100th Auction
2019/11/15
Lot 78
Breguet Neveu & Cie, Paris, No. 255, 140 x 130 x 140 mm, circa 1836
A fine small ship's chronometer with two barrels and regulator dial, the original ratchet key and transport box. Canceled from the books as "Profits & Pertes" on December 31, 1859, for the sum of 400 Francs.
Case: mahogany. Dial: silvered. Movm.: brass movement, 62 mm, spring detent escapement according to Thomas Earnshaw, tripod adjusting device for the balance spring, chronometer compensation balance with gold and platinum screws, freesprung blued helical balance spring.
This ship’s chronometer in a small, excellently preserved mahogany case is fitted with two independent barrels – a handsome little gem that has been masterfully designed and executed in Breguet’s typical virtuosity. Just like the "full-size" chronometers, there are exquisite details such as the tripod adjusting device for the balance spring. The escapement section has not been arranged as a separate module that can be removed for servicing (where the gear train would be locked automatically) but the smaller design also ensures easy handling: A small lever locks the escapement wheel at the turn of a screw and the balance can be removed safely.
Interested parties can read what the famous Alfred Helwig wrote some decades later to describe what may happen otherwise: "In that case the gear wheel is suddenly released and whizzes away… If the mainspring then suddenly drops back on its rest screw, a kind of explosion occurs, because the gear wheel keeps gaining weight and cannot just be stopped by the endstones. Whoever experiences such a calamity will feel the horror in every inch of their being... "
This ship’s chronometer, however, is of course in excellent condition with regards to movement, dial and case; it is only the transport box that shows some marks of having been attached in the chronometer cabinet on board.
A fine small ship's chronometer with two barrels and regulator dial, the original ratchet key and transport box. Canceled from the books as "Profits & Pertes" on December 31, 1859, for the sum of 400 Francs.
Case: mahogany. Dial: silvered. Movm.: brass movement, 62 mm, spring detent escapement according to Thomas Earnshaw, tripod adjusting device for the balance spring, chronometer compensation balance with gold and platinum screws, freesprung blued helical balance spring.
This ship’s chronometer in a small, excellently preserved mahogany case is fitted with two independent barrels – a handsome little gem that has been masterfully designed and executed in Breguet’s typical virtuosity. Just like the "full-size" chronometers, there are exquisite details such as the tripod adjusting device for the balance spring. The escapement section has not been arranged as a separate module that can be removed for servicing (where the gear train would be locked automatically) but the smaller design also ensures easy handling: A small lever locks the escapement wheel at the turn of a screw and the balance can be removed safely.
Interested parties can read what the famous Alfred Helwig wrote some decades later to describe what may happen otherwise: "In that case the gear wheel is suddenly released and whizzes away… If the mainspring then suddenly drops back on its rest screw, a kind of explosion occurs, because the gear wheel keeps gaining weight and cannot just be stopped by the endstones. Whoever experiences such a calamity will feel the horror in every inch of their being... "
This ship’s chronometer, however, is of course in excellent condition with regards to movement, dial and case; it is only the transport box that shows some marks of having been attached in the chronometer cabinet on board.
Sold
estimated
40.000—50.000 €
Price realized
93.800 €