16,800 CHF
For Thadée Todwen Breguet, Horloger de la Marine Royale, No. 3966, sold to Devolue, Meuron & Cie on January 31, 1824 for 1,254 Francs. Very fine 20K rose gold quarter-repeating pocket watch with ruby cylinder escapement and special dial. To be sold without reserve Four-body, “forme collier”, by Tavernier No. 3932, polished, flat band. Hinged gilt cuvette. Silver, by Tavernier with the name THADEE TODWEN in the place of numerals, outer dot minute divisions, engine-turned center, secured by a screw. Blued steel Breguet hands. 48 mm. gilt brass, bridge caliber, Breguet ruby cylinder escapement, plain three-arm gilt balance, blued steel flat balance spring, parachute on the top pivot, temperature compensation curb on the blued steel index regulator, repeating on two short gongs by two hammers with pull-and-twist piston on the band at 2 o’clock. Cuvette signed, movement, dial and case punched with serial number, case stamped with the casemaker’s mark and French guarantee marks. Diam. 53 mm. Notes This watch testifies to the commercial relationship between Breguet and the Meuron firm of Chaux-de-Fonds, who ordered the watch to be delivered to Thadée Todwen, a member of an old Polish noble family. Further proof of these professional ties is the fact that Breguet lost a box containing several pieces, destined to be delivered to his Paris firm, in the fire which destroyed much of Chauxde- Fonds in 1794. See: Emmanuel Breguet, “Breguet, Horloger depuis 1775”, Alain de Gourcuff Ed
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2009-05-10
