French brass box Grosse Montre Marine chronometer Circa 1825

Marine chronometer with shock absorber
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A numbered marine box chronometer Grosse Montre Marine made by Breguet et fils in Paris, France, circa 1825. The open faced case was crafted from brass and is fitted in to a later made mahogany box. The silvered face of this chronometer has a large seconds dial at twelve o’clock, a minutes and hours dial at six o’clock and steel hands. The numbered Breguet movement has a very fine detent chronometer escapement “Horloge Marine à deux barillets”  with shock absorber and transport safety for the wheel.
Dial signed and dial and movement have matching numbers.
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Diameter: 85 mm
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Signed: Breguet et Fils
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According to the available information from Breguet, this chronometer was still in the possession of the Breguet Fils company in 1859 and was never sold. In the archives the start of the construction period is in 1820 and the completion in 1830. Probably that’s the reason why there is no original marine case, the current transport box is a new production!
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Breguet & Fils

Abraham-Louis Breguet was born in Neuchatel France in 1747, as a teenager he moved to Versailles and Paris to do his apprenticeship. His first workshop opened in Ile de la Cite in Paris. Influenced by master watchmakers in Versailles he is soon introduced to French royalty including King Louis XVI. The King was keenly interested in his work and was soon impressed with Breguet’s inventions and technological ability. The King himself later commissioned ‘Perpetuelle’ the world’s first self winding watch. During the French Revolution Breguet was exiled to England because of his Royal connections. During his exile, he also produced watches for British royalty such as King George III.

He returned to Paris in 1795, and in 1807 his son Antoine-Louis Breguet joined the company and the company became Breguet et Fils (Breguet & Sons). The company remained in family hands until the English clockmaker Edward Brown took over the running of the factory, later followed by his sons until the 1970’s. During the quartz crises ownership of the company changed several times and in 1990 the company became a part of the Swatch group.