Important Watches, Collectors’ Wristw...

Hotel Noga Hilton, Nov 14, 2004

LOT 80

A Monsieur Egerston Breguet, No. 1583, sold to Monsieur Egerston on December 17, 1813 for 3,000 francs. Extremely fine and equally rare 20K gold half quarter-repeating, à tact pocket watch with duplex escapement and jump hour-hand, built on the principles of the garde temps. Accompanied by a short gold chain and gold ratchet key.

CHF 65,000 - 85,000

EUR 40,000 - 55,000 / USD 50,000 - 70,000

Sold: CHF 100,050

C. Four-body, ?Empire?, No. 1039, by master casemaker Joly, back engine-turned in a circular pattern, band reeded in three patterns, gold hinged cuvette engraved with the Bourbon coat-of-arms. D. White enamel, No. 118 by master dial maker Borel, secret signature below 12, Breguet numerals, outer minute track, sunk subsidiary seconds at 4 o?clock. M. 52 mm (23'''), gilt, bridge caliber with hanging barrel, 30 jewels, ruby duplex escapement with double escape wheel: gold for the impulse, steel for the rest, three-arm cut bimetallic compensation balance, flat balance spring, pare-chute shock-preventing device on both balance pivots, Breguet type all-or-nothing repeating system with lifters disengaging by vertical movement, repeating by two hammers on gold blocks in the case by depressing the pendant.Dial and case signed. Diam. 56 mm.


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Grading System
Grade: AAA

Excellent
Case: 3

Good
Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 3 - 13 - 01

Notes

This watch is the most highly jeweled Breguet simple repeater watch from this period that we know. Every arbor in the going and repeating trains, except the barrel, is jeweled on both sides. This includes the center wheel and the repeating train barrel which, in other watches, if they are jeweled at all, are jeweled only on the back plate. The use of gold for the escapement impulse wheel and the minute wheel is further proof that this watch is of the highest quality produced by Breguet. Fewer than sixty watches with duplex escapement were made by the Breguet firm, including the ?nouvelle series? begun after Breguet?s death. Most were equipped with solid balance. This watch, whose bimetallic compensation balance is superbly finished and whose arbors are all jeweled, stands out even among that select group of watches. The Bourbon coat-of-arms engraved on the cuvette indicates that this watch once belonged to a member of the Bourbon family. Exhibition, L?Oeuvre de Abraham-Louis Breguet, Musée International d?Horlogerie à La-Chaux-de-Fonds, May 15 - September 20, 1976, item No. 3.