Collector's Pocket Watches, Wristwatc...

Noga Hilton, Geneva, Apr 12, 2003

LOT 533

Breguet, No. 4768 sold to Princess Bagration for 3,500 francs on October 26, 1837.Very fine and extremely rare, gilt bronze, eight day going carriage clock with half-quarter repeater, alarm, subsidiary seconds, and calendar with date and months. Accompanied by certificate.

CHF 150,000 - 200,000

EUR 103,000 - 138,000 / USD 111,000 - 150,000

Sold: CHF 146,500

C. Rectangular, glazed with beveled glass on four sides and the top, dentil top molding over floral pattern, polished base set over a molding with four lion paws at each corner, a scrolling foliate pattern between them, tapered torch-shaped columns at each corner, ornate gilt brass handle hinged from lion's mouth, repeat button at the left side of the top panel, pull-alarm knob symmetrically to the right, rounded disc feet. D. circular, silver, set in a rectangular gilt engine-turned panel, Romn numerals, inner quarter-hour divisions, outer minute divisions, subsidiary seconds set at 12 o'clock, aperture for days of the month and months below, winding aperturebelow 6 o'clock, alarm setting aperture at 4 o'clock. Blued steel "Breguet" hands, gold alarm-setting hand.M. rectangular, brass, platform escapement with straight line counterpoised long lever escapement, cut bimetallic two-arm compensation balance with silver alloy outer lamina with temperature screws and mean time nuts, blued steel Breguet balance-spring, 20-tooth brass escape wheel with oil-retention holes, pallet fork with double roller and arrowhead-shaped gold guard pin, entire escapement jeweled, pare-chute on the top pivot, adjustable regulator pins, repeating and alarm on bell.Signed on dial.Dim. Height 17 cm, width 9 cm, depth 7 cm.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 3
Movement: 3*
Dial: 3 - 01

Notes

There are only three other similar carriage clocks by Breguet known to date.The carriage clock, as we know it today, was designed and invented by Breguet about 1795. In 1798 he sold his first to Napoleon Bonaparte (No. 178, sold by Antiquorum on April 14, 1991, lot No. 10). The next client to purchase a carriage clock was the Duke de Praslin, who in 1802 bought one with the serial No. 1992. An examination of Breguet's early carriage clocks demonstrates the degree to which he was ahead of his time. The carriage clocks of the late 19th century and even the 20th century difer very little from those of Breguet. Indeed, although the basic movements are strikingly similar, the more recent clocks rarely match those of Breguet in finish and complication. Breguet made approximately 90 carriage clocks, many of them in mahogany cases. Those in gilt bronze cases are scarce and rarely come onto the market.Countess Catherine Pavlovna Skavronsky (1783 -1857), Princess BagrationWas the daughter of Count Paul Martinovitch Skavronsky and his wife, nee Catherine Vassilievna Engelhardt. Her first husband was Prince Pierre Ivanovitch Bagration (1765- 1812) a General of the Infantry who died after being wounded at the Battle of Borodino. Several years later, in 1830, Princesse Bagration remarried in Paris. Her second husband was John Hobart Craddock (1799-1873), second Baron Howden of Howden and Grimston.In 1801, Princess Bagration accompanied her husband to Dresden, where she met Prince Metternich. The beauty of this young woman of 18 was legendary: "a youthful face, white as alabaster, gently tinged with pink, lovely features, a charming, eloquent, and sensitive expression? in all of her person an Oriental nobility mixed with Andalusian grace". Metternich and Princess Bagration became lovers; a daughter, Marie Clementine (1802-1829) was the fruit of this liaison. This child, who bore the namef Bagration, later married the Swedish nobleman Count Otto von Blome (1795-1884).Princess Bagration played an important social role during the Congress of Vienna of 1814-1815. One of her receptions, catered by the celebrated chef Antonin Carême, was attended by Czar Alexander I, who at the time vied with Metternich for her affections. The daring gowns she wore at the time won her the nickname of "the beautiful naked angel".We thank Mr. Jacques Ferrand for his assistance with this biography.