It is generally accepted that the present watch, No. 295, is almost certainly the ?extremely expensive? watch given by Sommariva to the Prince de Talleyrand. This watch was the first of Sommariva?s purchases from Breguet and during the years 1801 and 1802 he was trying to burnish his reputation in Paris. Sommariva cherished visions of himself at the head of the new Italian state and to this end he presented the Empress Josephine with a diamond rivière, which was promptly returned, and Talleyrand with an extremely expensive watch ? almost certainly the present watch ? which was not. After 1802, Sommariva?s political ambitions were thwarted and therefore the present watch is the only piece by Breguet that fits into this time scale of Sommariva?s purchases. Breguet No. 295 shows the late use of a 1st series movement. It appears that a small number of minute repeating movements were made by Breguet and left unfinished around 1785. The movements were kept and then finished, cased and sold around the turn of the 19th Century. These movements are quite distinctive with steel cylinder escapement, regulator with silver dial and English repeating work.

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand -Périgord (1754?1838)
French statesman and diplomat, made bishop of Autun by King Louis XVI in 1789. A representative of the clergy in the States-General of 1789, he sided with the revolutionists. His lifelong attachment to peace and constitutional monarchy, Talleyrand sought refuge in England after the fall of the monarchy. He returned to Paris in 1796. Made foreign minister in 1797, Talleyrand hitched his career to the rising fortune of Napoleon Bonaparte. He was made grand chamberlain under Napoleon, now emperor, who in 1806 created him prince of Benevento. However, since Napoleon tended to ignore Talleyrand's cautious advice, the split between them gradually widened. Convinced of the necessity of a strong Austria to maintain European stability, Talleyrand secretly worked in Austria's rather than Napoleon's interest by persuading Czar Alexander I to oppose Napoleon's designs against Austria. He also had a hand in bringing about Napoleon's marriage to Marie Louise, daughter of the Austrian emperor Francis I in 1810. Napoleon's attack on Russia (1812) completed Talleyrand's alienation from the French emperor. When the allies entered Paris in 1814, Talleyrand persuaded them to restore the Bourbons in the person of Louis XVIII, who made him foreign minister. The prototype of the witty, cynical diplomat, Talleyrand has been either exalted as the savior of Europe in 1815 or damned as an opportunist or even a traitor. His corruption was undeniable, and his pliability enabled him to hold power under the Ancien Régime, the Revolution, Napoleon, the Restoration, and the July Monarchy. Yet Talleyrand was a good European, and his policy was aimed consistently?and often courageously?at the peace and stability of Europe as a whole.

Giovanni Battista de Sommariva
The great collector and art patron was a friend of Breguet from 1801 and one of his most intriguing clients. Sommariva nursed grand political ambitions and in an attempt to realize them he tried to curry favor with Napoleon and Talleyrand. During Napoleon?s Italian campaign of 1796, this brilliant and wealthy lawyer of humble origins had been one of the first inhabitants of Milan to declare his allegiance to the French, which prompted Napoleon to appoint him secretary-general of the new Cisalpine republic. In 1799 he was denounced to the First Consul for his equivocal attitude during the short-lived Austrian reconquest of Lombardy, but was nevertheless appointed to the new government of the Cisalpine republic in 1800, following Napoleon?s consolidation of French influence throughout northern Italy. Napoleon?s plans for the creation of a great Italian republic fired the ambitions of Sommariva, who wanted to be the head of the new Italian state. In the end, weary of Sommariva?s machinations, Napoleon passed him over in favor of Melzi d?Eril, who in 1802 became the vice-president of the republic of Italy. Sommariva then immersed himself in the world of the arts, becoming one of the greatest early nineteenth Century patrons. He had contacts with many of the outstanding artists of the day, including David, Girodet and Prudhon ? who painted his portrait, the sculptor Canova and of course Breguet. Between 1801 and 1820 Sommariva bought 11 pieces, including one of the most remarkable of all ? a marine clock and watch with two different regulators about which Breguet wrote a three-page brochure. Unfortunately this piece was destroyed by fire at Sommariva?s villa on the banks of Lake Como.

Literature: ?Breguet, Watchmakers Since 1775?, Emmanuel Breguet, 1997, p. 227. For a watch with similar early-type movement see: "The Art of Breguet", George Daniels, 1975, p.140.