34,500 CHF
Breguet, No. 2444, manufactured in 1808, sold on April 4, 1810, to Francesco Bor- ghese, Prince de Aldobrandini, for the sum of 3,000 Francs. Bought back by Breguet on April 8, 1814, for 2,000 francs, sent by Breguet to Wenham, his agent in St. Petersburg, on July 4, 1814, for the sum of 3,000 francs, and sold to General Davidoff. Very fine and thin 18K gold and enamel jump-hour half quarter-repeating watch. Four-body, “quatre baguette” form, by Tavernier, engine-turned with General Davidoff’s coat-of-arms under translucent umber enamel in the center of the back, gold detachable cuvette. Silver, by Tavernier No. 328, secret signatures on both sides of the figure “12”, champlevé radial Roman numerals, outer minute dot divisions, engine-turned center and outer edge, secured by a screw. Blued steel Breguet hands. 33 mm (17’’’), gilt brass, bar caliber, hanging barrel, Breguet ruby cylinder escapement with unusual small 8-tooth escape wheel with holes instead of the usual spokes, gilt three-arm balance, flat balance spring, pare-chute elastic suspension on top pivot, going train jeweled to the center, repeating with a single hammer via intermediate block on a short single gong by pull-and-twist piston in the pendant. Signed on the dial and cuvette. Diam. 42 mm. Notes This watch was previously sold by Antiquorum, The Art of Breguet, April 14, 1991, lot No. 52 Provenance: Bloomfield Collection, San Diego.
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2002-04-13
