A FRENCH 'GARDE TEMPS' 60-HOUR MARINE CHRONOMETER

Details

A FRENCH 'GARDE TEMPS' 60-HOUR MARINE CHRONOMETER
Breguet et Fils, No. 4208, circa 1830

The matt silvered regulator dial signed BREGET ET FILS with eccentric minute dial intersecting subsidiary seconds dial (at XII) and sector up-and-down dial (at III), all with Arabic numerals, subsidiary hour dial with Roman numerals (at VI), blued steel hands, gilt metal movement (65 mm. diam.), 18,000 quick train, twin barrels simultaneously wound via intermediate square and wolf-tooth gearing, Earnshaw escapement, inverted two-armed cut bimetallic Pennington format balance, parachute to top pivot, undersprung blued steel helical balance spring the top coil with terminal curve, spring foot detent with jewelled locking stone, in shallow dish-shaped brass bowl, secured thereto by a series of brass screws, the bezel with convex glass, the whole contained in a gimballed velvet-lined shallow brass bowl and secured therein by two latches (at XII and VI respectively), in plain two-tier mahogany box with sprung brass trunnion mountings, vertical spring-loaded base locking screws in sides of box (at III and IX) for securing to ship's chart table, sliding port to top with inset diamond shaped brass plaque engraved N4208, external brass drop handles, Breguet tipsy key
65 mm. dial diam., 24 mm. overall height of bezel and bowl, 150 mm. sq. box

Lot Essay

After 1800 'Garde Temps' was a term used by Breguet for watches with detent escapement specifically intended for precision timekeeping. Several features of No. 4208 are unusual and of considerable interest viz. the dial plate has an ebauche makers' punch P.E.B. beneath a coronet;
The very shallow double bowl and gimbal mounting assembly differs entirely from that of the normal Breguet twin barrel marine chronometer. See George Daniels, The Art of Breguet, Sotheby Park Bernet 1975, page 271, plates 330 a, b, c. For a not dissimilar movement (No. 3630) Antiquorum The Art of Breguet Sale, Geneva, 14 April 1991, lot 69. However No. 3630 is a silver cased deck watch in fitted mahogany deck watch carrying box, not as in the case of No. 4208, a typical Breguet marine chronometer box.

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