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Lot Essay
Under item 31 of his book Breguet, Sir David Salomons describes watch no. 5038:- as a very small, engine-turned watch with a silver dial, steel hands, winding through the pendant, "advance" and "retard" on the dial, with platinum balance and jewelled pivots.
N.B. a miniature watch of highest quality. It would have had an outer case which has been lost. A sliding cover near figure VI uncovers a square to adjust the time. Brooch is modern. Madame Edward Bryce owns a similar watch, no certificate, but verification of manufacture. Watch has no number. Made about 1830 and sold for 3000 Francs.
N.B. Breguet made very few of these little watches. The present book does not have an illustration. It is practically the same as item no. 32. The hands are set by pulling on the crown of the winder and winding is accomplished in the same manner as the modern watch.
Daniels mentions on page 292 of The Art of Breguet that watches with crown wind and hand set facility were not generally made until the third quarter of the 19th C. It is believed Breguet was the first to make this arrangement. As the balance is too small to use bimetallic compensation it is made of platinum which has a relatively low coefficient of thermal expansion.
Only sixteen of these miniature watches were made, either for rings or bracelets, and they are recorded as being sold between 1831 and 1845.
Louis Desoutter was Breguet's agent in London at 4 Hanover Street, W1.
N.B. a miniature watch of highest quality. It would have had an outer case which has been lost. A sliding cover near figure VI uncovers a square to adjust the time. Brooch is modern. Madame Edward Bryce owns a similar watch, no certificate, but verification of manufacture. Watch has no number. Made about 1830 and sold for 3000 Francs.
N.B. Breguet made very few of these little watches. The present book does not have an illustration. It is practically the same as item no. 32. The hands are set by pulling on the crown of the winder and winding is accomplished in the same manner as the modern watch.
Daniels mentions on page 292 of The Art of Breguet that watches with crown wind and hand set facility were not generally made until the third quarter of the 19th C. It is believed Breguet was the first to make this arrangement. As the balance is too small to use bimetallic compensation it is made of platinum which has a relatively low coefficient of thermal expansion.
Only sixteen of these miniature watches were made, either for rings or bracelets, and they are recorded as being sold between 1831 and 1845.
Louis Desoutter was Breguet's agent in London at 4 Hanover Street, W1.