French gold enamel cylinder watch by Breguet Circa 1790

French enamel open face pocket watch
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A French 18 carat gold pocket watch by Breguet with gilt full plate movement, cylinder escapement, three armed flat balance, circa 1790
White enamel dial, Arabic numerals, fancy hands, winding aperture in the white enamel dial. A gold and enamel two-piece hinged inner case.
Blue sunburst enamel decoration on the back, a foliate band, a diamond set floral spray to the centre, the motto  “Jede secunde errinnert  mich an unsre liebe” and seed pearl decoration to the border, the front cover with a fluted bezel, gilt metal and glazed two-piece hinged outer case.
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Diameter: 56 mm
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Signed: Breguet a Paris
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Breguet was founded in 1775 by Abraham-Louis Breguet, a Swiss watchmaker born to Huguenot parents in Neuchâtel. He studied watchmaking for 10 years under Ferdinand Berthoud and Jean-Antoine Lépine before setting up his own watchmaking business in Paris at 51 Quai de l’Horloge on the Île de la Cité in Paris. The dowry that came with his marriage to the daughter of a prosperous French bourgeois provided the backing which allowed him to open his own workshop. Breguet’s connections made during his apprenticeship as a watchmaker and as a student of mathematics helped him to establish his business. Following his introduction to the court.

Queen Marie Antoinette grew fascinated by Breguet’s unique self-winding watch; Louis XVI bought several of his watches. In 1783 the Swedish count, Axel Von Fersen, who was the queen’s friend and reputed lover, commissioned a watch from Breguet that was to contain every watch complication known at that time as a gift to Marie Antoinette, – Breguet’s masterpiece, the Marie Antoinette.

A similar example of this movement with a verge escapement can be found in the Art of Breguet .