THE ART OF BREGUET
Geneva, Hotel Des Bergues, Apr 14, 1991
LOT 43
A Monsieur le Comte Potocki Thermometer No. 2119, sold by Moreau on 1 May 1804, for the sum of 336 Francs. Oval gold ring thermometer.
CHF 20,000 - 25,000
Sold: CHF 25,300
Case: 18 ct., oval form, by Tavernier, glazed on
both sides with engine-turned band and
articulated reeded shank.
Dial: Gold, engine-turned, by Tavernier, signed: "Breguet & Fils", on a plain reserve. Blued-steel
hand.
Mechanism: Double-curb of bimetallic strip made of brass and steel, with double rack and pinion
and spring controlling the hand.
In very good condition.
Dim. 29 x 24 mm.
Notes
History: According to both the fabrication and
sales books, this thermometer was begun in 1806
and completed in 1808. Sent to "la Maison de
Russie" on 8 April 1809, it was sold by Moreau to
Count Potocki on 10 May 1910 through an
introduction from Comte Ozarouski.
Note: This ring thermometer is an example of the
second type of thermometer produced by
Breguet. The first models, less sensitive in
operation, were constructed with a single rack; by
comparison, two racks, moving in opposite
directions with a tensioning spring served to
better distribute the force acting on the small
pinion carrying the hand.
A final development, published by Breguet in his
small catalogue for the French Industrial
Exhibition of 1819, was the construction of a
thermometer with a trimetallic curb composed of
platinum, gold and silver.