French 18K gold quarter repeating à toc watch Circa 1806

Kenmerk: SB0140
Diameter: 55 mm

Estimate: € 20.000 - 40.000
Price sold: -

Gold quarter repeating cylinder watch by Breguet
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A French gold open faced quarter repeating à toc pocket watch, circa 1806. Sold to Mr. Foussadier on September 5th, 1806 for 2000 Francs. The gilt movement with a ruby cylinder escapement, plain three arm brass balance with parachute suspension and bimetallic compensation curb, a large hammer repeating on a block. Gold signed and numbered cuvette. Gilt guilloché dial, satin finish chapter ring with black Roman hour numerals, eccentric subsidiary seconds at 4 o’clock and blued steel moon hands. An engine turned case with a milled band, a pull and twist piston to the stem to activate the repeating mechanism. Dial and cuvette signed.
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Diameter: 55 mm
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Signed: Breguet et Fils
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Abraham-Louis Breguet was born on January 10th, 1747 in Neuchâtel, Switzerland (Neuenburg in German, formerly Neufchâtel), which then belonged to the Kingdom of Prussia. He completed an apprenticeship with his stepfather Joseph Tattet in Neuchâtel and from about 1763 in Versailles. He then worked in Paris, probably with Ferdinand Berthoud and Jean Antoine Lépine, before he opened his own workshop there in circa 1775.

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Initially, the focus was on the finishing of foreign ebauche movements, but soon followed the production of pocket watches with his own movements, in the style of Lépine. In 1784, he was accepted into the guild as a master watchmaker and in 1785, he became purveyor to King Louis XVI.

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After the beginning of the revolution, in 1793, Breguet fled from France back to Neuchâtel. During a stay in London, contacts were made with the chronometer maker John Arnold, from which a friendship developed. In 1795, he returned to Paris. In 1808, his son Louis entered the firm as a partner and continued it after Breguet’s death. Since then, the company has been named “Breguet et fils”.

Signed: Breguet et Fils