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SUMMARY:an-important-and-exceptionally-fine-20ct-gold-slim-self-winding-ope
 n-faced-perpetuelle-montre-tact-of-royal-provenance-with-lever-escapement-
 date-and-state-of-wind-indication - Date de vente : 09/11/2025
DESCRIPTION:Nom du lots : An important and exceptionally fine 20ct gold sli
 m self-winding open-faced Perpetuelle Montre à Tact of Royal Provenance w
 ith lever escapement\, date and state-of-wind indication\n\ngilded movemen
 t\, lever escapement\, jewelled pallets to lever\, jewelled wheel train\, 
 two-armed compensation balance\, parachute suspension to both pivots\, ste
 el spring with terminal curve and regulator\, platinum perpétuelle weight
  recessed into the main plate\, buffer springs for weight mounted to edge 
 of movement with ruby banking rollers\, numbered to bottom plate 4548\n\ns
 ilver engine-turned dial\, guilloché damier patterned centre and clou de 
 Paris surround\, eccentric satin finished twin chapter rings with Roman nu
 merals and pearled minute track\, off-set subsidiary seconds at 9 o’cloc
 k\, aperture for winding beside 3 o’clock\, gold moon hands\, the minute
  hand with steel centre and eccentric square aperture for setting to base\
 , two damier fan-form sectors for regulation above 12 and state-of-wind in
 dication below 6 with blued steel serpentine hand\, aperture for date outs
 ide chapter ring at 9 o’clock\, angled cartouche signed Breguet\n\n20ct 
 gold Tavernier case\, engine-turned à grains d’orge\, with plain gold t
 apered tact hand mounted to back\, touch pins of platinum to band\, case b
 ack interior with Paris assay and discharge marks comprising baby’s head
  2 in fitted frame (second standard gold 840/1000)\, Pegasus 2 in irregula
 r hexagonal frame (840/1000\, 1819-1838)\, pendant with Paris ox head assa
 y mark (1822-1838)\, maker’s mark MAB beneath a triangle for Tavernier w
 orkshop and numbered B 4548\, T 4114\n\nMeasurements\n\ndiameter 63mm\n\nd
 epth of case 15mm (excluding tact hand)\n\ndepth excluding glass and tact 
 hand 11.5mm\n\nweight 217.1g (excluding key and chain)\n\nAccompaniments\n
 \nwith a later short gold chain and double ended key\, later Desoutter mor
 occo leather fitted presentation case numbered to the lid 4548 and a Bregu
 et 250th anniversary certificate\n\nSold on 4 July 1827 to King George IV.
 \n\nLe Roy et Fils\, 57 New Bond Street\, sold in 1908 for £400.\n\nSir J
 ohn Prestige.\n\nSotheby & Co.\, Catalogue of Ten Important Watches and a 
 Timekeeper\, The Property of Lady Prestige\, 22 April 1963\, lot 11 sold f
 or £3\,100 ($8\,680) to Chollet.\n\nCurrent Private Collection\, purchase
 d from the above.\n\nMusée International d’Horlogerie\, La Chaux-de-Fon
 ds\, 1976\, Vitrine 5\, No. 3.\n\nGiven its historical importance and outs
 tanding quality\, this Royal watch has been featured in numerous publicati
 ons and was included in the landmark exhibition L’Oeuvre d’Abraham-Lou
 is Breguet\, held at the Musée International d’Horlogerie in La Chaux-d
 e-Fonds in 1976. That retrospective brought together more than 120 Breguet
  watches and clocks\, among them the legendary no. 160\, the so-called Mar
 ie Antoinette\, and no. 92\, made for the Duc de Praslin — a watch almos
 t as technically ambitious as the Marie Antoinette itself. The present wat
 ch\, no. 4548\, was among the highlights and was displayed in Vitrine 5\, 
 which contained a select group of ten Breguet perpétuelle watches.\n\nKin
 g George IV was one of Breguet’s most loyal patrons. As Prince of Wales\
 , he began purchasing pieces by Breguet in the 1790s\,1 continued during h
 is tenure as Prince Regent during his father’s illness\, and carried thi
 s patronage into his reign as King. Among his collection were some of the 
 most significant clocks and watches ever made by Breguet\, reflecting both
  his appreciation of science and his desire for the finest objects to ador
 n his residences and accompany him in daily life. This exceptional and sli
 m self-winding perpétuelle montre à tact was one of the last watches he 
 acquired\, and it embodies many of the key refinements and complications t
 hat Breguet perfected. Although made after the death of Abraham-Louis\, th
 is watch\, no. 4548\, encapsulates Breguet’s genius for uniting fashiona
 ble elegance with technical refinement and practical utility\, a creation 
 ideally suited to a monarch who prized distinction as much as display. Wit
 h its automatic winding\, calendar display\, and ingenious tact mechanism 
 for telling the time silently or in darkness\, it was conceived for the pr
 actical demands of daily life.\n\nBreguet’s perpétuelle design\, develo
 ped between 1775 and 1779\, was his first major horological triumph and la
 id the foundation of his future reputation. It transformed the unreliable 
 early self-winding watch into a practical and efficient system\, employing
  a dense platinum weight\, twin mainspring barrels for a stable 60-hour re
 serve\, and discreet regulation hidden beneath the bezel. It was in the pe
 rpétuelle that Breguet developed his own version of the detached lever es
 capement and first introduced his ingenious parachute shock-protection dev
 ice. From the outset\, the perpétuelle was highly prized for its combinat
 ion of innovation\, reliability\, and refinement\; early owners included M
 arie Antoinette and the Duc d’Orléans\, helping to establish Breguet as
  the foremost watchmaker of his age.\n\nThe perpétuelle was always among 
 Breguet’s most expensive productions\, often enhanced with additional co
 mplications such as repeating work. From about 1812 it entered a final sta
 ge of development with a markedly slimmer movement in which the oscillatin
 g weight was recessed into the main plate – as seen in the present watch
 . Although Breguet continued to produce some examples with the earlier lar
 ge platinum weight mounted above the back plate until at least 1817\, the 
 recessed construction offered clear advantages: it reduced the overall dep
 th and produced a sleeker profile\, better aligned with the refined aesthe
 tic that Breguet had honed since his return from exile in Switzerland.\n\n
 This watch incorporates many of Breguet’s signature design elements: an 
 engine-turned dial\, fan-shaped sectors displaying regulation and state of
  wind\, the latter fitted with a distinctive serpentine hand to differenti
 ate it from the regulator. The eccentric dial is further characterised by 
 its laterally shifted\, off-centre chapter ring\, a feature introduced by 
 Breguet’s son in the mid-1820s.2 In the space this creates to its left\,
  the date is shown through a small window. Unlike many perpétuelles\, thi
 s example also includes a provision for manual winding through the dial an
 d a further opening in the dial allows regulation of the movement. With ha
 nd-setting\, winding (when required) and regulation all performed entirely
  from the front\, the movement was thereby protected from unnecessary inte
 rvention. To the reverse\, Breguet’s ingenious tact system enabled the t
 ime to be read silently by touch\, a refinement that allowed the King to c
 onsult the hour discreetly\, whether in company or in darkness.\n\nThough 
 often vilified and caricatured during his lifetime for self-indulgence and
  extravagance\, later assessments have recognised King George IV as one of
  the most discerning royal patrons of the arts since Charles I. His collec
 tions embraced Old Masters such as Rembrandt and Rubens\; he supported con
 temporary painters including Reynolds\, Gainsborough\, and Constable\; and
  he welcomed the sculptor Canova to London. He also valued science\, besto
 wing honours on Humphry Davy\, William Herschel\, and William Congreve. Hi
 s passion for horology\, inherited from his father\, found its most refine
 d expression in his loyalty to Breguet\, from whom he acquired a successio
 n of remarkable timepieces—including the present watch.\n\nWithin the Ge
 orgian Papers is a Mémoire des Ouvrages de la Maison Breguet—an account
  of works supplied to the Royal Household through Breguet’s London agent
 \, Recordon\, but still unpaid. Dated 20 January 1812 and addressed to His
  Majesty the Prince Regent\, the memorandum (GEO/25792) lists three Bregue
 t watches and a clock for which payment was outstanding. The first entry i
 s no. 1297\, an important tourbillon watch delivered to King George III in
  1808 for £280 (see Sotheby’s London\, 14 July 2020\, lot 28). The othe
 rs are: no. 2122\, a répétition de première classe delivered 30 October
  1808 for £156\; no. 2187\, “une très petite répétition chronomètre
 ” delivered 1 November 1810 for £186\; and no. 2661\, a small travellin
 g clock with calendar\, moon phases\, alarm\, and repetition\, delivered 2
  November 1811 for £375. The total outstanding came to £997.\n\nAnnotati
 ons to the invoice record part-payments beginning in March 1812 (£297). A
  letter from Breguet’s agent Moreau to Colonel McMahon\, dated 29 March 
 1813 (RA/25862)\, pleaded for his assistance in obtaining the remaining £
 700. Moreau wrote: “I hope\, Sir\, considering the time elapsed\, and wh
 en you reflect that my departure from this country cannot possibly take pl
 ace unless this affair is settled\, all these reasons…will induce you to
  procure me the settlement of my account.” His appeal appears to have be
 en successful: further annotations show a payment of £300 in May 1813 and
  the final £400 in October the same year.\n\nAs Prince Regent and later K
 ing\, George IV continued to acquire remarkable works from Breguet\, secur
 ing during the 1810s and 1820s some of the firm’s most ambitious and tec
 hnically advanced creations — of which the present watch is one of the r
 are examples now in private hands. Other notable pieces from George IV’s
  collection include:\n\nGeorge IV (1762–1830) was the eldest son of Geor
 ge III and Queen Charlotte\, born at St James’s Palace on 12 August 1762
 . From childhood he received a demanding education at Kew\, where he showe
 d talent for languages\, music\, and drawing\, as well as a gift for mimic
 ry. His charm was often offset by a taste for extravagance\, which quickly
  became a defining feature of his life. As Prince of Wales he immersed him
 self in fashionable society\, accumulating huge debts that were largely ch
 annelled into the remodelling of Carlton House with the architect Henry Ho
 lland. The project became a showcase of his collecting passions: agents in
  London\, Paris\, and further afield secured him paintings\, bronzes\, fur
 niture\, and clocks\, which played a central role in furnishing the reside
 nce.\n\nIn 1785 he secretly and illegally married Maria Fitzherbert\, a Ro
 man Catholic widow\, and in 1795 was pressured into marrying his cousin\, 
 Princess Caroline of Brunswick. The union collapsed within months\, though
  it produced his only child\, Princess Charlotte. His treatment of her was
  often harsh: he dismissed her servants\, restricted her movements\, and s
 ought to arrange a politically advantageous marriage to the Prince of Oran
 ge\, which she resisted. Charlotte’s sudden death in childbirth in 1817 
 was nonetheless a devastating personal blow and a national tragedy\, leavi
 ng George without a direct heir and throwing the succession into uncertain
 ty. Charlotte’s great friend and confidante\, with whom she regularly co
 rresponded\, was Margaret Mercer Elphinstone (later the Countess of Flahau
 lt)\, whose Breguet watch is included in this auction – see lot 64.\n\nF
 rom the late 1780s the repeated bouts of illness suffered by his father\, 
 George III\, brought the question of a regency to the fore. A major crisis
  erupted in 1788–89 when the king’s incapacity seemed permanent\, but 
 parliament avoided handing full powers to the prince. It was only after Ge
 orge III’s final mental collapse in 1811 that George was formally instal
 led as Prince Regent\, ruling in his father’s name until the king’s de
 ath in 1820\, when he succeeded as King in his own right. His reign was po
 litically turbulent. The scandal of Queen Caroline’s attempted exclusion
  in 1820 aroused widespread public sympathy for her and hostility toward t
 he king. Later\, he abandoned his old Whig allies\, leaned on Tory governm
 ents\, and\, despite his misgivings\, was forced to accept Catholic Emanci
 pation in 1829.\n\nGeorge IV’s name is indelibly linked with some of Bri
 tain’s most iconic architectural projects. At Brighton he transformed a 
 seaside villa into the fantastical Royal Pavilion\; in London he pressed a
 head with John Nash’s grand design for Regent Street and Regent’s Park
 \; and as king he commissioned the enlargement of Buckingham Palace and th
 e remodelling of Windsor Castle. These ventures embodied his taste for dra
 ma\, scale\, and splendour.\n\nIn his final years he became increasingly r
 eclusive\, plagued by ill health and excessive drinking\, and died at Wind
 sor on 26 June 1830.3\n\n1 Breguet\, Emmanuel\, Breguet Watchmakers since 
 1775\, Revised and Expanded Edition\, Swan Éditeur\, 2016\, p. 204.\n\n2 
 Ibid\, p. 234-5.\n\n3 For a full biography of George IV see: Hibbert\, Chr
 istopher\, George IV (1762-1830)\, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
 \, 2004.
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