49,560 CHF
“A Monsieur P. Condurat” Breguet, No. 4054, sold to Monsieur P. Condurat on April 27, 1824, for 1,600 Francs. Very fine and extremely rare, platinum and gold “Montre Simple à Cuvette” with hunting case and “English-type” ruby cylinder escapement. Three-body, by Tavernier, No. 3919, "savonnette forme quatre baguettes", yellow gold engine-turned covers “à grains d’orge”, platinum body with engine-turned band. Gold cuvette with aperture for the winding and regulator. Silver, by Tavernier, engine-turned, brushed chapter ring with radial Roman numerals, outer minute chapter with dot indexes. Gold "Breguet" hands. Notes The Breguet archives list 18 platinum cases. Very few are known to have survived; three have been sold by Antiquorum: No. 168 – a quarterrepeating watch; No. 3537- another “Montre Simple” and No. 3773 – a quarter- repeating watch. For a note on the use of platinum in watches see: Antiquorum, Genève, October 14 & 15, 2006, p. 54-57. The present watch is one of the very few watches to survive with English type cylinder escapement. 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 the diameter of the cylinder was too great in relation to the diameter of the balance, causing a loss of energy through friction. To reduce
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2007-10-14
