Historically important gold repeating lever watch Circa 1838

Gold open faced quarter repeater by Breguet
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A historically interesting French 18 carat gold open faced quarter repeating lever pocket watch, circa 1838. Sold on November 28th, 1838 to Monsieur François Delessert for 1000 Francs. Bridge movement, key wind, two hammers, two gongs, lever escapement, screw compensation balance. Silver engine turned dial with Roman hours, outer minute divisions and gold Breguet hands. Engine turned case, a pusher for the repetition via a pull twist piston through the pendant.
Cuvette signed and numbered, the case numbered. Comes with certificate No. 4562.
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Diameter: 47 mm
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Weight: 63 g
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Signed: Breguet
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Abraham-Louis Breguet was born in Neuchâtel, Switzerland in 1747 and died in 1823 at the age of 77. At age 15, he left for Paris where he studied various disciplines, mathematics, astrology, horology, etc. He began his watchmaking career by marrying a wealthy heiress and establishing his first watch factory in Paris. He hired the most skilled and renowned horologers and master watchmakers. They realized his brilliant and innovative ideas. In 1786, he moved to London and set up a workshop where high-quality pocket watches and chronometers were manufactured. In 1789, he returned to Paris, where he remained until 1793 when he fled for political reasons. With the arrival of Louis XVIII, he became in charge of the ‘Centre Horloger de Versailles’ and was appointed ‘Horloger de la Marine’, he further entered the Academy of Sciences, and the King personally imposes on him the ‘Legion of Honour’. His innovations and improvements shocked the already existing watchmaking industry.
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The Delesserts were a well-known protestant family in Paris, who were active in the silk trade and in banking. They also established the first French cotton mill and founded the ‘Caisse d’Epargne’. Some plots of land in the 16th arrondissement were owned by the family which they donated to the Protestant Church. The land was later used for the construction of the temple of Passy-Annonciation and adjacent Church buildings. The first protestant members of the Delessert family emigrated from France to Switzerland after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. Jean-Jacques was born in Cossonay in the Vaud canton in 1690 and returned to France in 1721 to become a silk merchant. His son Etiènne (1735-1816) settled in Paris, where he became a banker and founded one of the first insurance companies in France, while his brother Jules Paul Benjamin (1773-1847) was one of the founding members of the ‘Caisse d’Epargne’ and remained its director until the end of his life.
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François Delessert was born in 1780 and died in 1868. He was a banker like his father and his grandfather and was president of the ‘Chambre de Commerce de Paris’ and also of the ‘Caisse d’Epargne’.
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A boulevard in the XVIth arrondissement and a small road in the Xth arrondissement both bear the name Delessert.