69,000 CHF
“Perpétuelle” J(oseph)Oudin, Eleve de Breguet, Rue Vivienne No. 7, No. 256/273, circa 1806. Exceptionally fine and equally rare 20K gold double-barrel self-winding perpétuelle pocket watch with quarter-repeating, à toc, 60-minute power reserve indication, and pin-wheel escapement with experimental balance. Four-body, massive, “Empire”, by Tavernier, No. 2435, polished, reeded band, gilt brass hinged cuvette. White enamel by master dial-maker Borel, Breguet numerals, outer minute divisions, up-and-down sector at 6 o’clock. Blued steel Breguet hands. Notes Provenance: Michel Louis Etienne Regnaud de Saint-Jean d’Angély and thereafter his family. In this watch Oudin employed a very rare double pinned wheel escapement and an experimental bimetallic balance in which brass spokes alternate with white metal pins, protruding all the way to the seat. Joseph Oudin was one of the Oudins working for Breguet. The records list him for the first time in 1796, working on what appears to be a predecessor of the subscription watch. The last entry lists him in 1801, when he worked on an interesting eight-day repeater. Most likely at that time he established his own business at Rue Vivienne No. 7, where he is listed in 1804. The highest serial number on a watch with a Rue Vivienne address is No. 250. From there he moved to Rue Feyeday No. 25. This must have been in 1811 or earlier because there is a chronograph watch No. 271 dated 1811 with this address. The few Joseph Oudin watches that h
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2004-11-14
