This remarkable carriage clock stands out, even among Breguet carriage clocks. It is described in the registers as a "petite pendule de voyage". The carriage clock, as we know it today, was designed and invented by Breguet around 1795. In 1798 he sold the first one to Napoleon Bonaparte (No. 178, sold by Antiquorum on April 14, 1991, lot No. 10). Breguet?s carriage clocks are further proof of Breguet?s vision. Indeed, more recent clocks, despite a basic similarity of their movements, rarely match those of Breguet in finish and complication. Breguet made approximately 90 carriage clocks, many of them in mahogany cases. Those in gilt brass cases are scarce and rarely appear on the market. In addition to its size, one should stress the remarkable degree of precision Breguet put into the finish of this clock and the utmost care and attention given to its details. The escapement, the heart of every timekeeper, is a marvel of watchmaking skill, far ahead of its time. The application of a lever escapement is rare for the time and was attempted by only the best watchmakers. The escapement has draw to prevent accidental stopping during transport. The final adjustment to the escapement to equalize the momentum exerted on the balance during both swings is done by the specially calibrated tail of the fork. The balance itself is made like the ones found only in his best "Garde Temps" chronometers. Breguet placed elastic suspension on the balance pivot to minimize the risk of breaking the balance if the clock were dropped. He jeweled the escapement, at a time when jeweling was very expensive and not yet common on the continent. In fact Breguet had brought back a master watch jeweler, Mr. Hooker, from one of his trips to England. The work done on the escapement and the finishing cost him almost the same as the cost of the entire case! For the repetition mechanism Breguet chose his own system, very clever in construction, utilizing a single rack for striking the hours as well as the quarters and half-quarters with an ingenious lifting mechanism that "knows" when to move the lifting pallets away the rack, to strike only the correct number of hours and quarters. When describing the technical aspects of the mechanism, we must also mention the simple though ingenious way in which motion was transmitted from the hour wheel to the calendar. The advancements of the phases of the moon, days and the date is done by a single wheel gearing with the hour wheel through an intermediate wheel. He utilized a pivoted lever with an opening which fits over that wheel. A pin, placed eccentrically on the wheel moves the lever with it. A spring-loaded clock fixed to the lever at one point advances the phases of the moon wheel which is very elegantly made of blued steel and gold. Demidoff, along with the Bonaparte family, was one of Breguet?s best clients, purchasing at least 63 watches and clocks for total of over 194,034 francs. Breguet registers show that Demidoff paid 3,500 francs for this clock, which was a surprisingly low price for such a spectacular piece. Breguet?s production costs for this clock amounted to 3,495 francs, making his recorded profit only five francs. Clocks of this quality were normally sold for approximately 4,600 francs, which would have included Breguet?s customary markup. Breguet evidently was making a commercial gesture to Prince Demidoff, who was to become one of his best and most loyal clients. From the collection of family photographs of Alexander Tissot Demidoff Anatole Nikolaievitch Demidoff, 1st Prince of San Donato (1812-1870) was one of the most talented, energetic, and extravagant members of the influential Demidoff family, who made their fortune in mining and arms and were ennobled by Peter the Great. Anatole was educated mostly in Paris, where his father Nikolai had taken the family after Napoleon?s defeat. His mother having died in 1818 and his father in 1828, at the age of sixteen Anatole found himself in a position of great responsibility and the heir to an immense fortune. Anatole?s inquiring mind led him to direct, at the age of twenty-four, a scientific expedition to explore Russia?s new territorial acquisitions in the South. Taking part were French sociologist Frederic Le Play, writer Jules Janin, who chronicled the expedition, and painter Auguste Raffet, who contributed illutrations. The result was an important and richly illustrated several volume work, entitled ?Travels In Southern Russia and The Crimea? published in 1837. Demidoff was also an attache of the Russian embassy in Paris and a member of the French Academy of Sciences. Upon their father?s death, the two Demidoff brothers Anatole and Paul assumed control of the family business in the Ural Mountains. Consisting of fifteen villages and nine mines and munitions factories, it generated the annual income of 5 million rubles for Anatole. He controlled this empire from afar, spending most of his time in Paris or at his Villa di San Donato in Florence. Anatole?s fine artistic sense led him to commission masterpieces from the leading painters of the day. He was a generous patron to artists such as Eugene Delacroix, Eugene Lami, and Auguste Raffet, among many other leading Romantic artists. He was also an avid customer of the jeweler Chaumet, commissioning beautiful and rare gold boxes, objets d?art, and jewelery. A great admirer of the Napoleonic legend, in 1840 Anatole married Princess Mathilde Bonaparte after a two-year period of negotiations with her father, King Jerome Bonaparte. The marriage was a stormy one, lasting only six years and ending with bitter recriminations on the part of both. At his Villa in San Donato (destroyed during World War II) Anatole Demidoff built a spectacular collection of Dutch and Flemish paintings, including masterpieces by Hobbema, Cuyp, Van Ostaade, Rembrandt, Gerard TerBoche, Jan Steen, the Ruysdaels, Paul Potter, and many more. Today these works are part of the collections of museums around the world, including the Art Institute of Chicago and the National Gallery in London. Like this clock, they bear testimony to the superb taste and unerring artistic judgment that characterized Anatole Demidoff.