French gold enamel pocket watch in museum quality Circa 1900

Gentleman’s pocket watch with a case decorated to order
–
An important gold enamel French gentleman’s pocket watch in museum quality with a case decorated to order, circa 1900. The purchaser was Prince Ibrahim Hilmy (1860-1927), son of Ismail Pasha, Khedive of Egypt and Sudan; the prince bought the watch on September 29, 1900. It comes in a case and with correspondence on the restoration; the watch was completely overhauled by Breguet in L’Abbaye in 1995.
The bezel and bow, of this 18-carat gold case, are completely covered with white enamelling. The back shows the prince’s initials and a stylized crown of the viceroy of Egypt. The case band is gold like the pendant and the crown. The typical Breguet enamel dial with the secret signature and numbering has Arabic numerals; the hands are made of gold. The high-quality bridge movement is gilded and equipped with wolf’s teeth winding wheels, an index spring fine adjusting system, and a gold screw compensation balance.
–
Diameter: 45 mm
–
Weight: 72 g
–
Signed: Breguet
–
The correspondence with Breguet shows that the watch was sold to Prince Ibrahim Hilmy on September 29, 1900, and that the decoration of the case was created according to the prince’s specifications.
–
In 1886 Ibrahim Hilmy (1860-1927) published the book “The literature of Egypt and Sudan from the earliest times to the year 1885”. He was an Egyptian prince and the seventh child of the Khedive (viceroy) of Egypt and Sudan, Ismail Pasha (1830-1895), known as Ismail the Magnificent. Ismail Pasha’s modernization of Egypt led to the accumulation of enormous foreign debts. He commissioned the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi to write a piece for the opera of Cairo this is how the famous opera Aida was composed.