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拍品專文
Breguet & Fils No. 3057, a Third Series chronometer of closely related design is illustrated in G. Daniels, The Art of Breguet, London, 1974, p. 236 and was also sold in 1818. Daniels also illustrates No. 3059, sold in 1819. Breguet was appointed Horloger de la Marine in 1815 and by 1818 the production of chronometers was well under way. A new work book started in 1814 records the manufacture of escapements and by 1822 eighty had been entered. No. 3057 is therefore an early example and is a fine example of French marine chronometry at its best. A later example (No. 3199, sold 1823) was sold Christie's London, 25 November 1997, lot 21 (£26,450). Another, No. 4858, was sold Christie's London, 15 September 2004, lot 13 (£22,705). As Daniels points out (p. 85) the French department of Marine paid very high prices and the result was luxurious chronometers, with boxes finished with as many as forty hand-finished brass fittings -- few of which contribute to the timekeeping but 'which add to the cost of production and give satisfaction to the collector'.
When No. 3065 was sold in 1994 additional information was given based on an 1823 article in Astronomische Nachrichten. We have been unable to verify the details therein but they are as follows.
The astronomer H.C. Schumacher, Director of the Altona Observatory, reported on the construction of No. 3056 with an explanation of the reason for it having two independently operating seconds hands; these facilitated timing of the occultations of the planet Jupiter.
In the period 1820 onwards it was used, together with a number of other marine chronometers, including Arnold 97, 1755, 2015, Kessels 1252, Breguet 3719, Barraud 904, Jurgensen 13 and others by, Emery, Bessel and Dumouchelf in determining the difference in longitude between various observatories, including those of Hamburg Altona, Lubeck, Copenhagen, Bremen and Greenwich.
Forming part of the bottom of the bowl of No. 3056 is an assembly which would appear to be a balance 'stop/start' control. This is no longer extant, although in Astronomische Nachrichten Schumacher describes some such balance arresting control.
Copies of correspondence between the Astronomer Royal and Edward Dent & Co. concerning the rating of No. 3056 and the Arnold & Dent chronometer in 1839 were also included with this chronometer when it was sold in 1994. These are no longer present and we have been unable to verify the history detailed therein but it is as follows.
In 1839 Karl Ludwig Rümker, the Astronomer for the Hamburg Observatory asked Edward Dent, the eminent London chronometer maker, if he could use his influence with G.B. Airy, the Astronomer Royal, to have No. 3056 rated against the transit instrument at Greenwich, together with Arnold & Dent Nos. 1255, 1268, 1323, 1328 and pocket chronometer No. 2137. This was agreed and all those chronometers were used subsequently in re-computing the longitude of the Hamburg Observatory.
For Breguet see also lots 98, 99 and 103.
When No. 3065 was sold in 1994 additional information was given based on an 1823 article in Astronomische Nachrichten. We have been unable to verify the details therein but they are as follows.
The astronomer H.C. Schumacher, Director of the Altona Observatory, reported on the construction of No. 3056 with an explanation of the reason for it having two independently operating seconds hands; these facilitated timing of the occultations of the planet Jupiter.
In the period 1820 onwards it was used, together with a number of other marine chronometers, including Arnold 97, 1755, 2015, Kessels 1252, Breguet 3719, Barraud 904, Jurgensen 13 and others by, Emery, Bessel and Dumouchelf in determining the difference in longitude between various observatories, including those of Hamburg Altona, Lubeck, Copenhagen, Bremen and Greenwich.
Forming part of the bottom of the bowl of No. 3056 is an assembly which would appear to be a balance 'stop/start' control. This is no longer extant, although in Astronomische Nachrichten Schumacher describes some such balance arresting control.
Copies of correspondence between the Astronomer Royal and Edward Dent & Co. concerning the rating of No. 3056 and the Arnold & Dent chronometer in 1839 were also included with this chronometer when it was sold in 1994. These are no longer present and we have been unable to verify the history detailed therein but it is as follows.
In 1839 Karl Ludwig Rümker, the Astronomer for the Hamburg Observatory asked Edward Dent, the eminent London chronometer maker, if he could use his influence with G.B. Airy, the Astronomer Royal, to have No. 3056 rated against the transit instrument at Greenwich, together with Arnold & Dent Nos. 1255, 1268, 1323, 1328 and pocket chronometer No. 2137. This was agreed and all those chronometers were used subsequently in re-computing the longitude of the Hamburg Observatory.
For Breguet see also lots 98, 99 and 103.