From tomorrow June 3 until June 16, Sotheby's will be presenting a special online sale dedicated to Abraham Louis Breguet. The Breguet No. 2574 (Lot. 27) pocket watch features one of Breguet’s most iconic inventions, the tourbillon. The Breguet No. 60 (Lot 28) is an exceptionally rare self-winding quarter repeating watch with moon phases, day of the week and power reserve.
From tomorrow, June 3, until June 16, Sotheby's will be presenting a special online sale dedicated to Abraham Louis Breguet, one of the greatest watchmakers of all time, with a selection of pieces made during his most important period of work, 1790-1823 (you can read his history and that of the eponymous brand here).
Highlights of this sale include the Breguet No. 2574, a six-minute tourbillon with a Peto Cross detent chronometer escapement, and the Breguet No. 60, a quarter repeating perpetuelle watch.
Housed in a silver case, the Breguet No. 2574 (Lot. 27) pocket watch features one of Breguet’s most iconic inventions, the tourbillon. Invented in 1795 and patented in 1801, the tourbillon compensates for the effects of gravity by suspending the escapement in a revolving carriage. Thus its position constantly changes, averaging out the fluctuations in rate caused by gravity and leading to a more precise timepiece. Breguet went on to build tourbillons whose carriages rotated at different speeds, including the one-minute tourbillon, the four-minute tourbillon, and the six-minute tourbillon, as seen here.
While he utilised several types of escapements in his tourbillons, Breguet frequently used the Peto-cross escapement, as found in the present watch. The English maker, James Peto named his cross-detent escapement after himself in 1784 in order to avoid confusion with Thomas Earnshaw’s patented spring detent escapement. While Earnshaw designed his escapement with the impulse device and passing spring on the same side, the Peto-cross escapement puts these elements on opposite sides at an 180 degree angle. The Peto-cross escapement offers an advantage for tourbillons since the detent remains in tension, so it can withstand the strain of locking the escapement.
Lastly, the balance in the this pocket watch rotates at an exceptional rate of 21,600 vibrations per hour. While many comparable pieces at the time normally rotated at 14,000-18,0000 per hour, the higher rate seen here results in a balance less affected by the inherent movement of the watch while being worn, and therefore leads to greater accuracy. While normally this would have meant the use of a stronger mainspring, Breguet avoided this by slowing down the rotation of his tourbillon carriages to four minutes, or six minutes.
Breguet sold this timepiece in 1816 to Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane (1773-1860) which became the Governor of New South Wales in Australia from 1821 to 1825. The Brisbane town was named after him. Upon his return to Scotland in 1825, he established the Makerstoun observatory, where astronomers began making important magnetic observations in 1841. These results gained him the Keith prize from the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1848. In 1836, he became a baronet, and was awarded two gold medals for the encouragement of scientific research.
The estimate of this exceptional piece of watchmaking history is CHF 300,000 - 500,000.
The Breguet No. 60 (Lot 28) is an exceptionally rare self-winding quarter repeating watch with moon phases, day of the week and power reserve.
Thanks to his acute perception for mechanics and commercial instinct for business, Abraham-Louis Breguet understood that the self-winding watch or, as he called it, the perpetuelle was the key to fame.
Breguet’s solution was in part achieved by incorporating two mainsprings wound together by a heavy platinum weight pivoted at the edge of the movement. His banking springs, which were placed at each end of the pendulum-form weight’s arc of motion, had particularly flexible ends which helped to maximise the weight’s motion.
The estimate for this 55 mm gold pocket watch with silver engine-turned dial and engine-turned case back is CHF 200,000 - 300,000.
This auction will be an online-only sale taking place from 3-16 June with lots beginning to close at 16:00 CEST. All successful buyers will be contacted to discuss options for shipment and collection of property.
You can browse the full catalogue of the sale here.
Sotheby's
Masterworks of Time: Abraham Louis Breguet, Horologist Extraordinaire
Online Auction: 3-16 June 2020
Highlights of this sale include the Breguet No. 2574, a six-minute tourbillon with a Peto Cross detent chronometer escapement, and the Breguet No. 60, a quarter repeating perpetuelle watch.
Housed in a silver case, the Breguet No. 2574 (Lot. 27) pocket watch features one of Breguet’s most iconic inventions, the tourbillon. Invented in 1795 and patented in 1801, the tourbillon compensates for the effects of gravity by suspending the escapement in a revolving carriage. Thus its position constantly changes, averaging out the fluctuations in rate caused by gravity and leading to a more precise timepiece. Breguet went on to build tourbillons whose carriages rotated at different speeds, including the one-minute tourbillon, the four-minute tourbillon, and the six-minute tourbillon, as seen here.
While he utilised several types of escapements in his tourbillons, Breguet frequently used the Peto-cross escapement, as found in the present watch. The English maker, James Peto named his cross-detent escapement after himself in 1784 in order to avoid confusion with Thomas Earnshaw’s patented spring detent escapement. While Earnshaw designed his escapement with the impulse device and passing spring on the same side, the Peto-cross escapement puts these elements on opposite sides at an 180 degree angle. The Peto-cross escapement offers an advantage for tourbillons since the detent remains in tension, so it can withstand the strain of locking the escapement.
Lastly, the balance in the this pocket watch rotates at an exceptional rate of 21,600 vibrations per hour. While many comparable pieces at the time normally rotated at 14,000-18,0000 per hour, the higher rate seen here results in a balance less affected by the inherent movement of the watch while being worn, and therefore leads to greater accuracy. While normally this would have meant the use of a stronger mainspring, Breguet avoided this by slowing down the rotation of his tourbillon carriages to four minutes, or six minutes.
Breguet sold this timepiece in 1816 to Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane (1773-1860) which became the Governor of New South Wales in Australia from 1821 to 1825. The Brisbane town was named after him. Upon his return to Scotland in 1825, he established the Makerstoun observatory, where astronomers began making important magnetic observations in 1841. These results gained him the Keith prize from the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1848. In 1836, he became a baronet, and was awarded two gold medals for the encouragement of scientific research.
The estimate of this exceptional piece of watchmaking history is CHF 300,000 - 500,000.
The Breguet No. 60 (Lot 28) is an exceptionally rare self-winding quarter repeating watch with moon phases, day of the week and power reserve.
Thanks to his acute perception for mechanics and commercial instinct for business, Abraham-Louis Breguet understood that the self-winding watch or, as he called it, the perpetuelle was the key to fame.
Breguet’s solution was in part achieved by incorporating two mainsprings wound together by a heavy platinum weight pivoted at the edge of the movement. His banking springs, which were placed at each end of the pendulum-form weight’s arc of motion, had particularly flexible ends which helped to maximise the weight’s motion.
This auction will be an online-only sale taking place from 3-16 June with lots beginning to close at 16:00 CEST. All successful buyers will be contacted to discuss options for shipment and collection of property.
You can browse the full catalogue of the sale here.
Sotheby's
Masterworks of Time: Abraham Louis Breguet, Horologist Extraordinaire
Online Auction: 3-16 June 2020
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