

Notes

This watch was No. 41 in the Collection of Sir David Salomons. It is wrongly thought to have been bought by Lucien Bonaparte due to a certificate (sold with this lot) in which the numbers have been altered. According to the Breguet archives it was actually sold to Monsieur Tambu. The present watch is also described and illustrated by George Daniels in ?The Art of Breguet?, p.182. Breguet classified his souscription watches as ?petite?, ?moyenne? and ?grande?. Of about 915 ?souscription? type watches that Breguet made, only about 35 ?petites? are known to exist. They were the most expensive, averaging about SF 1,700. Breguet introduced them in the spring of 1799, the first one being sold to Madame Betancourt, the wife of his most trusted friend.