History: Returned for repair on 23 August 1854, for the account of Madame Vabre. Literature: This watch is one of three sold by Breguet to the Comte de Morny and it is mentioned in the small pamphlet by Roger Lallier: La Montre de Monsieur pie Moray.
Note: There is no available evidence to indicate whether Abraham Louis Breguet was himself responsible for the invention of the combined keyless and hand-setting work operated through a crown in the pendant. However it is certain that such a device was developed by the firm under the direction of his son Louis Antoine, probably before 1830. Although various forms of keyless winding (as distinct from self-winding) had been attempted before, notably the examples made by the English maker Thomas Prest, who was granted a patent in 1820, apparently none were designed to perform both functions from the same crown. The earliest known by Breguet are the series of miniature watches of which lot 95 is an example. In fact, of the 16 known to have been made, not all combine both features, some needing the hands to be set by a key, and a least one employing two crowns stacked one on top of the other. However as the first examples were sold in 1831, the system would have been devised before 1830.
Lot 96, described above, also predates the invention by Adrien Philippe of his rocking bar system introduced in approximately 1847. The firm of Breguet produced very few watches with hardstone incorporated in the case work.
CHARLES, DUC DE MORNY (1811-1865)
Charles, Duc de Morny, born in Saint Maurice, in the Valais in 1811, died in Paris in 1865. The illegitimate son of Hortense, Queen of Holland (daughter of Napoleon) and Général Flahaut, he was therefore the half-brother of Napoleon III. At birth he was placed in the care of a certain Jean Demorny, a wealthy landowner from St. Domingo, who enjoyed the protection of Joséphine Bonaparte, and officially registered as his son by Miss Augustine Dubois. After the death, in April 1814, of his adopted father, he was raised by his real grandmother, Madame de Souza (the mother of Général le Compte de Flahaut), who, herself a lady of culture, was greatly impessed by his precocious intelligence and aristocratic learning. Enlisting in the army, he became an officer in 1830 and decided to write his name in two words : "de Morny", conferring upon himself an apparent lineage. After his return from a second campaign in Africa in 1838, he successfully entered the world of commerce, notably the sugar industry, by now openly using the non-existent title of " Comte de Morny". He rose rapidly to prominence in Parisian social life; a friend of the Duc de Chartres, dandy, arbiter of good taste and devoted man about town he maintained a luxurious lifestyle thanks to the generosity of his mistress Madame Le Hon, wife of the Belgian Ambassador. Acquiring an interest in politics he became Deputy for Puy de Dôme in 1842, but according to the London Times, spent more of his time at the racecourse and in the Jockey Club, than he did over the affairs of Parliament. The Revolution of 1848 brought to an end this altogether pleasurable existence and de Morny began to establish a closer relationship to his half-brother, Napoleon, who has just became President of the Republic on 10th December 1848. The first contacts in January 1849 were somewhat disappointing, but little by little, a certain affection and a common interest brought the two men closer together. Morny encouraged Louis Napoleon to stage a coup d'état, and played an essential role in its preparation. He once said : "I believe I'can say that without me the coup d'état would never have taken place". On the evening of 1st December, he received the decree appointing him Minister of the Interior, a reward for his efforts in support of the Emperor. After introducing a formula for selecting the official candidates for the elections of 1852, he resigned his Ministerial position to enter into the Legislature. He was, in fact, an excellent President from 1854 to 1865, controlling deputies through his influence and affable manner and disguising the often heavy-handed methods of the Government he represented. In 1858, Napoleon III named him as a member of the Privy Council, and eventually Counsellor to the Regency after the attempted assassination by Orsini. Morny became the eminence grise behind the throne, persuading the Emperor to take a more liberal line in his ideas. Personally, he favoured the establishment of a banking system, founded the resort town at Deauville (still the location for the yearling horse sales) and the famous racecourse at Longchamps. Morny was for a long time accused of being responsible for involving France in the disastrous expedition into Mexico, being himself a creditor along with Jecker, the banker. In reality, even if there was a degree of self-interest involved in the affair, it was certainly not the main reason for Napoleon's decision to intervene in Mexico. The title of Duke was conferred upon Morny by Imperial decree on 8th of July 1862, and confirmed by letters patent on the 29th of April 1863; the Emperor was undoubtedly pleased to see his halfbrother oficially raised to the aristocracy. A coat-of-arms accompanied the title, replacing the hortensia flower (hydranga) that Morny had adopted in 1852 during his life as a self-appointed Count, and used so indiscreetly as a mark of his royal lineage, along with the motto Tace sed momento. The Duke de Morny played a significant role in the career of Napoleon III, being his wisest counselor, and his premature death in 1865 was undoubtedly disastrous for the second Empire which collapsed in 1870.