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SUMMARY:an-important-and-magnificent-20ct-gold-enamel-and-paillon-decorated
 -cabriolet-cased-quarter-repeating-watch-with-duplex-escapement-and-chrono
 meter-balance-made-in-the-turkish-market-style-the-cuvette-engraved-with-e
 quation-of-time - Date de vente : 09/11/2025
DESCRIPTION:Nom du lots : An important and magnificent 20ct gold\, enamel a
 nd paillon decorated cabriolet cased quarter repeating watch with duplex e
 scapement and chronometer balance made in the Turkish market style\, the c
 uvette engraved with equation of time\n\n19’’’ gilded movement\, dou
 ble wheel ruby duplex escapement with ruby impulse pallets and ruby rest r
 oll\, two polished steel escape wheels\, large chronometer-type two-arm bi
 -metallic compensation balance\, two large sliding wedge-shape weights and
  two platinum mean time screws\, parachute suspension\, flat blued steel h
 airspring and index regulator\, two polished steel hammers with chamfered 
 edges and deep satin finished sides repeating on two coiled gongs\n\nwhite
  enamel dial\, Roman numerals\, outer minute ring\, signed Breguet above V
 I o’clock\, secret signature beneath XII\, engraved Breguet No. 4384\, b
 lued steel Breguet hands\, the back counter enamelled and signed by the di
 al maker Droz P\n\n20ct gold inner case with red translucent enamel over s
 unburst engine-turning\, gold paillon border and central rosette\, translu
 cent red enamel bezels with paillon fronds heightened with translucent gre
 en enamel ribbons\, royal blue champlevé enamel band heightened with pail
 lons and opaque white enamel roundels\, quarter-turn piston mounted to pla
 in ring pendant\, 20ct gold outer case with translucent red enamel over su
 nburst engine-turning\, bordered by gold scrolling vines and leaves\, cent
 ral starburst motif\, bezels of red translucent enamel heightened by leave
 s and rosettes in translucent royal blue and green enamel\, opaque turquoi
 se and white enamel\, gold cuvette engraved with equation table\, aperture
  for winding\, signed Breguet No. 4384 both cases numbered B 1795 and with
  Tavernier case maker’s mark P.BT beneath a triangle for Pierre-Benjamin
  Tavernier in lozenge cartouche\, inner case additionally numbered 2958\, 
 each case with Paris assay and discharge marks comprising baby’s head 2 
 in irregular cartouche (2nd standard gold 840/1000)\, Cockerel facing left
  2 in oval frame (840/1000\, 1798-1809)\, man’s head facing forward 85 e
 xcise mark (1798-1809)\n\nMeasurements\n\ninner case diameter 50mm\n\noute
 r case diameter 55mm\n\noverall depth 15.5mm\n\nweight 170.2g\n\nAccompani
 ments\n\nwith a Breguet 250th anniversary certificate\n\n1810-1822 supplie
 d to the Maison de Russie.\n\n1822 returned to Breguet\, Paris and exchang
 ed by General Count Levasheff.\n\n1825 following overhaul re-numbered 4384
  and sold to Monsieur Villaret de Joyeuse\, subsequently re-sold again to 
 Breguet.\n\n1830 supplied to Wenham\, Breguet’s agent in Russia.\n\nc. 1
 870-1879 George Arnold Hearn (Hearn collection now at Metropolitan Museum 
 of Art in New York)\n\n1879 sold by George Hearn to Russia\, possibly to H
 enry Moser.\n\n1879-c.1920 Russian collection.\n\n1920-1954 Gunnar Jacobss
 on (1882-1967)\, Nobel Brothers employee.\n\n1954-c1960 family of Christia
 n Gjestvang\, Sweden\, an automobile enthusiast responsible for the introd
 uction of Ford and Hudson cars to Sweden.\n\nc. 1960-1982 Bo Lindh (1908-1
 982)\, Art Collector.\n\n1982-2014 descendants of the above.\n\n2015 Chris
 tie’s Geneva\, 9 November 2015\, lot 299.\n\nThe Breguet Archives provid
 e fascinating insight into the production of this magnificent and importan
 t watch. Work began in 1804\, and delivery of the ébauche was made on 27 
 January 1805. The inner case\, struck with assay marks for 20-carat gold\,
  was crafted by Pierre-Benjamin Tavernier and delivered on 28 December 180
 8. On 19 April 1809 he completed the outer case\, also in 20-carat gold. T
 he case spring was completed on 5 September and the crystal supplied by Ro
 ger on 19 October. On 31 January 1810 Sautter completed the engravings\, l
 ikely for the flinqué enamel\, and on 28 February Tavernier finished the 
 engine-turning of the case backs. Lallemand completed the final task of en
 amelling on 30 March 1810. The total cost of the cases amounted to 980 fra
 ncs. The double-wheel ruby duplex escapement — exceedingly rare\, and ra
 rer still in a Turkish-market watch — with the repeating work\, was exec
 uted to exceptional standards\, as reflected in its cost of over 500 franc
 s\, in contrast to the average 66 francs for a Breguet ruby cylinder escap
 ement. Also notable is the use of a chronometer-style balance and the Equa
 tion of Time chart engraved to the cuvette\; the latter is a feature found
  on some other important Breguet watches including no. 2788\, the double m
 ovement resonance watch sold to the Prince Regent in 1818. The engraving o
 f the equation chart on this watch was complete by Tardé on 6 June 1809.\
 n\nOne of the most spectacular watches made by Breguet in the Turkish mark
 et style\, Breguet No. 1795/4384 holds a fascinating history. It has previ
 ously been suggested that this watch may have been purchased on behalf of 
 Tsar Alexander I for him to use as a diplomatic gift. Though no firm recor
 d survives to corroborate this\, there is some circumstantial evidence tha
 t may support such a claim. The Breguet Archives note that this watch was 
 sold to Moreau (Breguet’s agent) at the Maison Russie on 31 December 181
 0. Subsequent records within the Archives record that the watch was retur
 ned to Breguet in 1822 by General Count Lewascheff\, who exchanged it for 
 Breguet no. 3260\, a half-quarter repeating watch with a gold engine-turne
 d case and a silver engine-turned dial in the Western style (for illustrat
 ions of the latter see Daniels\, The Art of Breguet\, p. 245\, figs. 277a
 –c). General Count Lewascheff was a trusted aide of the Tsar and\, among
  his other missions\, is recorded as being in London on behalf of the Empe
 ror of Russia at Carlton House on 8 April 1820 to congratulate King George
  IV on his recent accession to the throne.1\n\nAfter the watch’s return 
 to Breguet\, it was overhauled\, its dial replaced (likely changing from a
  Turkish numeral dial to the present Roman numeral dial)\, and renumbered 
 as no. 4384. It was then re-sold on 7 February 1825 to Monsieur Villaret d
 e Joyeuse\, son of the French Admiral Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse.\n\
 nAt the time of its original sale on 31 December 1810 through the Maison d
 e Russie (founded in 1808 under Abraham-Louis Breguet’s direction by his
  agent Lazare Moreau)\, the firm’s Russian outpost had already secured s
 ignificant sales\, including to the Tsar himself. The Turkish-market styli
 ng of this watch and the context of its sale through the Maison de Russie 
 make it plausible that it was purchased for use as a diplomatic gift. The 
 date of the transaction is significant. In 1810\, Russia and the Ottoman E
 mpire were still locked in the Russo–Turkish War of 1806–1812\, with R
 ussian forces gaining the upper hand along the Danube. Yet even in moments
  of military advantage\, Russia had strong incentives to cultivate diploma
 tic openings. The war was costly and prolonged\, and Alexander was already
  looking ahead to the growing threat of conflict with Napoleon. Securing p
 eace with the Ottomans on favourable terms became a strategic priority. In
  this context\, the purchase of a Turkish-market watch from Breguet may be
  understood within the wider culture of diplomacy\, where prestige objects
  could be used to ease negotiations\, reward interlocutors\, and sustain c
 hannels of communication that remained open even in wartime.\n\nGift-givin
 g was a well-established part of Ottoman diplomatic culture. Luxury object
 s such as jewelled snuffboxes\, clocks\, and watches were regularly presen
 ted to viziers\, envoys\, and courtiers. Such gifts went beyond casual cou
 rtesies: they were formal tokens of respect and prestige that also served 
 practical purposes — to cultivate goodwill\, consolidate influence\, and
  strengthen channels of negotiation. Watches carried particular weight\, e
 mbodying European science and refinement while appealing to the Ottoman ta
 ste for enamelled decoration and dials with Turkish numerals — details B
 reguet mastered with advice from Esseid Ali (Galib) Effendi\, the Ottoman 
 ambassador to France from 1797\, who became both a friend and invaluable i
 ntermediary.\n\nThat Tsar Alexander I might have selected a Breguet for su
 ch a purpose would be entirely plausible. During the first decade of the n
 ineteenth century\, Breguet had become an important supplier to Russian an
 d Ottoman elites alike. In Russia\, sales were so strong that by 1809 more
  than half of Breguet’s annual production was destined for Russian clien
 ts. In Turkey\, Ali Effendi’s introductions had secured Breguet a follow
 ing at the highest levels of court society. Effendi’s commissions includ
 ed ten repeating watches and\, in 1804\, he specifically requested from Br
 eguet a repeating watch of the finest quality for the Ottoman emperor hims
 elf\, Selim III\; the Emperor was clearly pleased with the resulting watch
 \, for the following year he requested a second\, identical watch.2\n\nThe
  sumptuously decorated case of Breguet no. 1795/4384 reflects the distinct
 ive style Breguet developed specifically for the Ottoman market\, a style 
 that stood in striking contrast to his more restrained productions for Eur
 opean and Russian clients. As noted by Emmanuel Breguet in his book Bregue
 t\, Watchmakers Since 1775\, “the only real freedom which Breguet permit
 ted himself in the decoration of his watches concerned those which fell in
 to two highly specific categories: tact watches decorated with enamelling 
 … and enamelled Turkish watches.”3 Created as a pair-cased watch\, the
  inner and outer cases were made by Pierre-Benjamin Tavernier\, one of Bre
 guet’s most distinguished case makers\, in collaboration with the enamel
 list Lallemand. The style is of cabriolet form. As a cabriolet case\, in a
 ddition to displaying the watch in an open-faced format\, the inner case c
 ould be reversed within its outer to display the richly decorated back. Su
 ch is the superior level of finishing that\, when reversed within its oute
 r\, the back of the inner case fits so precisely within the bezel of the o
 uter that the two elements appear seamless. The Ottomans wore their watche
 s on the outside of their clothes\, which meant that their decorative elem
 ents were of even greater importance.\n\nTrade with the Ottoman Empire bec
 ame increasingly important to Breguet during the first decade of the 19th 
 century as the Napoleonic wars interrupted trade with three of Breguet’s
  most important outlets — first Britain (in the wake of Napoleon’s Con
 tinental System)\, followed by Spain from 1808 and Russia in 1810. Breguet
 ’s main conduit to important Ottoman clients was via the Ottoman Ambassa
 dor to France\, Esseid Ali Effendi\, known as Galib Effendi. Ali Effendi a
 rrived in Paris in 1797 and was introduced to high society by the French d
 iplomat Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord. Having received an introd
 uction to Breguet\, Effendi’s first Breguet purchases were a remarkable 
 minute-repeating watch and a long-case clock.4 Ali Effendi and Breguet be
 came friends\, and after Effendi’s return to Turkey in 1802\, they conti
 nued to correspond regularly. Effendi went on to hold important positions 
 at the Ottoman court\, rising to the position of Minister of the Navy.\n\n
 Effendi was clearly of great help to Breguet\, not only by introducing the
  watchmaker to important clients\, but by advising on the style of watch a
 nd type of decoration preferred by clients in Turkey\, especially their pr
 eference for white enamel dials with Turkish numerals and cases ornately d
 ecorated with enamels\, particularly in red. This experience and expertise
  in producing watches for the Ottoman market meant that Breguet was ideall
 y placed to create an exceptional watch of diplomatic character — perhap
 s originally intended for presentation on behalf of the Russian court.\n\n
 One of the most distinguished Breguet watches to have appeared on the mark
 et in recent years\, no. 1795/4384 is particularly remarkable for its exce
 ptional state of preservation\, all the more so given the intricacy of its
  magnificent enamel decoration. The cases display a rich\, lustrous surfac
 e\, their superb workmanship befitting a commission intended for a patron 
 of the highest importance.\n\n1 Bulletins of State Intelligence\, Bulletin
 s from the London Gazette\, 1820\, collated and printed by R. G. Clarke\, 
 Westminster\, p. 171.\n\n2 Breguet\, Emmanuel\, Breguet Watchmakers since 
 1775\, Revised and Expanded Edition\, Swan Éditeur\, 2016\, pp. 248-249.\
 n\n3 Ibid p. 373.\n\n4 Ibid p. 246.
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251109
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