21,850 CHF
Breguet, No. 252, sold circa 1840. Very fine, rare, and very early 18K gold and bloodstone pendant watch in original morocco fitted box. three-piece, back made of a solid piece of jasper mounted in gold, reeded bezels, slot in the band with a regulating lever. matte and silvered, champlevé Roman numerals, outer minute dot divisions. Gold Breguet hands. Notes The watch implements the early stem-wound and stem-set keyless system apparently invented by Breguet. Breguet had experimented with keyless winding and setting mechanisms as early as 1831-1832 see Antiquorum, ew York, April 26, 2001, lot 154. However, his early designs featured two separate arbors, one for winding, the other for setting. The arbors were sometimes concentric, but were always two in number. This design, alluringly simple, as are many Breguet inventions, consists of a double pinion set on a winding stem constructed in such a way that when one portion is disengaged by pulling the crown, the other becomes engaged. At the present, this watch appears to be the earliest with this system. It also appears to be the earliest watch with wolf-tooth winding wheels, a favorite of Patek Philippe 20 years later. In 1850, Breguet abandoned this system in favor of others, among them one invented by Adrien Philippe see Antiquorum, Oct. 19, 1997, lot 50.
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2003-10-11
