Louis Breguet is considered the Leonardo da Vinci of watchmaking, the founder in 1755 of one of the oldest and most prestigious Swiss brands still in business, which had its first headquarters in Paris on Quai d’Horologe. For Marie-Antoinette, Queen of France, he created watch No. 160, known as the ‘Mona Lisa of timepieces’, a true technical prodigy and an absolute masterpiece of watchmaking. In addition to what is still considered the fifth most complicated watch in the world, consisting of 823 mechanical parts, mostly in polished pink gold, Breguet is characterised by the technical quality of its mechanisms, all strictly mechanical. Unlike the other brands of haute horlogerie, they have always produced complicated and multi-complicated watches alongside “time-only” models, producing all the types of complexity that exist today.
In the catalog of the Milanese auction of Watches there will be a very rare pocket watch by cousin Frederic with hour and quarter chime on the passage and on demand (lot 183, estimate €15,000 – €20,000) with a diameter of 58 mm, guilloché decorated case middle, smooth back, guilloché yellow gold dial with grain de riz decoration, Roman numerals for the hours on an external satin-finished band, signed Breguet no. 13332. The movement is made by Piguet & Meylan (monogram PM) with independent grand and petite sonnerie hours and quarters chime on the passage, grand and petite sonnerie hour and quarter repeater on the pendant, grand and petite sonnerie selection lever. Ruby cylinder escapement. Watch fitted with original yellow gold winding key and walnut wooden case.
A unique piece in this sale is a very rare 1933 Vacheron Constantin watch in an essential Art Deco style, featuring an architectural case in transparent rock crystal blocks, resting on an ebonized wood base with feet and chrome-plated metal frame, skeleton movement with constant-force escapement, 30 days of winding, 27 jewels, patent number 142508, movement number: 416861, produced by Philippe René Jaccard for Vachereon Constantin and for Breguet (lot 279, Estimate: € 48,000-65,000). Only four examples are known to have been produced in the world, with a different shaped case and skeleton movement patented by Philippe René Jaccard, who filed the patent for the mechanism on 20 August 1929.
In this timelessly beautiful timepiece, Vacheron Constantin decided to explore all the facets of crystal: translucent crystal, for its purity and its ability to accommodate the métiers d’art in which the Manufacture excels, and rock crystal for its natural rarity and mineral wealth. As usual, the external parts of the pendulette are the result of a fruitful dialogue between all the representatives of the trades involved, master watchmakers, master crystal glassmakers, crystal and stone researchers, engravers and guillochage and enamel workers, whom the Manufacture asks to always surpass themselves.
