Important Collectors’ Wristwatches, P...

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

LOT 282

?Lever Chronometer with Split-Seconds Chronograph? Breguet, No. 4330. Made circa 1920. Very fine and very rare, silver and gold, keyless lever chronometer for Besançon Observatory Timing Contest, with split-seconds chronograph, 30-minute register and the original Breguet morocco leather-covered box. Accompanied by a certificate.

CHF 25,000 - 30,000

EUR 15,000 - 20,000 / USD 20,000 - 25,000

Sold: CHF 33,040

C. Four-body, massive, "bassine?, polished with yellow gold split-seconds button and setting pin surround. Hinged silver cuvette. D. White enamel, radial Arabic numerals, outer minute and fifths of a second divisions with five-minute Arabic numerals, subsidiary dials for the seconds, 30-minute register at 12 o'clock. Gold ?spade? hands. M. 42 mm (19'''), frosted gilt, 24 jewels, stamped with the Besançon viper?s head mark, straight-line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance, blued steel Breguet balance spring, index regulator, chronograph and split-seconds mechanism set on the back. Dial and cuvette signed. Diam. 55 mm. Property of a French Gentleman


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Grading System
Grade: AAA

Excellent
Case: 3

Good
Movement: 3*

Good

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

Good

HANDS Original

Notes

The viper's head was the official Besançon Observatory punchmark. The more complicated a timepiece is, the more difficult it is to adjust, particularly with complications such as a chronograph, split-seconds function, and/or a register. The additional wheelwork affects the timepiece's functioning, because of the amount of energy required - but often only sporadically, when, for example, the chronograph is in use - and because of the friction to which the moving parts of the mechanism - levers, springs, etc. - are subjected. Another Breguet split-seconds chronograph with Besancon Observatory mark was sold by Antiquorum, Geneva, November 12, 2006, lot 308.