Accompanied by Thomas Engel original certificate no. 31 confirming the sale of the present watch by Chronomètrie Classique Aesch, Lucerne to Monsieur Anton Wickl on 28 January 1983, Bureaux Suisse de Contrôle Officiel de la Marche des Chronomètres Watch Rate Certificate No. 22514 dated 3 July 1982, original fitted wooden presentation box containing spare main-spring and a set of blued steel moon-style hour and minute hands.
Professor Thomas Engel, an international coryphée in the field of researching polymers, holds around 120 patents in organic chemistry and numerous honours and prizes in this field, including the 1972 "Diesel Prize" that was jointly won with Dr. Wernher von Braun, one of the most important rocket developers and specialist of space exploration.
Professor Engel is not only a famous watch collector but also a passionate "self-made" maker of technically outstanding timepieces, often incorporating many style elements from Breguet.
These watches, as exhibited in the present lot, are now known as the "Engel Breguets" and are considered highly important collector's pieces.
The tourbillon regulator of the present watch was designed by Richard Daners, Master watchmaker, craftsman and creator of complicated timepieces at Gübelin in Lucerne from 1952 to 1995.
In 1997 he was awarded the Gaia Prize, initiated in 1993 by the curator and directors of the Musée International d'Horlogerie (MIH) in La Chaux-de-Fonds. This international prize is dedicated to Maurice Ditisheim, an early patron of the museum. It is awarded to those who have advanced horology and promoted the arts, history and culture of timekeeping through their work.
For the description and illustration of Thomas Engel's Tourbillon No. VI see Das Tourbillon by Reinhard, Meis, p. 278.