THE ART OF BREGUET
Geneva, Hotel Des Bergues, Apr 14, 1991
LOT 79
A Monsieur Spies Watch No. 4238, sold 16 March 1826 ,for the sum of 5200 Francs. Gold and silver cased watch with half quarterrepeating, calendar and secret portrait miniature compartment, constructed on the principals of the "garde-temps".
CHF 60,000 - 80,000
Sold: CHF 86,250
Case: 18 ct., four body, gticafre baguettes form, by Tavernier, No.4068, engine-turned à grains d'orge
with silver band, and gold bezels and back, the
latter with a concealed double cover opening to
reveal a miniature on ivory depicting a portrait
bust of a young woman within an engine-turned.
gold frame. Gold cuvette signed: "Breguet No.
4238".
Dial: Eccentric, engine-turned silver, signed: "
Breguet", with Roman numerals on a plain
reserve, eccentric subsidiary seconds at "III", and
date aperture at "VI". Gold Breguet hands.
Movement: Gilt brass, 19"', extra flat bar caliber, the barrel with female winding square, with
counterpoised straight line lever escapement
with long lever, two-arm bimetallic compensation
balance, with parachute on both pivots. Bluedsteel
Breguet balance spring. Repeating on one
gong with a single hammer, through steel
intermediate spring block, with slide in the band
of the case.
In very good condition, with a Breguet red
leather fitted case from Desoutter.
Diam. 48 mm.
Notes
Provenance: Formerly in the Sir David Salomons Collection, No. 30. Sold at Christie's, London, as lot 39, catalogue part II, on 1 June 1965.
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. 192.
Literature: Illustrated and described in G. Daniels, The Art of Breguet, p. 271, fig. 331 a-c.
Note: Extra-flat, with eccentric dial, off-set seconds at "III", and an aperture for the calendar, this watch is an elegant example of Breguet's work. The secret portrait compartment is one of Breguet's rare concessions to the fantaisies of his clientele, but it is here so constructed that the overall purity of design of the watch is wholly maintained. This is in itself an achievement, as the watch is of particularly slim form bearing in mind that it has both repeating and a calendar.