Breguet No. 728, sold to Mr. Falzety on the 18 Ventôse year 9 (9 March 1801), for 1200 Francs. Fine and very rare silver and gold "montre à tact" with auxilary five-minute dial, concentric Revolutionary and Gregorian calendar rings with equation of time calculated to coincide with the Revolutionary calendar. | Important Watches, Wristwatches and Clocks | Geneva, Hotel Des Bergues, 15th October 1994

Important Watches, Wristwatches and C...

Geneva, Hotel Des Bergues, Oct 15, 1994

LOT 370

Breguet No. 728, sold to Mr. Falzety on the 18 Ventôse year 9 (9 March 1801), for 1200 Francs. Fine and very rare silver and gold "montre à tact" with auxilary five-minute dial, concentric Revolutionary and Gregorian calendar rings with equation of time calculated to coincide with the Revolutionary calendar.

CHF 40,000 - 50,000

C. Two body, "forme collier", silver engine-turned, with gold rims, pendant and bow. The cover with a monogram "K.A." engraved on a small gold escutcheon applied below the small glazed eccentric dial aperture, gold border rim with touch pieces. Applied gold "à tact" arrow on the back, extended by a sector-shaped glazed aperture revealing the months, the equation of time and the additional dial sub-divided for five minutes. GiIt brass cuvette with circular eccentric aperture revealing the dial. D. Silver engine-turned with Roman numerals on a polished chapter ring. Blued steel Breguet hands. M. 25"', gilt brass, "souscription" calibre with centre barrel, overhanging ruby cylinder escapement, plain brass three-arm balance with bimetallic compensation curb on the regulator. Blued steel flat balance spring. Subsidiary dial attached to the barrel bridge. Signed on the gilt brass cuvette and the movement. In very good condition. Diam. 62 mm.

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The presence of the small auxiliary dial subdivided to indicate five-minute periods, confirms that this watch originally had only a single hand in common with all the " Souscription" watches. The present dial, divided for two hands, was fitted during the complete overhaul carried out by Breguet. The presence of a glazed window in the "à tact" cover is extremely rare. Turning the cover in a clockwise direction (it must be revolved in the opposite direction to find the time with the arrow) enables to required month to be sighted in the window, and a comparison to be made between the normal month and the Republican calendar, along with the equation of time for the first day of each "Décade". Only two other examples of such a watch are known, one is currently in the collection of the Beyer Museum in Zurich, the other, No. 729, was sold by Antiquorum on 14 April 1991, lot No. 27 of the catalogue The Art of Breguet. According to the records, the case of this watch was originally made of gold. When it appears for the first time in the repair books in 1870, it is described as a "Montre à tact" in a silver case with gold rims. It was overhauled by Breguet for the last time in 1876 for Baronne de Graffenriet. It is unfortunately impossible to find in the Breguet records when the actual case was made. As a matter of fact, the case of the similar watch, No. 729, was also made at a later date.