French miniature gold keyless winding montre à tact watch Circa 1834

Gold open faced pocket watch attributed to Breguet
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A French miniature gold open faced keyless winding montre à tact pocket watch, circa 1834. The frosted gilded movement features a lever escapement and a large bimetallic compensation balance. It has a silver dial with an eccentric time dial displaying Roman numerals, an outer minute ring, and a surround decoratively engraved with scrolling foliage, centred with a banner signed Breguet. The gold case has an engine turned back, is mounted with a à tact hand, and touch pins on the band. There is a regulation index between 3 and 4 o’clock, keyless winding and hand setting, with the case stamped B and 116 S, and the case maker’s mark LS for Leopold Secheret.
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Diameter: 30 mm
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Signed: Breguet
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The movement is running, but the hands are overlapping, so the watch is not functioning correctly. The second hand appears to be registering time, but it must be resynced with the other hands. The dial has been cleaned in the past; however, two outward depressions are on either side of the numeral at 2 o’clock. There are scratches on the dial, including near 12 o’clock. The case has minor marks and scratches, while the engine turning on the back is generally in good condition, with a slight depression in the upper half.
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The montre à tact watch was invented by Abraham-Louis Breguet and produced between 1800 and 1834. It is said that it was worn by fashionable young men wishing to know the time without the embarrassment of their host knowing their anxiety, as one could tell the time without taking the watch out of a pocket. The tact hand at the front of the case is turned until it stops; a small protective feature prevents it from rotating further and keeps the tact hand at the correct time. The hand’s position is then determined by the raised touch pieces set at hourly intervals around the edge of the case.