118,000 CHF
"Au Duc de Frias - Thin Hunting-Cased Repetition Medaillon" Breguet, No. 2901, sold to the Duc de Frias on January 12, year unrecorded (circa 1817), for 4,800 Francs. Extremely fine and important, very thin, half quarter-repeating, jump-hour, 18K gold hunting-cased pocket watch built on the principles of the "Garde Temps", with extensive jeweling and lever escapement. Accompanied by a certificate. Silver, brushed chapter ring with radial Roman numerals, outer dot minute divisions, eccentric subsidiary seconds, engine-turned center. Blued steel "Breguet" hands. Notes The year that this watch was sold to the Duc de Frias is omitted from the Breguet archives but it is likely to have been between 1815 and 1817 judging by the dates of sale of the watches with preceding and ascending numbers. This watch is extremely special for several reasons and exemplifies Breguet's genius both from the aesthetic as well as the technical point of view. It was sold to the Duc de Frias for the then incredible sum of 4,800 Francs, making it one of Breguet's most expensive watches and more costly than the celebrated and complicated "General Yermoloff" sold in 1817 and on par with the cost of an astronomical carriage clock. The watch has many of Breguet's best known technical features which are rarely found together in one watch, especially one of this size and slimness. It is hunting-cased and half-quarter repeating and has a jumping-hour hand, the escapement and balance are built o Read more…
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2007-05-13
