Rare Swiss 18 carat gold monogrammed watch by Breguet Circa 1880

 Pocket watch with rare blue and gold numbers by Breguet
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A rare Swiss 18 Carat red gold pocket watch with the secret signature of Breguet below 12 o’clock and a applied monogram, made by Breguet in Switzerland, circa 1880. The movement features a Swiss lever escapement with a bimetallic compensation balance and wolf’s teeth winding.
Open faced case with an applied two color gold monogram on the engine turned back.
The white enamel dial with the secret signature of Breguet has an inner ring with blue Arabic numerals for the hours, an outer ring with gold Arabic numerals for the minutes, a subsidiary dial at 6 o’clock and gold spade hands. Cuvette and dial are signed and numbered.
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Diameter: 52 mm
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Weight: 108 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.

The business was a success, and around 1807 he took on his son Louis-Antoine as his partner, renaming the firm “Breguet et Fils” (Breguet and Sons). Louis-Antoine took over the firm upon the death of his father in 1823. After Louis-Antoine retired in 1833 (he died in 1858) the business was passed to Abraham-Louis’ grandson Louis Clément Francois (1804–1883). Abraham-Louis’ great-grandson Louis Antoine (1851–1882) was the last of the Breguet family to run the business. Although he had two sons and a daughter, they did not enter the business, so the Breguet company hired noted English watchmaker Edward Brown of Clerkenwell to manage the Paris factory. Brown eventually became a partner and, after Breguet’s grandson’s death, the owner and head of the company. When Brown died in 1895 the firm was taken over by his sons, Edward and Henry. On Edward’s retirement in the early 1900s, Henry Brown became the head of the firm.
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Reference 0023000