18,750 CHF
BREGUET NO. 3349 - QUARTER REPEATING WATCH - SOLD TO LORD DARTMOUTH Breguet et Fils, No. 3349, 'Repètition' sold to Lord Dartmouth (William Legge, 4th Earl of Dartmouth), Hotel Mirabeau, Rue de la Paix, on January 29th, 1819 for 1400 Francs. Very fine and rare, quarter-repeating, 18K gold pocket watch with 'English-type' ruby cylinder escapement, gold Breguet short chain and ratchet key. Accompanied by a numbered Breguet fitted box and Certificate. Four-body, 'forme collier', polished bezel, engine-turned flat band, the back engine-turned 'grains d'orge'. Hinged gilded cuvette. Silver, engine-turned with radial Roman numerals on a brushed chapter ring, outer dot minute divisions. Blued steel Breguet hands. 44 mm., matte gilt, standing barrel, English-type ruby cylinder escapement, the escape wheel and balance wheel with jeweled pivots, three-arm balance with pare-chute suspension on the upper pivot, blued steel flat balance spring, blued steel index regulator with bimetallic compensation curb, repeating on two gongs with two polished steel hammers activated by a pull-and-twist piston in the pendant. Notes Dial and cuvette, signed, case and cuvette numbered. DIAM. 49.5 mm. BREGUET AND THE CYLINDER ESCAPEMENT Breguet used the cylinder escapement throughout his life. Like the virgule, it is a frictional rest escapement but of a far superior kind. In reality, the cylinder escapement as made by the English makers was not much better than the verge. This was because
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2013-11-10
