96th Auction
2017/11/18
Lot 395
Abraham Louis Breguet, Paris, Movement No. 694, Case No. 1564, 54 mm, 51 g, circa 1801
An important gold enamel "Montre Médaillon de Souscription à Tact à Diamant" of museum quality, studded with large diamonds and pearls. According to the original Breguet documents, this watch was sold on Prairial 13, an 9 (June 2, 1801) to Monsieur Niteau (Marie-Étienne Nitot, official jeweller to the Emperor Napoleon, and founder of the House of Chaumet) for 2,760 francs. With certificate no. 4022, which was renewed in 1993 as copy for certificate no. 2449
Case: 18k gold and enamel, rose-cut diamonds and pearls, case maker's punch mark "PBT" (Pierre- Benjamin Tavernier). Dial: gold plate with a small eccentric engine-turned silver dial with Arabic numerals, signed Breguet, blued Breguet hands. Movm.: small "Souscription" calibre, keywind, overhanging ruby cylinder escapement, three-arm gold ring balance, shock protection-"parachute".
"Forme Collier" case by Tavernier. Front and back with lavish radial engine-turned case decoration, translucent cobalt-blue enamelling, revolving front lid with applied diamond-studded arrow pointer "sous émail" indicating the hours; small applied flower studded with diamonds on the back lid. Case band with two different-sized lustrous diamond touch studs and pearls.
The watch is one of a small series of five luxurious souscription watches with exquisite large diamond ornamentation. All of them were delivered to members of the Bonaparte family or to persons close to them:
- watch no. 611 was delivered to Napoleon’s wife Joséphine de Beauharnais (1763-1814), who gave it to her daughter Hortense de Beauharnais (1783-1837), Queen of Holland and mother of Emperor Napoleon III. Today the watch is owned by the Breguet Museum
- watches no. 693 and no. 695 were sold to Napoleon’s brother Lucien Bonaparte (1775-1840)
- watch no. 696 was delivered to Colonel Général des Suisses Louis-Alexandre Berthier (1753-1815), Marshal of France.
This watch no. 694 was given to the famous jeweller to Napoleon’s imperial court, Marie-Étienne Nitot (1750-1809). Even though the certificate shows the buyer as Monsieur Niteau, he was in fact Marie-Étienne Nitot, whose name is listed in two different versions (see also exhibition catalogue Vever, Antiquorum, where vol. II shows the goldsmith Petitot also as Petiteau).
Nitot's family was from Château-Thierry, he himself was born in Paris on April 2, 1750. In 1780 he was apprenticed to Aubert, court jeweller to QueenMarie Antoinette. He survived theFrench Revolution and was appointed jeweller to Emperor Napoleon in 1802.
With the help of his son Francois Regnault (1779-1853), Nitot created pieces of jewellery that embodied the pomp and the power of Napoleon and his empire. They include the wedding jewels of Josephine de Beauharnais and Marie Louise of Austria. Nitot also designed Napoleon's imperial crown, his ceremonial sword and many other pieces for the court.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie-%C3%89tienne_Nitot, as of 08/15/2017
The watch is illustrated and described in Montres de souscription et tact de Breguet, by Georges Rigot, pages 109 and 162, Illus. 158, and in Breguet Horloger Depuis 1775, by Emmanuel Breguet, pages 162-163, Illus. 39, 40 and 42.
"Montre Médaillon à Tact"
Breguet was the first maker to come up with the design for this kind of watch - he sold the first one early in 1799 to Madame Betancourt, the wife of his best friend. He continued producing the watches in different variations, some with quite large touch pieces (like this watch) and some with small ones. The price for these watches that Breguet created for the wealthiest of his customers was between 1,500 and 3,000 francs. This was a truly enormous sum of money in the early 19th century, nevertheless the watches were highly sought after at the time. One of the reasons for their popularity was that at the time it was considered quite unseemly to read the time in public; these expensive pieces made it possible to tell the time without taking the watch out of ones pocket. Breguet remained almost the only one to create this kind of watch; only Le Roy Horloger de S.A.I et R. Madame à Paris and very few others followed in his footsteps. Le Roy created a number of such watches; his most expensive one was made for the Prince of Hesse. It had diamond touch pieces like the watch we have here - created by Abraham Louis Breguet, likely the most famous maker in the 18th century.
An important gold enamel "Montre Médaillon de Souscription à Tact à Diamant" of museum quality, studded with large diamonds and pearls. According to the original Breguet documents, this watch was sold on Prairial 13, an 9 (June 2, 1801) to Monsieur Niteau (Marie-Étienne Nitot, official jeweller to the Emperor Napoleon, and founder of the House of Chaumet) for 2,760 francs. With certificate no. 4022, which was renewed in 1993 as copy for certificate no. 2449
Case: 18k gold and enamel, rose-cut diamonds and pearls, case maker's punch mark "PBT" (Pierre- Benjamin Tavernier). Dial: gold plate with a small eccentric engine-turned silver dial with Arabic numerals, signed Breguet, blued Breguet hands. Movm.: small "Souscription" calibre, keywind, overhanging ruby cylinder escapement, three-arm gold ring balance, shock protection-"parachute".
"Forme Collier" case by Tavernier. Front and back with lavish radial engine-turned case decoration, translucent cobalt-blue enamelling, revolving front lid with applied diamond-studded arrow pointer "sous émail" indicating the hours; small applied flower studded with diamonds on the back lid. Case band with two different-sized lustrous diamond touch studs and pearls.
The watch is one of a small series of five luxurious souscription watches with exquisite large diamond ornamentation. All of them were delivered to members of the Bonaparte family or to persons close to them:
- watch no. 611 was delivered to Napoleon’s wife Joséphine de Beauharnais (1763-1814), who gave it to her daughter Hortense de Beauharnais (1783-1837), Queen of Holland and mother of Emperor Napoleon III. Today the watch is owned by the Breguet Museum
- watches no. 693 and no. 695 were sold to Napoleon’s brother Lucien Bonaparte (1775-1840)
- watch no. 696 was delivered to Colonel Général des Suisses Louis-Alexandre Berthier (1753-1815), Marshal of France.
This watch no. 694 was given to the famous jeweller to Napoleon’s imperial court, Marie-Étienne Nitot (1750-1809). Even though the certificate shows the buyer as Monsieur Niteau, he was in fact Marie-Étienne Nitot, whose name is listed in two different versions (see also exhibition catalogue Vever, Antiquorum, where vol. II shows the goldsmith Petitot also as Petiteau).
Nitot's family was from Château-Thierry, he himself was born in Paris on April 2, 1750. In 1780 he was apprenticed to Aubert, court jeweller to QueenMarie Antoinette. He survived theFrench Revolution and was appointed jeweller to Emperor Napoleon in 1802.
With the help of his son Francois Regnault (1779-1853), Nitot created pieces of jewellery that embodied the pomp and the power of Napoleon and his empire. They include the wedding jewels of Josephine de Beauharnais and Marie Louise of Austria. Nitot also designed Napoleon's imperial crown, his ceremonial sword and many other pieces for the court.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie-%C3%89tienne_Nitot, as of 08/15/2017
The watch is illustrated and described in Montres de souscription et tact de Breguet, by Georges Rigot, pages 109 and 162, Illus. 158, and in Breguet Horloger Depuis 1775, by Emmanuel Breguet, pages 162-163, Illus. 39, 40 and 42.
"Montre Médaillon à Tact"
Breguet was the first maker to come up with the design for this kind of watch - he sold the first one early in 1799 to Madame Betancourt, the wife of his best friend. He continued producing the watches in different variations, some with quite large touch pieces (like this watch) and some with small ones. The price for these watches that Breguet created for the wealthiest of his customers was between 1,500 and 3,000 francs. This was a truly enormous sum of money in the early 19th century, nevertheless the watches were highly sought after at the time. One of the reasons for their popularity was that at the time it was considered quite unseemly to read the time in public; these expensive pieces made it possible to tell the time without taking the watch out of ones pocket. Breguet remained almost the only one to create this kind of watch; only Le Roy Horloger de S.A.I et R. Madame à Paris and very few others followed in his footsteps. Le Roy created a number of such watches; his most expensive one was made for the Prince of Hesse. It had diamond touch pieces like the watch we have here - created by Abraham Louis Breguet, likely the most famous maker in the 18th century.
Sold
estimated
200.000—300.000 €
Price realized
248.000 €