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Lot Essay
With Breguet Certificate No. 3887 dated 19 August 1986 confirming the sale of the present watch with Murat-style case in brushed Osmior, perpetual calendar and hour and minute windows to Monsieur A. Brown on 16 January 1930 for Francs 14,100.
The present dress watch is a superbly fine and elegant example of a jump hour and minute dress watch featuring the exceptionally rare perpetual calendar in "digital" or linear display visible through a triple window opening in the silver dial, an arrangement hardly ever seen in any watches from the period. Another noteworthy and exceedingly rare feature is its case made of Osmior, a metal alloy largely composed of gold, its colour resembling platinum. Breguet used this material in an exceedingly small number of watches only, predominantly in the late 1920s.
The combination of these rare features, to date not seen in any other of Breguet's dress watches, leads to the assumption that it was made by special order for Monsieur A. Braun who purchased it in 1930 for the impressive amount of 14,100 French Francs.
Furthermore preserved in very good, original condition, it represents an extremely desirable collector's watch for the aficionado of rare Art Deco timepieces.
The first jump hour pocket watches appeared in the early 19th century but became particularly fashionable during the Art Deco period. Their simplicist layout, displaying the actual hour and minutes and, more rarely, the calendar indications through small apertures, harmonized perfectly with the purely decorative Art Deco style, seen as elegant, functional, and ultra-modern.
During the "Roaring Twenties", pocket and wristwatches fitted with this unusual display were made by the most eminent makers, notably Breguet, Audemars Piguet, Cartier and Patek Philippe.
The present dress watch is a superbly fine and elegant example of a jump hour and minute dress watch featuring the exceptionally rare perpetual calendar in "digital" or linear display visible through a triple window opening in the silver dial, an arrangement hardly ever seen in any watches from the period. Another noteworthy and exceedingly rare feature is its case made of Osmior, a metal alloy largely composed of gold, its colour resembling platinum. Breguet used this material in an exceedingly small number of watches only, predominantly in the late 1920s.
The combination of these rare features, to date not seen in any other of Breguet's dress watches, leads to the assumption that it was made by special order for Monsieur A. Braun who purchased it in 1930 for the impressive amount of 14,100 French Francs.
Furthermore preserved in very good, original condition, it represents an extremely desirable collector's watch for the aficionado of rare Art Deco timepieces.
The first jump hour pocket watches appeared in the early 19th century but became particularly fashionable during the Art Deco period. Their simplicist layout, displaying the actual hour and minutes and, more rarely, the calendar indications through small apertures, harmonized perfectly with the purely decorative Art Deco style, seen as elegant, functional, and ultra-modern.
During the "Roaring Twenties", pocket and wristwatches fitted with this unusual display were made by the most eminent makers, notably Breguet, Audemars Piguet, Cartier and Patek Philippe.