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SUMMARY:a-silver-and-gold-montre-souscription-tact - Date de vente : 09/11/
 2025
DESCRIPTION:Nom du lots : A silver and gold montre souscription à tact\n\n
 23’’’ gilded Souscription calibre\, large central going barrel\, rub
 y cylinder escapement\, plain three-arm balance with parachute suspension\
 , blued steel balance spring with bi-metallic compensation curb\, blued st
 eel regulator with extended arc for cuvette aperture\, signed Breguet No. 
 1106\, the number repeated to bottom plate\n\nsmall off-set white enamel d
 ial\, Roman numerals\, outer minute ring with plain border\, blued steel B
 reguet hands\n\nsilver collier-form Tavernier case\, engine-turned covers 
 with ray-form guilloché pattern\, glazed aperture to front revealing dial
 \, small rose gold vacant oval cartouche at opposite edge\, hinged at VII-
 VIII\, rose gold arrow-form tact hand mounted to back\, gold chased and en
 graved medallion to edge beneath translucent enamel depicting infants at p
 lay\, rose gold bezels\, pendant and ring\, front bezel with touch pins at
  the hours\, back bezel with 5-minute graduations adjacent to tip of tact 
 hand\, silver fluted band\, gilded dial cuvette with apertures for winding
 \, hand-setting and regulation signed and numbered Breguet à Paris No. 11
 06\, inside front cover with Paris assay and discharge marks comprising he
 ad of a Greek woman (1) in oval cartouche (first standard silver 950/1000)
 \, head of man facing forwards (85) in round frame (1798-1809)\, further m
 ark partially obscured by dial aperture\, case maker’s mark P.B T with t
 riangle above in irregular-pentagonal cartouche for Pierre-Benjamin Tavern
 ier\, numbered B 1106\, 2123\n\nwith a short gold Breguet chain and ratche
 t key\n\nMeasurements\n\ndiameter 57.5mm\n\ncase depth 11mm (excluding cry
 stal and medallion)\n\nlength of chain/key 125mm\n\nweight 117.6g (includi
 ng chain/key)\n\nweight 107.6mm (approx. excluding chain/key)\n\nAccompani
 ments\n\nwith a Breguet 250th anniversary certificate\n\nLord Lauderdale f
 or General Kitroff 1804.\n\nSotheby & Co. London\, 29 July 1963\, lot 247 
 £480 $1\,344\, sold to Mrs Oakes.\n\nPurchased from the above.\n\nAlthoug
 h Breguet’s montres à tact often only have touch pins within the band a
 t the hours\, the present watch features additional slots incised into the
  rim of the rotating case back beside the tip of the tact hand\, allowing 
 the time to be estimated more easily to the nearest five minutes.\n\nGener
 al Kitroff\n\nIn 1804\, relations between Britain and Russia were undergoi
 ng a crucial realignment\, shaped by shared concerns over Napoleon Bonapar
 te’s growing power and ambition. Although the two powers had not yet for
 malised an alliance\, their strategic interests were converging rapidly. B
 ritain\, already at war with France since 1803\, grew increasingly alarmed
  by Napoleon’s preparations for a cross-Channel invasion and his tighten
 ing grip on continental Europe. In Russia\, Emperor Alexander I - young\, 
 idealistic\, and eager to assert moral leadership - was deeply disturbed b
 y Napoleon’s execution of the Duc d’Enghien in March 1804\, a Bourbon 
 prince whose death shocked European aristocracy and undermined any remaini
 ng illusions about the nature of Napoleon’s regime.\n\nIt was in this te
 nse and transitional moment that this finely made Breguet watch was presen
 ted by James Maitland\, 8th Earl of Lauderdale\, to General Kitroff\, a Ru
 ssian officer who by 1808 would serve as aide-de-camp to Grand Duke Consta
 ntine.1 The watch was purchased on 14 May 1804\, just days before Napoleon
  was officially declared Emperor of the French. Though the precise context
  of the gift remains speculative\, its timing and the identities involved 
 suggest the possibility of a diplomatic gesture\, perhaps part of the broa
 der British effort to strengthen ties with Russia through informal channel
 s as well as formal negotiation. Notably\, despite the fact that Breguet w
 atches were made in France\, they continued to be highly coveted even by t
 he country’s foes\, a testament to their exceptional craftsmanship and p
 restige across Europe’s aristocratic elites. At a time when personal gif
 ts among such circles often carried political undertones\, the watch may h
 ave served as a symbol of goodwill or influence at a moment when Britain a
 nd Russia were quietly rebuilding trust. Their converging interests - pres
 erving the European balance of power\, curbing French expansion\, and defe
 nding dynastic legitimacy - would soon solidify in the Anglo-Russian allia
 nce of 1805 and the formation of the Third Coalition. The gift\, viewed in
  this light\, embodies the subtler forms of diplomacy that accompanied the
  great power realignments of the Napoleonic era.\n\nAlthough little is rec
 orded of General Kitroff\, it is known that he attended the Congress of Er
 furt as part of Emperor Alexander I’s entourage\, by which time he was s
 erving as aide-de-camp to Grand Duke Constantine.2 His inclusion in the im
 perial party suggests his trusted status within the Russian military estab
 lishment and his proximity to the Romanov court at a moment of critical di
 plomatic significance.\n\nThe Congress of Erfurt\, held from 27 September 
 to 14 October 1808\, was a high-profile summit between Napoleon Bonaparte 
 and Emperor Alexander I\, intended to reaffirm their alliance amid rising 
 tensions in Europe. While the meeting projected unity through public displ
 ays of friendship and ceremony\, key differences remained unresolved—par
 ticularly over Poland\, the Balkans\, and the war in Spain. Despite its di
 plomatic theatre\, the congress failed to restore genuine trust between th
 e two powers\, and the alliance would unravel within four years.\n\nFurthe
 r details about Kitroff emerge from official correspondence of early 1809\
 , which places him at the heart of a diplomatic mission in the Danubian Pr
 incipalities\, then under Russian military administration. At this time\, 
 he was described as aide-de-camp to His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Ru
 ssia\, temporarily attached to General Kutuzov at Jassy\, and noted to be 
 Kutuzov’s son-in-law. In February 1809\, he arrived in Crajova with othe
 r high-ranking officers—including Colonel Kousnikoff and Lieutenant-Colo
 nel Ouchakoff—to receive a delegation of foreign ambassadors. He was ent
 rusted with a sum of 3\,000 ducats (drawn from a total of 20\,000 allocate
 d by the Emperor) to cover their expenses and was responsible for coordina
 ting their itinerary\, route\, and movements with both Russian and Ottoman
  officials. His administrative role included adjusting departure schedules
  while awaiting instructions from Jassy and liaising with senior figures s
 uch as Prince Menzikoff and General Prosorovski. These activities show Kit
 roff operating at a delicate nexus of diplomacy and military logistics\, e
 ntrusted with both financial oversight and the management of protocol at a
  time when the political balance in southeastern Europe was under close ne
 gotiation between empires.3\n\nKitroff is referenced again a few years lat
 er in a letter written by Lord Burghersh to Lord Castlereagh from Florence
  on 27 September 1818. In the letter Lord Burghersh writes: “My dear Lor
 d Castlereagh—Since my despatches directed to you have been sent to the 
 post\, I have an offer from General Kitroff to convey anything for you dir
 ect to Aix-La-Chapelle”.4\n\nJames Maitland\, 8th Earl of Lauderdale 175
 9-1839\n\nJames Maitland\, 8th Earl of Lauderdale was a prominent Scottish
  nobleman whose career straddled the turbulent political and intellectual 
 landscapes of late 18th- and early 19th-century Britain.\n\nA staunch supp
 orter of reform and civil liberty\, Lauderdale entered the House of Common
 s in 1780 and rapidly established himself as a vigorous opponent of govern
 ment repression. An ally of Charles James Fox\, he was outspoken in his sy
 mpathy for the principles of the French Revolution (at least in its early\
 , constitutional phase) and became known for his sharp critiques of Britis
 h policy and aristocratic privilege.\n\nElevated to the House of Lords in 
 1790\, Lauderdale remained active in public life\, though increasingly dra
 wn to political economy. In 1804\, he published An Inquiry into the Nature
  and Origin of Public Wealth\, a pioneering work in economic theory. On 22
  February 1806 he was created a Peer of the United Kingdom as Baron Lauder
 dale of Thirlestane\, county Berwick. On 15 August 1782 he married Eleanor
  (d. 1856) the only daughter and heiress of Anthony Todd.\n\nLauderdale wa
 s appointed by the British government as a special envoy to Napoleon’s c
 ourt in 1806. He travelled to Paris as part of the failed negotiations to 
 end the War of the Third Coalition. There\, he conferred directly with Tal
 leyrand and French officials\, but the mission ultimately collapsed over B
 ritish refusal to accept France’s expanded influence in continental Euro
 pe. His experience in Paris left him deeply sceptical of Napoleon’s ambi
 tions.\n\nLauderdale’s later years were spent largely in scholarly pursu
 its and managing his estate at Thirlestane Castle in Berwickshire\, the gr
 and ancestral home of the Maitland family since 1590. Though he never held
  high office\, his influence as an intellectual and dissenting voice withi
 n the Whig establishment was lasting. He died in 1839\, remembered less fo
 r political power than for his fearless independence of thought\, his econ
 omic foresight\, and his principled\, if often controversial\, engagement 
 with the defining issues of his age. His great grandson\, Arthur Balfour\,
  would later become Prime Minister of Great Britain.\n\nLord Lauderdale al
 so purchased Breguet No. 1913 in February 1807 for Fr. 2\,760 – a quarte
 r repeating\, open-faced lever watch (see Chayette\, 5 December 1985\, lot
  18). That watch was supplied to Lauderdale via Dubois Fils.\n\n1 Wairy\, 
 Louis Constant\, Recollections of the Private Life of Napoleon\, 1895\, Ch
 apter XI\, p. 131.\n\n2 Ibid.\n\n3 Odobescu\, A. I.\, ed. Documente privit
 óre la Istoria Românilor: Urmare la colecțiunea luǐ Eudoxiu de Hurmuza
 ki. Suplement I\, Volumul II: 1781–1814. Cu portretul lui Ioan Gheorghe 
 Caragea Voevod. București: Ministeriului Afacerilor Straine Din Paris\,18
 85\, p. 543.\n\n4 Vane\, Charles William\, ed. Memoirs and Correspondence 
 of Viscount Castlereagh\, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry\, London: John Murra
 y\, 1853\, Vol. 12\, p. 43.
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251109
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