Extremely rare 18k gold à tact ruby cylinder watch Circa 1804

Gold à tact watch with ruby cylinder escapement by Breguet
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An extremely rare, large and slim French 18 carat gold à tact watch with ruby cylinder escapement, circa 1804. Sold on 25 Fructidor, an 12 (12 September 1804) to Monsieur Hainguerlot for the sum of 1,600 Francs. Gilded brass movement, souscription caliber, central barrel and five wheel train, ruby cylinder escapement, plain three armed brass balance, parachute fitted to the top pivot, blued steel flat balance spring, blued steel regulator arm with arc terminal. Small eccentric white enamel dial secured by two screws with radial Roman numerals, outer minute dot divisions and blued steel Breguet hands. Three body forme quatre baguettes case, front cover with sunburst engine turning, twelve touch pieces on the edge, sunburst engine turned back with platinum arrow, coin edge band, loose ring pendant. Detachable polished cuvette with apertures for winding, hand setting, regulating and the dial. Case by Pierre Benjamin Tavernier, case numbered and punched with Tavernier’s mark, cuvette and movement signed and numbered. Comes in a Breguet gold tooled red morocco fitted box.
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Diameter: 57 mm
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Signed: Breguet No 1362 – ‘Souscription Moyenne à Tact’
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‘The tact watch was one of the most amusing and elegant of all Breguet’s inventions’ – Emmanuel Breguet in Breguet, The Life and Legacy of Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747-1823).
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Masterpieces from the workshops of Abraham-Louis Breguet
The present watch is an example made by one of the workshops of Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747-1823) and his successors, widely acknowledged for having set the standard by which all fine watchmaking has been judged ever since.
This superb and impressive example represents one of Breguet’s own inventions, the ‘à tact’ watch. An epitome of understated beauty for which his work is renowned.
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Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747-1823)
Breguet was born in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, but it was in Paris that he spent most of his productive life. No aspect of watchmaking escaped his study, and his inventions were as fundamental to horology as they were varied. His career started with a series of breakthroughs: the development of the successful self winding perpétuelle watches, the introduction of the gongs for repeating watches and the first shock protection for balance pivots.
Louis XVI and his Queen, Marie-Antoinette, were early enthusiasts of Breguet’s watchmaking. Each watch from his workshops demonstrated the latest horological improvements in an original movement, mostly fitted with lever or ruby cylinder escapements that he perfected. Breguet took refuge in Switzerland from the perils of the French Revolution. He returned to Paris overflowing with the ideas that produced the Breguet balance spring, his first carriage clock (sold to Bonaparte), the ‘sympathique’ clock and its dependent watch, the tact watch and finally the tourbillon, patented in 1801.
Breguet became the indispensable watchmaker to the scientific, military, financial and diplomatic elites of the age. His timepieces ruled the courts of Europe. For his most celebrated clients, Breguet designed exceptional timepieces. For Caroline Murat, queen of Naples, he conceived in 1810 the world’s very first wristwatch. Honours saluted his enormous contribution to horology. Appointed to the Board of Longitude and as chronometer maker to the navy, he entered the Academy of Sciences and received the Legion of Honour from the hands of Louis XVIII.
When he died in 1823, all mourned the architect of the greatest revolution in the science and art of time-keeping.