Unusual German gold quarter hour repeating pocket watch Circa 1840

Gold repeating pocket watch by CL Baumgartel
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An exquisite German quarter hour repeating pocket watch from Leipzig, crafted in the style of Abraham-Louis Breguet, circa 1840. The timepiece features an 18 carat red gold engine turned case stamped with the maker’s mark HF and a pull-and-turn pusher for activating the repeater function. It has an enamel dial with Breguet style radial hours, an outer minutes track, and gold Breguet style hands. The bridge movement features a cylinder escapement, a blued balance spring with bimetallic temperature compensation, a shock protection parachute, a three arm steel balance, and two hammers and two gongs.
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At first sight, this pocket watch appears to be crafted in the style of Abraham-Louis Breguet: the case’s shape with an engine turned middle section, the extensively inscribed French cuvette, the unique push piece that can be pulled and rotated for the repeater in the pendant, the clear dial with Breguet style numbers and hands, and the movement’s construction featuring temperature compensation and parachute shock protection – all unmistakably reminiscent of Breguet’s exceptional pocket watches.
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Diameter: 54 mm
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Weight: 98 g
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Signed: CL Baumgartel Leipzig
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CL Baumgärtel is recorded as a clockmaker who was active in Leipzig during the mid-19th century, as documented in Jürgen Abeler’s Meister der Uhrmacherkunst, p. 51, and in Brian Loomes’ Watchmakers and Clockmakers of the World on p. 51. In Jürgen Ermert’s PPU series Volume 2, Baumgärtel is mentioned as the maker of a precision pendulum clock with sweep seconds and Seyffert’s knob mechanism believed to date back to 1828 and capable of running for 8 days. In 1841, CL Baumgärtel was listed in the general trade, business, and factory almanac of the Austrian imperial state. As a merchant in Leipzig, he began importing Stutz watches from Vienna as early as 1834. According to the Leipziger Zeitung of January 23, 1847, his business was located at Reichsstraße 49, then later at Ritterstraße 39. Baumgärtel also dealt in French clocks, as evidenced by his signature Farret à Paris, CL Baumgartel, Leipzg and Medaille d’Argent Vincenti found on a fire gilded French mantel clock dating back to 1885.