Breguet No. 2046 "Montre Répétition à Ponts à demi-quarts". A fine and rare 18K gold openface half-quarter repeating keywound jump hour watch with duplex escapement, jumping hour hand, unusual temperature compensation curb and early micrometer regulator
THE PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR
Breguet No. 2046 "Montre Répétition à Ponts à demi-quarts". A fine and rare 18K gold openface half-quarter repeating keywound jump hour watch with duplex escapement, jumping hour hand, unusual temperature compensation curb and early micrometer regulator

SIGNED BREGUET, CASE NOS. 2046 B AND 1386, SOLD ON 6 AUGUST 1807 TO MONSIEUR ELMIRE SERILLI FOR THE SUM OF 1,920 FRANCS

Details
Breguet No. 2046 "Montre Répétition à Ponts à demi-quarts". A fine and rare 18K gold openface half-quarter repeating keywound jump hour watch with duplex escapement, jumping hour hand, unusual temperature compensation curb and early micrometer regulator
Signed Breguet, case nos. 2046 B and 1386, sold on 6 August 1807 to Monsieur Elmire Serilli for the sum of 1,920 francs
Gilded brass movement, duplex escapement, plain three arm platinum balance, pare-chute suspension on the pivot, blued steel flat balance spring with unusual kidney-shaped bimetallic compensation curb on the regulator, early micrometer regulation, half-quarter repeating on one polished steel hammer onto a gong, gold cuvette, engine-turned silver dial, Roman numerals on blank chapter ring, outer dot minute division, blued steel Breguet hands, circular engine-turned case, repeating through the pendant, pendant locking lever in the band, case no. 1386 by Jean-Louis Joly, cuvette signed and numbered, dial signed Breguet et Fils
55.6 mm. diam.
Literature
Prominently illustrated and described in Breguet - Watchmakers since 1775 by Emmanuel Breguet, 1997, pp. 166 & 372, pl. 4
Exhibited
L'Oeuvre d'Abraham-Louis Breguet, Musée International d'Horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, 15 May - 20 September 1976. Listed in the exhibition catalogue on page 29, no. 5.

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Lot Essay

With Breguet Certificate No. 3746 dated 30 April 1982 and additional engine-turned gilt dial with Roman numerals and fleur-de-lys on chased chapter ring, bearing the signature Breguet et Fils.

A witness of Breguet's ingenuity, the present watch is distinguished by its very early micrometer regulation and the kidney-shaped temperature compensation curb mounted on the regulator arm. Evidently made to increase the watches' accuracy, one of his principal focuses, these highly unusual features hitherto unseen in any of Breguet's watches were most probably experimental.

The regulation of the oscillation of the balance by means of a regulator significantly contributes to the increased accuracy of mechanical timekeepers. The regulator used in the present watch is a very early form of the micrometric regulator, allowing an accurate adjustment by means of a segmented rack on the index, fine-tuned by a worm wheel drive. For a note on the invention of the regulator see lot 176 in this sale.

Temperature variations produce a number of effects on watches, most importantly the loss of elasticity in the spiral if made of steel. To compensate such variations, so-called temperature compensation curbs, essentially bimetallic thermometers, were mounted on the regulator for adjustment. Breguet's bimetallic compensation curb was of distinctive, rectangular-curved style, as opposed to the present, kidney-shaped variant.

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