Important Collector's Wristwatches, P...

Geneva, Dec 02, 2003

LOT 68

Breguet, Grand Complication "Tourbillon 1801-2001", No. 866, Ref. 1801. Produced expressly in a special edition in 2001 to commemorate the 200th Anniversary of the invention of the tourbillon by Abraham-Louis Breguet. Extremely fine, rare and important, large, hunter case-type, water-resistant, 18K white gold gentleman's wristwatch with visible one-minute tourbillon regulator and an 18K white gold Breguet deployant clasp. Accompanied by a special fitted box, a tourbillon certificate and a loupe.

USD 60,000 - 80,000

EUR 52,000 - 69,000

Sold: USD 63,000

C. four-body, solid, polished and brushed, hinged "guilloché"- decorated cover with porthole and engraved "Tourbillon" plaque, opened by a co-axial push-button in the winding crown, transparent case back to view the movement, reeded band, straight lugs with gold- screwed bars, sapphire crystals. D. silvered gold, "guilloché" off-center dial with painted radial Roman numerals set within a silvered gold plate with "fausses côtes" decoration, engraved "1801 - 2001". Blued steel "Breguet" hands. A6, the visible tourbillon cage under a polished steel bridge, carrying the blued steel seconds hand. M. Cal. 557, entirely hand-engraved and signed "Tourbillon Breguet Nr. 1887. Brevet du 7 Messidor ans 9", 21 jewels, lateral lever escapement with one-minute tourbillon regulator with 3 equidistant polished steel arms, monometallic balance adjusted to 6 positions, shock-absorber, self-compensating Breguet balance-spring. Dial, case and movement signed. Diam. 42 mm. 


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 2 - 6
Movement: 1

As new
Dial: 1 - 01

Notes

June 26, 1801-or according to the shortlived Republican calendar of the time, 7 Messidor, year IX-A.L, Breguet received a patent from the French Ministery of the Interior for a new regulating device for watches, the Tourbillon. Technically an innovative and complex mechanism, only 35 watches of this kind were sold between 1805 and 1823, the year of Breguet's death. For the 200th anniversary of his patent, the Breguet company introduced this model at the "Chateau de Versailles" in May of 2000. Te design of the movement follows in its construction in every detail the specifications from the original patent documents by Breguet. From technical features to aesthetical ones such as the design of the famous Breguet hands, this rare timepiece continues the legacy of the most ingenious watch- maker of all times into the 21st century.