Important Collectors’ Wristwatches, P...

Geneva, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Du Rhône, May 13, 2007

LOT 277

"Au Duc de Frias - Thin Hunting-Cased Repetition Medaillon" Breguet, No. 2901, sold to the Duc de Frias on January 12, year unrecorded (circa 1817), for 4,800 Francs. Extremely fine and important, very thin, half quarter-repeating, jump-hour, 18K gold hunting-cased pocket watch built on the principles of the "Garde Temps", with extensive jeweling and lever escapement. Accompanied by a certificate.

CHF 45,000 - 55,000

EUR 28,000 - 35,000 / USD 37,000 - 45,000

Sold: CHF 118,000

C. Three-body, hunting cased, "forme quatre baguettes", No. 3489 by Tavernier, engine-turned à grains d'orge, the back cover with a very small engraved monogram in the center. Gold cuvette secured by a screw. D. Silver, brushed chapter ring with radial Roman numerals, outer dot minute divisions, eccentric subsidiary seconds, engine-turned center. Blued steel "Breguet" hands. M. 38 mm., 16 1/2''', frosted gilt, fully jeweled wheel train, jeweled elongated counterpoised straight-line lever escapement with draw, balance with compensation affixes, the adjusting screws within the rim, top pivot with pare-chute, blued steel Breguet balance spring with blued steel anchor-type regulation arm, repating on a single gong activated by depressing a pull-and-twist piston in the pendant. Dial and cuvette signed. Diam. 48 mm. Property of a Gentleman


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 3

Good
Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 3-01

Good

HANDS Original

Notes

The year that this watch was sold to the Duc de Frias is omitted from the Breguet archives but it is likely to have been between 1815 and 1817 judging by the dates of sale of the watches with preceding and ascending numbers. This watch is extremely special for several reasons and exemplifies Breguet's genius both from the aesthetic as well as the technical point of view. It was sold to the Duc de Frias for the then incredible sum of 4,800 Francs, making it one of Breguet's most expensive watches and more costly than the celebrated and complicated "General Yermoloff" sold in 1817 and on par with the cost of an astronomical carriage clock. The watch has many of Breguet's best known technical features which are rarely found together in one watch, especially one of this size and slimness. It is hunting-cased and half-quarter repeating and has a jumping-hour hand, the escapement and balance are built on the principles of the garde temps which were used only in Breguet's best watches. Exceptionally, the entire wheel train is fully jewelled to the center wheel at a time when any jeweling was very unusual even in Breguet watches, this makes the present watch one of Breguet's most interesting and desirable watches for the collector and Breguet historian, it is also in a very good state of preservation.

Extra-thin movements
A great deal of care and skill are required to produce extra-thin watch movements; this is reflected in their cost. In the past, whereas most regular watch movements were surprisingly inexpensive - for instance, the cost to Breguet for a souscription movement could have been as low as 24 francs (No. 730 or No. 1034), while the whole watch cost 600 francs - thin movements were very costly. In the early 1830s, when Breguet began making watches with 7 and 8 ligne movements, these were priced at 3,000 to 4,000 francs. The cost was equal to - and often higher - than that of a regularsized watch with repetition, alarm, and calendar (for example No. 3524, 23 lignes, which sold in March 1833 for 3,000 francs). Only the wealthiest clients could afford them. An excerpt from ?Watch the Difference? by Philippe Poniz, Vox, Summer 2003,