69,000 CHF
Breguet, No. 4863, sold to Colonel Boutourlin on September 12, 1837 for 1800 francs. Very fine 18K gold half-hunting souscription watch with à tact option, accompanied by a short gold chain and gold male key. Four-body, "forme quatre baguettes", engine-turned, spring-loaded front cover with aperture for dial and hands, with champlevé black enamel Roman numerals between engine-turned rings, gold detachable cuvette with winding and regulating apertures. Notes This is the only known “souscription” watch in a half-hunting case. Breguet made only a few hunting-cased watches and even fewer demi-hunting cases. Only four are known : No. 1645, this one, one in private collection, and No. 926 from the Nouvelle series. This is also the only one with an option for “à tact”. No other Breguet watch allows one to open the cover and use the going hand as an “à tact hand”, as in this one. This option, added after the original sale, as the daily register confirms, must have been made upon special request. Provenance:*Exhibited at the centennial Breguet Exhibition in Palais Galliéra, Paris in October 1923, cat No. 205.* Salomons Collection, illustrated in his catalogue, No. 60.* The Art of Breguet, Antiquorum, Geneva, April 14, 1991, No. 94. Colonel Dimitri Petrovitch Boutourlin (1790 - 1849). Enrolled in the Galician army in 1809, he took part in the campaigns of 1812 to 1814 and became sous-lieutenant in 1813. He was made Aide de Camp of General Levachov and received the “Ordre de Pru
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2003-10-11
