9,440 CHF
“Early Minute Repeating” Breguet a Paris, Swiss, the movement attributable to Decombaz. Made circa 1820. Fine and rare, 18K gold, minute-repeating pocket watch with three hammers striking on square-section gongs. Four-body, "Empire" with reeded band, bolt at 11 o’clock for locking the repeat. Hinged gilt brass cuvette. Gold engineturned with radial Roman numerals on a polished chapter ring, outer dot minute indexes. Blued-steel "Breguet" hands. Gilt brass, standing barrel, lateral lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance, blued steel flat balance spring, index regulator, diamond endstone, polished-steel repeating work on the back plate, repeating with three hammers on two square-section polished-steel gongs activated by depressing the pendant. Apocryphal signature on the cuvette. Diam. 55 mm. Notes Decombaz was one of the finest watchmakers working in Geneva at the beginning of the 19th century. He often worked for Breguet, specializing in repeating and complicated watches, and usually used either virgule or cylinder escapements. Minute-repeating watches from this period are very rare.
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2007-10-14
