Important Collectors' Wristwtches, Po...
New York, Sep 26, 2007
LOT 286
?Grand Complication - Tourbillon 1801-2001" Breguet, ?Grand Complication - Tourbillon 1801-2001", No. 763, Ref. 1801. Made expressly in 2001 in a special edition to commemorate the 200th Anniversary of the invention of the tourbillon by Abraham-Louis Breguet. Accompanied by a fitted box and instruction booklet. Extremely fine, rare and important, large, half-hunter-cased, water-resistant, 18K pink gold wristwatch with visible one-minute tourbillon regulator and an 18K pink gold Breguet deployant clasp.
USD 50,000 - 60,000
EUR 37,000 - 45,000
Sold: USD 64,900
C. Four-body, solid, polished and brushed, hinged "guilloche" cover with porthole and engraved "Tourbillon" plaque, opened by a coaxial pushbutton in the winding crown, transparent case back to view the movement, reeded band, straight lugs with gold-screwed bars, sapphire crystals. D. Silvered gold, "guilloche" eccentric radial chapter ring set within a silvered gold plate with "fausses côtes" decoration, engraved "1801 - 2001". Blued steel "Breguet" hands. At 6, the visible tourbillon cage under a polished steel bridge, carrying the blued steel seconds hand. M. Cal. 557, entirely hand-engraved and signed "Tourbillon Breguet Nr. 1825 - Brevet du 7 Messidor an 9", 21 jewels, lateral lever escapement with one-minute tourbillon regulator with 3 equidistant steel arms, monometallic balance adjusted to 6 positions, shock absorber, self-compensating Breguet balance spring. Dial, case and movement signed. Diam. 42 mm. Thickness 11 mm.
| Grading System | |
|---|---|
Grade: |
|
Case: 2 |
Very good |
Movement: 2 |
Very good |
Dial: 1-01 |
As new HANDS Original |
Notes
On June 26, 1801 - or according to the shortlived republican calendar of the time, 7 Messidor, year IX, A.L. Breguet received a patent from the French Ministry of the Interior for a novel regulating device for watches, the Tourbillon. Technically an innovative and complex mechanism, only 35 watches of this kind were sold between 1805 and 1823, the year of Breguet's death. For the 200th anniversary of his patent, the Breguet Company introduced this model at the Chateau of Versailles in May 2002. The design of the movement follows in its construction in every detail the specifications laid down in the original patent documents by Breguet. From technical features to aesthetical ones, like the design of the famous Breguet hands, this rare timepiece continues the legacy of the most ingenious watchmaker of all times into the 21st century.