76,700 CHF
"An Important Banking Family" Breguet, No. 441, "chronomètre de poche", sold to a member of an important banking family on October 17, 1844, for 1,500 Francs. Very fine and extremely rare, 18K gold "garde temps" pocket watch with detent chronometer escapement, heavy 18K gold chain and gold double-ended Breguet ratchet key. Accompanied by a Breguet fitted box and certificate. White enamel by Droz, with radial Roman numerals, outer minute track, subsidiary seconds at 12, secret signature above 6, secured by a single steel screw. Yellow gold "Breguet" hands. Notes This watch was made as a high-precision timepiece, the balance with blued steel arm and inner laminae and adjustment screws only, is the type used in Breguet marine chronometers dating from the second quarter of the nineteenth century. Louis Clement Francois Breguet was responsible for the development of these on his return from Switzerland. The detent of the present watch is interesting and unusual in that a second separate detent spring is mounted above and parallel to the detent and acts to keep tension on the detent. This has a similar operational effect to the detent arrangement in the Peto cross detent escapement.
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2007-05-13
