This early chronometer, unrecorded by Hans Steager, was made originally with the Arnold detent escapement and almost certainly the Arnold "Z" balance. According to the way the transformation has been carried out, it was certainly upgraded by John Roger Arnold himself circa 1810, with a new detent escapement of Earnshaw type and a new compensation balance.Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747-1823).The company was founded in Paris in 1775 by a watchmaker of genius; Abraham-Louis Breguet, who was born near Neuchatel in Switzerland in 1747.From the time he set up his business, Breguet sold his clocks and watches to the crowned heads of Europe. His fame spread to Russia and America. His sales ledger was a social who's who, in which scientists kept company with princes and cardinals. The leading generals and personalities of the revolution were among his most faithful customers, starting with the entire Bonaparte family.On the technical level, Breguet's inventions are too numerous to list fully here. The main ones, which should be mentioned, are the parachute shock-absorber (sprung balance-wheel bearings which prevented the pivots breaking if the watch was dropped); the temperature-compensation curb on the balance spring index; the ruby cylinder known as over hanging cylinder escapement; the echappement naturel: the constant-force escapement; the tourbillon regulator which ensured a steady rate irrespective ofhe position adopted by the watch; and the pendule sympathique sold with a watch that was set, adjusted and wound by the clock. These inventions have earned Breguet the title of father of modern horology.The renown of the Breguet company survived the death of its founder. For more than two centuries the name Breguet has stood for quality, elegance and distinction. His descendants and successors have been able to maintain to this day the reputation he established. Supported by such scientists as Arago and Charles Richet, they took part in the great industrial adventure of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Breguet name is associated with all the inventions that marked the early applicatin of electric current, from wireless to aeronautics. The name has even entered into fiction, for it was a Breguet watch that Jules Verne gave Phileas Foog for his journey around the world in 80 days.The tradition of quality and distinction, well established in two centuries of history, is to be seen in the Breguet watches of today which still feature the dials, hands and case conceived by the far-sighted genius of Abraham-Louis Breguet.Pierre-Philippe Thomire. Sculptor, bronze-worker, caster and chaser, born Paris, 5 December 1751, died Paris 9 June 1843.Born into a Parisian family, about whom little is known, he was the son of the chaser Luc Philippe Thomire. He studied at the Académie de Saint-Luc with Houdon and Pajou. But his real teacher was the chaser Gouthière, whose work influenced Thomire up to the First Empire period. Troubled by financial problems and unreliable in delivering his commissions on time, Gouthière left the field open to his young pupil. Having already successfully come to the public's notice in 1775, through his collaboraion with Louis Prieur on the decoration of the Coronation coach of Louis XVI, Thomire set up on his own account in 1776. Shortly afterwards, he took up the position left vacant at the Manufacture de Sèvres by the death of Jean-Claude Duplessis. The accounts of the Garde-Meuble record him as a supplier and collaborator with Benneman, furniture maker to Queen Marie-Antoinette. This has resulted in the work of Thomire being systematically attributed in error to Gouthière, who very seldom signed hiswork, like his pupil. In fact, Gouthière was no longer mentioned at this period. Success smiled on Thomire from the start: By appointment to the Court, bronze sculptor to the Manufacture de Sèvres, supplier to the City of Paris; he immediately gained a reputation as the best bronze artist of the reign of Louis XVI, as he was to be for the First Empire.