63,250 CHF
A Monsieur Groi Watch No. 149bis, sold to London in February 1792. Gold watch with dumb quarter-repeating and special escapement. Notes Note: This watch is one of the very first made by Breguet employing a bridge caliber, and is virtually identical to the examples developed by Jean Antoine Lépine. The illustrations shown opposite are taken from plate 10 of the book by Louis Moinet entitled: Nouveau Tmite General d' Horlogerie, a book that was in fact being written by Breguet before his death. Moinet had been requested by Breguet in 1819 to help him complete a book on horology that had been under preparation for nearly 30 years. For a time Moinet lived in an appartment provided at Breguet's home, but was asked to move two months before the master's death. He moved, taking all the manuscripts and designs with him, and the court battle for their return and subsequent attempts by the family to prevent the publication of the book endured for many years. In the minutes of the clerk at the 12th District Court in Paris, a judgement entered in 1825 at the request of Antoine Louis Breguet states (in literal translation of certain passages): "As far as the manuscripts actually deposited with the clerk to the Police Tribunal are annotated in the hand of Monsieur Breguet, who was responsible for their execution and their editing, along with the accompanying explanatory text, all of which were compiled at the residence of Monsieur Breguet, by his designer, at his cost and under h
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
1991-04-14
