Fine and rare French quarter repeating lever watch Circa 1820
- Kenmerk
- BB0199
- Diameter
- 51 mm
- Estimate
- € 20.000 - 40.000
- Price sold
- € 41.600
Rare quarter repeating lever by Breguet
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A fine and rare French silver and gold quarter repeating pocket watch with lever escapement by Breguet, circa 1820. Sold to Crosbie 15th May 1823 for 4700 Francs. Gilt movement, long lever escapement, fine brass escape wheel with oil retention holes, bimetallic compensation balance with compensation screws, sprung balance jewel for pivot protection, polished hammer striking on a single coiled gong. Silvered dial with guilloché engraved centre, black Roman numerals to brushed surround, outer minute divisions, gilt Breguet moon hands, off set subsidiary seconds between 5 and 6. Gold engine turned full hunter case, silver band and pendant, cuvette numbered and hallmarked, quarter repeating pull and plunge button in band at 1. Signed cuvette.
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Diameter: 51 mm
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Signed: Breguet
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This watch was included in the Lord Raglan collection and was the property of the Marquees of Londonderry. Originally when this was bought it was already a very expensive watch indicating that it included many of Breguet’s inventions and perfections for watches. One of the rarest and most remarkable is the use of the Straight line lever escapement. This was an adaptation of the lateral lever escapement used by the English and by Breguet himself in earlier watches. This version was in time adopted by horology as a whole and forms the base of most modern mechanical watches today. Rarer still is the use of oil retention holes in the teeth of the escape wheel. Breguet flirted with ideas for extending the life of the oil by placing a conical reservoir for the oil leading on each tooth. Expensive and not very effective it did not become a regular feature in his watches.
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A fine and rare French silver and gold quarter repeating pocket watch with lever escapement by Breguet, circa 1820. Sold to Crosbie 15th May 1823 for 4700 Francs. Gilt movement, long lever escapement, fine brass escape wheel with oil retention holes, bimetallic compensation balance with compensation screws, sprung balance jewel for pivot protection, polished hammer striking on a single coiled gong. Silvered dial with guilloché engraved centre, black Roman numerals to brushed surround, outer minute divisions, gilt Breguet moon hands, off set subsidiary seconds between 5 and 6. Gold engine turned full hunter case, silver band and pendant, cuvette numbered and hallmarked, quarter repeating pull and plunge button in band at 1. Signed cuvette.
–
Diameter: 51 mm
–
Signed: Breguet
–
This watch was included in the Lord Raglan collection and was the property of the Marquees of Londonderry. Originally when this was bought it was already a very expensive watch indicating that it included many of Breguet’s inventions and perfections for watches. One of the rarest and most remarkable is the use of the Straight line lever escapement. This was an adaptation of the lateral lever escapement used by the English and by Breguet himself in earlier watches. This version was in time adopted by horology as a whole and forms the base of most modern mechanical watches today. Rarer still is the use of oil retention holes in the teeth of the escape wheel. Breguet flirted with ideas for extending the life of the oil by placing a conical reservoir for the oil leading on each tooth. Expensive and not very effective it did not become a regular feature in his watches.
Signed: Breguet
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