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19th century white metal (.800) hunter pocket watch by Louis Perret Brenets — view 1 of 1
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Pocket Watches · Pocket watch

19th century white metal (.800) hunter pocket watch by Louis Perret Brenets

DocumentedDocumented from an auction catalogue; attribution as stated by the auction house.
Maker / attribution
Louis Perret Brenets (maker)
Date
19th century
Country of origin
Unrecorded in source
Object type
Pocket watch
Dimensions
Diameter 53 mm
Lot
Sale 45, lot 677
Credit line
Auction lot record: lot 677, The Watch Auction - Pocket Watches, Gardiner Houlgate (25th October 2023)
Catalogue title (original)
19th century white metal (.800) hunter pocket watch made for the Turkish Market by Louis Perret Brenets, the gilt jewelled lever movement signed 'Les Brenets', attractive foliate dial with Turkish num (English)

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Record summary

Catalogued by Gardiner Houlgate (auction house), Corsham (lot Sale 45, lot 677), this is a pocket watch by Louis Perret Brenets, dated 19th century. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Pocket Watches collection. Recorded dimensions: Diameter 53 mm. The record is illustrated with 1 photograph.

Assembled from the source record's structured fields. Dates and attributions are given as the source states them; where a field is missing the Atlas leaves it blank rather than estimating.

Catalogue description

Lot description — Gardiner Houlgate

19th century white metal (.800) hunter pocket watch made for the Turkish Market by Louis Perret Brenets, the gilt jewelled lever movement signed 'Les Brenets', attractive foliate dial with Turkish numerals and a subsidiary seconds dial, engine turned and engraved case, no. 60445, 53mm

Historical context

Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)

Harrison solves longitude; Mudge invents the lever; Breguet's Paris workshop defines the modern watch.

From 1750 to 1850 the watch became a precision instrument. Mudge's lever escapement, the cylinder escapement, Lépine's thin bar calibre, Breguet's innovations (overcoil, tourbillon, perpétuelle) and the pocket chronometer of Arnold and Earnshaw all date from this period, while verge watches remained common in cheaper production.

Read the period in the timelineMore pocket watches from this periodEarlier: Early Modern Horology

Atlas type guide

Watches for the Chinese and Ottoman markets

From the late eighteenth century English and Swiss makers produced watches specifically for export to China and the Ottoman Empire. For China, Fleurier houses such as Bovet, Juvet and Vrard made matching pairs of watches with richly engraved and decorated movements, often with the duplex escapement whose centre seconds hand jumps in full seconds. For Ottoman buyers, London makers such as George Prior and Markwick Markham supplied verge watches with Turkish numerals in triple or quadruple cases of tortoiseshell and silver.

These watches reflect global trade networks and the tastes of distant markets, and are important evidence for cross-cultural exchange in horology.

What to look for

  • Engraved, fully decorated movements visible under a glass back.
  • Duplex escapement with a jumping centre seconds hand.
  • Chinese characters on the movement (e.g. the maker's name in transliteration).
  • Turkish (Ottoman) numerals on the dial and multiple protective outer cases.

Dating clues

  • Chinese-market Fleurier watches: c. 1820–1900.
  • English Ottoman-market watches: c. 1770–1850.

General guidance written by the Atlas editors about this kind of object. It is not a statement about this particular piece; for that, rely on the source record above and on physical examination.

Read next:Verge escapement

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