French gold, enamel, diamond set à tact cylinder Circa 1803

Rose gold, enamel and diamond set watch by Breguet
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A fine and rare French 18 carat rose gold, enamel and diamond set hunting Montre Médaillon à Tact cylinder watch, circa 1803. Sold to monsieur Tambu on January 3, 1803 for 1680 Francs. Gilt finished souscription caliber ruby cylinder movement with central barrel, plain three armed brass balance, flat blued steel balance spring, blued steel regulation arm. Gold cuvette.

Both case covers overlaid with translucent royal blue enamel, the front cover with eccentric ellipse pattern engine-turning and with a rose diamond-set monogram, finely reeded bezel edges, revolving back cover with sunburst effect engine-turning, arrow à tact hand set with rose-cut diamonds, coin-edge band set with 11 rose-cut diamond touch pieces, the elongated diamond-set pendant with loose bow forming the 12th, detachable gold cuvette engraved Breguet N. 852, with apertures for the dial and the regulator.
Small  eccentric dial, mounted on the barrel bridge, silvered with Arabic numerals and outer minute markers. Blued steel Breguet hands. Dial signed.
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Diameter: 40 mm
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Signed: Breguet
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It is wrongly thought to have been bought by Lucien Bonaparte due to a certificate in which the numbers have been altered. According to the Breguet archives it was actually sold to Monsieur Tambu. This watch is also described and illustrated by George Daniels in “The Art of Breguet”. Breguet classified his souscription watches as “petite”, moyenne and “grande”. Of about 915 “souscription’ type watches that Breguet made, only about 35 “petites” are known to exist. They were the most expensive, averaging about SF 1,700. Breguet introduced them in the spring of 1799, the first one being sold to Madame Betancourt, the wife of his most trusted friend.

Breguet ratchet key and later Breguet fitted box.