A Monsieur Labensky Souscription watch No. 730, sold on 21 Messidor an 9 (10 July 1801), for the sum of 1320 Francs. Gold "souscription" watch with concealed "à tact" hand, engraved comparative table for the months of the Gregorian and Republican calendars, and the equation of time correction for the Revolutionary calendar. | THE ART OF BREGUET | Geneva, Hotel Des Bergues, 14th April 1991

THE ART OF BREGUET

Geneva, Hotel Des Bergues, Apr 14, 1991

LOT 28

A Monsieur Labensky Souscription watch No. 730, sold on 21 Messidor an 9 (10 July 1801), for the sum of 1320 Francs. Gold "souscription" watch with concealed "à tact" hand, engraved comparative table for the months of the Gregorian and Republican calendars, and the equation of time correction for the Revolutionary calendar.

CHF 80,000 - 100,000

Case: 18 ct., three body, collier form, engineturned grains d'orge, the reeded band with gold touch pieces, gold à tact pointer on the edge of the cover. Gilt brass cuvette, signed: "Breguet, No. 730", and engraved with the Revolutionary and Gregorian calendar and equation tables.
Dial: White enamel, signed: "Breguet et Fils", with Breguet numerals, secret signature below " 12". Gold souscription hand.
Movement: Gilt brass 25-, signed: "Breguet, No. 730", of souscription caliber, with central barrel, overhanging ruby cylinder escapement, threearm plain brass balance, bimetallic compensaiton curb on the regulator. Blued-steel flat balance spring.
In very good condition. Diam. 64 mm.

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Notes

Exhibition: This watch was exhibited in Paris at the Palais Galliéra, in October 1923, on the centenary of the death of Abraham Louis Breguet, Cat. No. 47. Note: This watch differs from the previous lot only in the details of its case and dial, being constructed at the same date and bearing the following number. The cuvette is engraved with the same calendar and equation indications as appear in the aperture on the back of watch No. 729, with the exception of the small dial calibrated for 5 minutes and fractions thereof.
NIKITA, COMTE PANIN (1770-1837)
Foreign minister to Czar Paul I of Russia, being replaced by count R.V. Rostopochin. During 1799 and 1800, due to lack of confidence in the Emperor, especially his foreign policy, which had taken Russia from peace to one of being officially at war with France, unofficially at war with England, without diplomatic relations with Austria and about to embark on an invasion of British controlled India - a plot was instigated, originally led by Panin to force Paul to abdicate. Panin was an anglophyle, and when his friend, Whitworth, the English Ambassador to Russia was recalled, he lost his post as vice-chancellor and with it access to the Emperor. However he had already gained the unofficial support of Alexander - Paul's son and heir to the throne, to force his father to abdicate - and the issue was taken up by count Peter von Pahlen, who in 1801, along with fellow conspirators siezed the Mikhailovsky Palace and not only deposed the Czar but also strangled him. Alexander, though content to be Emperor, was unhappy that his father had been assassinated. Panin was recalled to St.Petersburg by Alexander, who greeted him with the words, "...alas things have not turned out as we thought". He was placed in charge of the college of Foreign Affairs and helped in the negotiations for an Anglo-Russian settlement which was signed in June 1801. Count Panin and Pahlen were retained only for a few months, until the young Emperor had found his feet, and indiscretion or insolence led to their permanent banishment and disgrace.