97th Auction

2018/5/12

Lot 270

Abraham Louis Breguet à Paris, "Souscription", Movement No. 1494, Case No. 1031, Breguet No. 1494B, 61 mm, 132 g, circa 1805
An important and large Breguet Souscription - sold to Monsieur André Becker on 1er Germinal An 13 (= 22nd of March 1805) for 864 Francs - with original silk-lined morocco case no. 1494, ratchet key and certificate no. 3835
Case: 20k gold, engine-turned, reeded band, case maker punch mark "JLJ" (Jolly). Dial: enamel, secret signature below "12": "Souscription No. 1494". Movm.: bridge movement, keywind, "overhanging" ruby cylinder escapement, three-arm brass balance, blued balance spring with temperature compensation, shock protection-"parachute".
"Breguet's Souscription watches"
Usually in silver, with the gold rims being the only decoration, the souscription watches were of a large diameter allowing the enamel dial to be divided in such a way that both hours and minutes could be read from a single hand. The movements had a single plate, the spring barrel mounted in the centre and the wheels elegantly positioned and retained by bridges. The single hand was driven directly off the barrel arbor, eliminating the motion work and the intendant friction, and the ruby cylinder escapement was fitted with a parachute (shock protector) and a compensation curb to assist in correcting temperature errors; features that were the norm for all of Breguet's first class watches. To further reduce the selling price, Breguet decided to produce these watches in small series (between 12 and 20 examples at a time), with the buyers paying an account of 25% in advance and the balance on completion. Hence the term: de souscription (by subscription). The success of these watches enabled Breguet to both reestablish his business, which had understandably been badly affected by the French Revolution and his exile in Switzerland, and to finance much of his research into other areas of horology.
André Becker was a good customer of Breguet. In 1804 and 1805 he purchased about twenty watches from him and was therefore entitled to a discount of 6%.

Sold

estimated
26.00040.000 €
Price realized
49.600 €