Top quality carriage clocks were amongst the most expensive pieces produced by Breguet. Breguet, the inventor of the carriage clock, did not make very many. Only about 200 carriage clocks are mentioned in the registers recording the entire Breguet production, beginning in the 1780s. Aside from three in the second (Gide) register, the first carriage clock he made was for Napoleon Bonaparte, see: Antiquorum, Geneva, ?The Art of Breguet?, April 14, 1991, lot 10). Of all the Breguet carriage clocks, his ?hump-back? model seems to be eternally popular, being reproduced even recently. The shape has retained its modernity and inspired other firms, such as Jump and Cole in England. In recent years, Breguet issued a very small series of ?hump-back? silver carriage clocks, practically identical in appearance to the earlier ones. Whist not specifically made for these markets, both the Russians and the English seemed to have been particularly fond of the ?hump-back? model. Of the four Breguet ?hump-back? clocks sold by Antiquorum in the last few years, three were sold to Russian buyers. The present clock was previously sold by Antiquorum, October 18 and 19, 1997, lot 62. Charles de Wendel Born in Touraine (France) in 1871, he was the second child and eldest son of Robert de Wendel and Consuelo Manuel, who had married in 1869. Charles de Wendel acquired a thorough knowledge of the metalworking industry by spending a great deal of time at his father's ironworks factories and those of other companies. In 1897, he traveled to the United States and spent five years in Pittsburgh studying the American methods in this field. In 1902, he returned from America to Hayange (Lorraine) along with a team of engineers, and with them developed Saint- Jacques, installed a steelworks plant in Mattin and began to turn Patural into Europe's most modern high-furnace plant. In 1903, upon the death of their father, Charles and his brother Guy (born in 1878) succeeded as managers of the family company. A keen technician, eager to modernize the factories, Charles was declared unfit for military service both in France and in Germany. He had a passion for horses and, despite his weak health, was an excellent horse trainer. Like his uncle Henri de Wendel, he agreed to represent his compatriots at the Reichstag. As candidate for Lorraine, he was triumphantly elected in Thionville on 21 January 1907. On 4 October 1908, Charles de Wendel, then honorary chairman of the "French Souvenir Committee", inaugurated the Noisseville monument in front of 80,000 people. In his speech he stated: "I remind the children of Lorraine who are listening to me, that loyalty to the memory of the dead, the spirit of sacrifice, respect of the past, and attachment to local traditions are the virtues essential to all races who want to last in time". That same day the French flag was laid on the grave of the victims of the Terrible Year. At the Reichstag, Charles fought for all oppressed populations. In pleading the cause of the Polish people, he failed to move a hostile assembly, and cried out that same word that history attributes to General Cambronne in the heat of a battle: "merde!". It was a cry of outrage. Above all, however, Charles pleaded for a constitution in Alsace- Lorraine. However, what Berlin finally granted was disappointing and Charles protested, in vain. In 1912 he decided not to run for re-election and crossed the border to France. He retired to Paris where he spent the last years of his life. He died in 1931 in the Castle of Orfrasière in Touraine, where he was born. The list of buyers of Breguet ?hump-back? carriage clocks: - No. 150: sold to Mr. Paschkoff. Antiquorum, Geneva, September 20, 2001, Lot 148. - No. 1745: (the same model as the present lot) sold to Grand Duke Alexis of Russia. Antiquorum, Geneva, April 24, 2004, Lot 54. - No. 2426: (the present lot) - No. 2428: (the same model as the present lot) sold to The Empress Marie Feodorovna of Russia. Antiquorum, Geneva, October 19, 2002, Lot 150. - No. 2654: sold to Monsieur Bergaud. Antiquorum, Geneva, April 24, 1999, Lot 401.