French silver open faced lever pocket watch by Breguet Circa 1873

Silver pocket watch
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Fine French silver pocket watch by Breguet, circa 1873. Gilt movement with lever escapement and ring balance, blued steel hairspring.
White enamel dial with Roman numerals an minute outer track, blued steel spade hands, subsidiary seconds dial at 6.
A polished silver case with a push button to open the back, cuvette signed and numbered nr. 1424.
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Diameter: 47 mm
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Weight: 81.5 g
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Signed: Breguet
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Breguet was founded in 1775 by Abraham-Louis Breguet, a Swiss watchmaker born to Huguenot parents in Neuchâtel. He studied watchmaking for 10 years under Ferdinand Berthoud and Jean-Antoine Lépine before setting up his own watchmaking business in Paris at 51 Quai de l’Horloge on the Île de la Cité in Paris. The dowry that came with his marriage to the daughter of a prosperous French bourgeois provided the backing which allowed him to open his own workshop. Breguet’s connections made during his apprenticeship as a watchmaker and as a student of mathematics helped him to establish his business. Following his introduction to the court, Queen Marie Antoinette grew fascinated by Breguet’s unique self-winding watch; Louis XVI bought several of his watches. In 1783 the Swedish count, Axel Von Fersen, who was the queen’s friend and reputed lover, commissioned a watch from Breguet that was to contain every watch complication known at that time as a gift to Marie Antoinette, – Breguet’s masterpiece, the Marie Antoinette.
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Hairline.
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Reference 06000