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拍品專文
This particularly beautiful and sumptuously decorated version of Breguet’s ‘montre à tact’, has been part of one of the world’s great watch collections for several decades. Accompanied by a Breguet Certificate dated 1965 confirming its sale to a Madame Awils on the 31st January 1810, the present watch offers collectors the opportunity to obtain a very rare example of a ‘medaillon à tact’ with an exquisitely enamelled case and pearl touch pieces.
The Breguet Montre à Tact Watch
Breguet introduced the à tact watch, one of his most elegant and novel inventions, at the French Industrial Exhibition which opened in Paris on 17th September 1798. Made, like all his other watches, in several variations, the watch took its name from the system used to read the time. The position of the arrow on the exterior of the case corresponds to the position of the watch’s hour hand and is felt manually by the user in relation to hour touch pieces set at the edge of the case. The idea was that the time could be read simply by touching the watch whilst in the pocket, useful in situations where for reasons of discretion it would be inappropriate to look at one’s watch or make a repeating watch strike. Indeed, the 7th Duke of Wellington suggested to George Daniels that à tact watches were worn by fashionable young men who wished to know the time without the embarrassment of their host knowing their anxiety. The movements of the à tact watches are basically souscription movements which underwent the same progression of development over the same period of time. The montre à tact was always quite expensive with models ranging between 1,000 and 2,000 Francs up to around 5,000 Francs for a sumptuously jeweled example. They continued to be made until 1834.
Pierre Benjamin Tavernier
The case of the present watch is stamped PBT for Pierre Benjamin Tavernier. The renowned case maker located in Paris supplied his exceptional cases to the most famous watchmakers of the time, notably Breguet, Lépine, Ferdinand Berthoud and others.
The Breguet Montre à Tact Watch
Breguet introduced the à tact watch, one of his most elegant and novel inventions, at the French Industrial Exhibition which opened in Paris on 17th September 1798. Made, like all his other watches, in several variations, the watch took its name from the system used to read the time. The position of the arrow on the exterior of the case corresponds to the position of the watch’s hour hand and is felt manually by the user in relation to hour touch pieces set at the edge of the case. The idea was that the time could be read simply by touching the watch whilst in the pocket, useful in situations where for reasons of discretion it would be inappropriate to look at one’s watch or make a repeating watch strike. Indeed, the 7th Duke of Wellington suggested to George Daniels that à tact watches were worn by fashionable young men who wished to know the time without the embarrassment of their host knowing their anxiety. The movements of the à tact watches are basically souscription movements which underwent the same progression of development over the same period of time. The montre à tact was always quite expensive with models ranging between 1,000 and 2,000 Francs up to around 5,000 Francs for a sumptuously jeweled example. They continued to be made until 1834.
Pierre Benjamin Tavernier
The case of the present watch is stamped PBT for Pierre Benjamin Tavernier. The renowned case maker located in Paris supplied his exceptional cases to the most famous watchmakers of the time, notably Breguet, Lépine, Ferdinand Berthoud and others.