BEGIN:VCALENDAR
PRODID:-//eluceo/ical//2.0/EN
VERSION:2.0
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:b971d1d844c780597dd02fa2d0d9fe8f
DTSTAMP:20260404T075208Z
SUMMARY:an-extra-slim-and-extremely-fine-and-rare-gold-open-faced-montre-ta
 ct-lever-watch-with-day-date-and-moon-phases - Date de vente : 09/11/2025
DESCRIPTION:Nom du lots : An extra slim and extremely fine and rare gold op
 en-faced Montre à Tact lever watch with day\, date and moon phases\n\ngil
 ded movement\, jewelled lever escapement\, two-arm compensation balance\, 
 blued steel balance spring with overcoil\, parachute suspension\, index re
 gulator with pivoted extension arm for dial aperture\, gold discs for day 
 and date of the month\, blued moon disc with gilded moon and silver stars\
 n\nsilver dial\, guilloché damier patterned centre\, the edge engine-turn
 ed à grains d’orge\, twin satin finished chapter rings with black Roman
  numerals and pearled minutes\, crémaillère borders\, secret signature r
 epeated between XI and I\, apertures for days\, moon phases and date\, ang
 led cartouche signed Breguet at IX-X\, matching regulator aperture to edge
  by II-III\,\n\ngold case with silver band\, engine-turned à grains d’o
 rge\, skeletonised tact hand mounted to revolving case back\, shuttered ap
 erture for winding\, touch pins to the band\, adjusters to band for hands\
 , date & day\n\nMeasurements\n\ndiameter 44mm\n\ndepth 8mm (excluding tact
  hand)\n\nweight 65.3g\n\nAccompaniments\n\nwith a gold Breguet chain and 
 ratchet key and a Breguet 250th anniversary certificate\n\nThe Rev. Willia
 m Bentinck Lethem Hawkins (1801-1894).\n\nChristie\, Manson & Woods\, The 
 Valuable Collection of Objects of Art of the Rev. W. Bentinck L. Hawkins\,
  deceased\, late of Bryanston Square…A Choice Collection of Breguet Watc
 hes\, London\, 6-20 February 1895\, lot 463.\n\nSir David Lionel Salomons\
 , collection no. 14.\n\nChristie’s London\, The Celebrated Collection of
  Watches by Breguet\, Part I\, formed by The Late Sir David Salomons\, Bar
 t.\, 1 December 1964\, lot 4 sold for 1800 guineas ($5\,292) and purchased
  by Mrs Oaks.\n\nCurrent Private Collection purchased from the above and c
 leaned and serviced by George Daniels October 1965.\n\nBreguet at Chaumet\
 , London\, Geneva\, Paris\, New York\, Autumn 1986.\n\nSalmons\, David\, B
 reguet 1747-1826\, London: 1921\, p. 34.\n\nDaniels\, George\, The Art of
  Breguet\, London & New York: Sotheby Parke\, Bernet\, 1975\, p. 282\, fig
 s. 352a-d.\n\nBreguet\, Emmanuel\, Breguet Watchmakers since 1775\, Revise
 d and Expanded Edition\, Swan Éditeur\, 2016\, p. 303\, fig. 357.\n\nA wa
 tch of extraordinary elegance and refinement\, for many this piece will en
 capsulate the quintessential Breguet aesthetic\, perfected by Abraham-Loui
 s in the years after his return to Paris from exile in Switzerland. That s
 tyle was carried forward by his son\, Antoine-Louis (1776–1858)\, in the
  years following his father’s death\, when the present watch was made\, 
 and its enduring appeal continues to resonate today. The influence of this
  particular dial layout on the firm’s later production is clear\, and in
  c.1988 Breguet introduced the Ref. 3330\, a model that deliberately echoe
 d this design.\n\nWith a depth of just 8mm\, the watch integrates a calend
 ar\, moon phases\, and the ingenious tact complication\, which allows the 
 time to be read by touch—whether in darkness or discreetly\, without dra
 wing the attention of others. Correctors are cleverly built into the sides
  of the case for adjusting the calendar indications\, while the hands are 
 set by means of a square concealed within the band’s touch pin at IV o
 ’clock. The case back revolves for the tact hand and includes an offset 
 aperture for winding which reveals the winding square when the back panel 
 is turned. Thus\, apart from regulation - adjusted through the arc-shaped 
 aperture beside II and III o’clock - the case never needs to be opened\,
  with the double advantage of protecting the movement from interference an
 d safeguarding the dial from damage when setting the hands or adjusting th
 e calendar.\n\nMonsieur de Roos\n\nThe Breguet Archives note that this wat
 ch was sold to Monsieur de Roos. This may be Henry-William de Ro[o]s (1792
 -1839) who succeeded as 22nd Baron De Ros following his mother’s death o
 n 9 January 1831. The watch was purchased in the same year as the death of
  Henry-William’s father\, Lord Henry.1 The de Ros Barony itself dates ba
 ck to the thirteenth century. A noted whist player\, Henry-William became 
 embroiled in a gambling scandal in 1836\, accused of cheating at Graham’
 s Club by “sauter la coupe” and marking cards with his thumbnail\; he 
 sued for libel but lost the case.2\n\nThe Rev. William Bentinck Lethem Haw
 kins (1801-1894).\n\nThis watch was once owned by the pioneering Breguet c
 ollector Rev. Hawkins. Educated at Trinity College\, Oxford\, and later or
 dained into the priesthood\, Rev. Bentinck Hawkins devoted much of his lon
 g life to study\, travel and collecting. Between 1851 and 1890\, he acquir
 ed at least 124 timepieces attributed to Breguet\, including seven tourbil
 lons\, six perpétuelles\, five minute repeating watches\, two resonance w
 atches and a sympathique clock.3  His was the earliest and most extensive
  assemblage of Breguet’s work in Britain and a landmark in the history o
 f horological collecting.\n\nHawkins was an active and informed collector 
 who acquired pieces from dealers in Paris and London\, through advertiseme
 nts in The Times\, and at early horological auctions - well before Breguet
 ’s broader revival among connoisseurs. Research has shown that his colle
 cting spanned nearly four decades\, in contrast to the shorter timeframe o
 f Sir David Salomons’s acquisitions (1915–1925)\, and that at least th
 irty-four watches in the Salomons collection are confirmed to have once be
 longed to Hawkins. The dispersal of his holdings by Christie’s in 1895\,
  across several sales in February and July\, realised £19\,146 - a consid
 erable sum at the time.4\n\n1 Burke’s Peerage\, Baronetage & Knightage\,
  104th Edition\, 1967\, London\, p. 734.\n\n2 https://en.wikipedia.org/w/i
 ndex.php?title=Henry_FitzGerald-de_Ros\,_21st_Baron_de_Ros&oldid=112129467
 4\n\n3 Bernard Roobaert Hon FBHI\, Les Collectionneurs de Breguet (I): Wil
 liam Bentinck Lethem Hawkins (1801–1894)\, pp. 1\, 4\, 7–8.\n\n4 Ibi
 d.\, pp. 5–6.
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251109
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR