43,700 CHF
Breguet No. 617, sold to Recordon, London, An 8 (23 Sept. 1799 - 22 Sept. 1800. Fine 18K rose gold, enamel and diamond-set médaillon montre à tact, with Breguet ratchet key. small eccentric silvered with Arabic numerals mounted on the barrel bridge. Blued steel Breguet hands. Notes Breguet classified his souscription watches as “petite”, “moyenne” and “grande”. Of about 915 “souscription” type watches that Breguet made, only about 35 “petites” are known to exist. They were the most expensive, averaging about SF1700. Breguet introduced them in the spring of 1799, the first one being sold to Madame Betancourt, the wife of his most trusted friend. The watch from this lot is one of the earliest “médaillon montre à tact”. An almost identical watch is described and illustrated by George Daniels in “The Art of Breguet”, p.182.82.Louis Recordon, a watchmaker from Geneva who had settled in London, was Breguet's friend and agent in England.He sold approximately 75 of Breguet's watches to the British including some to the British Monarchy.
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2003-10-11
