The Art of American Horology Part ll,...

Roosevelt Hotel, Madison Avenue @ 45th Street, Dec 04, 2002

LOT 123

"Breguet à Versailles", Grand Complication "Tour-billon 1801 - 2001",No. 10/28, Ref. 1801BR. Produced expressely in a limited edition of 28 exam-ples in 2001 to commemorate the 200th Anniversary of the invention of the tourbillon by Abraham-Louis Breguet.Extremely fine, rare and important, large, hunter case-type, water-resistant, 18K pink gold gentleman's wristwatch with visible one minute tourbillon regulator and an 18K pink gold Breguet de-ployant clasp. Accompanied by a fitted box, the tourbillon certificate anda loupe.

USD 90,000 - 110,000

C. four-body, solid, polished and brushed, hinged hand-"guilloché" cover with porthole and engraved "Tourbillon" plaque, opened by a co-axial push-button in the winding crown, trans-parent case back to view the movement, reeded band, straight lugs with gold-screwed bars, sapphire crystals. D. white enamel, off-center dial with painted radial Breguet numerals and marked "1801 - 2001". Secret "Breguet" signature, "Breguet" blued steel hands. At 6 o'clock, the visible tourbillon cage under a polishd bridge, carrying the blued steel seconds hand. M. Cal. 557 entirely hand-engraved and signed "Tourbillon Breguet Nr. 1884. Brevet du 7 Messidor ans 9", 21 jewels, lateral lever escapement with one minute tourbillon regulator with 3 equidistant arms, monometallic balance adjusted to 6 positions, shock-absorber, self-compensating Breguet balance-spring.Dial, case and movement signed.Diam. 42 mm.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 1

As new
Movement: 1

As new
Dial: 1 - 01

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 Ministery of the Interior for a new 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 de Versailles" in May 2002The design of the movement follows in its construction in every detail the specifications layed 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.