French 18K gold open faced quarter repeating watch Circa 1838
- Kenmerk
- DB0220
- Diameter
- 47 mm
- Estimate
- € 7.500 - 15.000
- Price sold
- -
Gold repeating lever of historical interest by Breguet
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A historically interesting French 18 carat gold open faced quarter repeating 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 dial with Roman hours, outer minute divisions and gold Breguet hands. Engine turned case, a pusher for repetition via a pull twist piston through the pendant.
Cuvette signed and numbered, 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 à Paris
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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. The family owned some plots of land in the 16th arrondissement and donated them 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 Etienne (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.
Signed: Breguet à Paris No. 443






















