French gold and niello silver “Souscription” Circa 1806/1880

Open faced pocket watch by Breguet et Fils
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A French gentleman’s important, large and unusual gold and niello silver pocket watch with an exclusive mahogany box signed “Carl Suchy & Söhne”, circa 1806/1880. Retailed by Carl Suchy & Sons in Prague, “Königlicher Hof-Uhren Fabrikant”.
Florally decorated silver case with niello silver band, pink gold borders, hinges and pendant and case maker’s punch mark “PM”. Enamel dial with Breguet numerals, auxiliary seconds, secret signature below “12” and blued Breguet hands. Bridge movement, keywind, frosted, gilt, numbered and signed, with ruby cylinder escapement, three-arm brass balance, blued balance spring with temperature compensation and shock protection-“parachute”.
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Diameter: 59 mm
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Weight: 151 g
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Signed: Breguet et Fils
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Breguet Souscription 1640:
This watch was originally sold to M. Regel on April 22nd 1806 for 1.008 Francs and a 61 Francs discount. At this point in time the watch was equipped with a casing done by Joly, which had the casing number 1216. We now assume that over time the original casing got lost, which is not uncommon especially for Souscriptions watches. Circa around 1880 the Breguet clockwork was attained by the purveyor to the Royal Household, Carl Suchy, who had a casing made for it that bears a very strong resemblance to the original.
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“Breguet’s Souscription watches”
Usually in silver, with the gold rims being the only decoration, the souscription watches were of a large diameter allowing the enamel dial to be divided in such a way that both hours and minutes could be read from a single hand. The movements had a single plate, the spring barrel mounted in the centre and the wheels elegantly positioned and retained by bridges. The single hand was driven directly off the barrel arbor, eliminating the motion work and the intendant friction, and the ruby cylinder escapement was fitted with a parachute (shock protector) and a compensation curb to assist in correcting temperature errors; features that were the norm for all of Breguet’s first class watches. To further reduce the selling price, Breguet decided to produce these watches in small series (between 12 and 20 examples at a time), with the buyers paying an account of 25% in advance and the balance on completion. Hence the term: de souscription (by subscription). The success of these watches enabled Breguet to both re-establish his business, which had understandably been badly affected by the French Revolution and his exile in Switzerland, and to finance much of his research into other areas of horology.