Very small Swiss 18K gold complicated lever watch Circa 1873

Gold miniature complicated full hunter
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An exceptional, important and very small Swiss 18 carat gold hunting cased quarter repeating keyless lever pocket watch with perpetual calendar and moon phases, circa 1873. Sold by Breguet on December 29th, 1885 to Mir & Cottereau for 2500 Francs. Frosted gilt 13 ligne movement, Ø 32 mm, 30 jewels, wolf’s tooth winding, a straight-line lever escapement with shepherd’s crook counterpoise, cut bimetallic compensation balance with gold temperature and meantime adjustment screws, blued steel Breguet balance spring and index regulator, repeating on gongs activated by a slide on the band.  A hinged gold cuvette. White enamel dial with Roman hours, an outer minute track with Arabic five-minute numerals, four sunk subsidiary dials for the days of the week, date, months with leap-year cycle and auxiliary seconds concentric with the phases of the moon aperture, blued steel spade hands. The case is engine-turned with polished borders and band, correctors protruding from the bezel. The dial is numbered on the counter enamel, the reverse of the moon disc is scratch signed Ls- Audemars Brassus Suisse No. 12158, the case with Louis Audemars punch marks and numbered, cuvette signed Breguet No. 4269.
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Diameter: 38 mm
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Signed: Louis Audemars Brassus
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This timepiece is one of the smallest known pocket watches with a perpetual calendar.
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This watch can be considered exceptional as one of, if not the smallest pocket watch ever made with a perpetual calendar and repeating. In the archives of Louis Audemars, this watch is recorded as being made in 1873 and then sold to Breguet in Paris who further signed the cuvette and issued their own number 4269 additionally. The Breguet archives then confirm that the watch was sold to Mir & Cottereau on December 29th, 1885 for 2500 Francs.

The desire to miniaturize timepieces is an ideal inherent to the watchmaker’s art. The present piece must represent what was an unparalleled accomplishment at its time of manufacture. Much smaller watches are known to exist, however one of 13”’ with perpetual calendar, phases of the moon and repetition would have been unheard-of. The firm of Louis Audemars was well known for their ability to create movements of great complexity. This watch is an extraordinary example of their art combining complexity and miniaturization and would have surely been the smallest watch of its type in 1873. No other 13”’ or smaller watches with the same complications are known to have been manufactured until the 1930s.