The Breguet archives list 18 platinum cases. Very few are known to have survived; three have been sold by Antiquorum: No. 168 ? a quarterrepeating watch; No. 3537- another ?Montre Simple? and No. 3773 ? a quarter- repeating watch. For a note on the use of platinum in watches see: Antiquorum, Genève, October 14 & 15, 2006, p. 54-57. The present watch is one of the very few watches to survive with English type cylinder escapement.

Breguet and the Cylinder Escapement
Breguet used the cylinder escapement throughout his life. Like the virgule, it is a frictional rest escapement but of a far superior kind. In reality, the cylinder escapement as made by the English makers was not much better than the verge. This was because the diameter of the cylinder was too great in relation to the diameter of the balance, causing a loss of energy through friction. To reduce the friction, the English makers, who were very skilled in the art of jeweling, made the cylinder half-section ruby. The ruby was fitted into a steel frame ? it was this form of cylinder escapement first used by Breguet. The present watch is only the second known survivor of a Breguet watch fitted with this escapement. By about 1795 Breguet had developed the ruby cylinder to the very familiar ?overhanging? ruby cylinder; it is therefore rare to find this escapement at such a late date and perhaps this indicates that the movement was constructed in fact many years before it was cased and sold; the lack of pare-chute and compensation curb would also suggest this. These escapements performed so well and with such increased consistency of rate that temperature errors previously swamped by general bad performance now needed correction. For this reason, except in his smallest watches, Breguet?s ruby cylinder escapements use a compensation curb.