Pocket Watches · Pocket watch
Breguet & Fils pocket watch, Delivered to Jousselin & Brasch the 19 April 1823.
- Maker / attribution
- Breguet & Fils (brand / maker)
- Date
- Delivered to Jousselin & Brasch the 19 April 1823.
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- France
- Object type
- Pocket watch
- Dimensions
- 62 mm. ; weight 147 gr.
- Auction house
- Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
- Lot
- Lot 381-157
- Credit line
- Auction lot record: LOT 157
- Catalogue title (original)
- BREGUET & FILS, FRANCE, "MONTRE SIMPLE À UNE AIGUILLE DITE MONTRE DE SOUSCRIPTION", RUBY-SET CYLINDER ESCAPEMENT, GOLD
Record summary
Catalogued by Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva (lot Lot 381-157), this is a pocket watch by Breguet & Fils, made in France, dated Delivered to Jousselin & Brasch the 19 April 1823.. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Pocket Watches collection. Recorded dimensions: 62 mm. ; weight 147 gr. The record is illustrated with 4 photographs.
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
Antiquorum catalogue description
A very fine large and very rare, 18k gold open-face, key-winding, large “souscription”-type pocket watch. White enamel dial with suspended “Breguet” numerals and secret signature at 12 o’clock; blued steel unique “Breguet” pointer-hand. Special ruby escapement.
Lot specifications (Antiquorum)
Caliber: 58 mm., "Souscription"-calibre, gilded brass, with central going barrel wound from the front only, overhanging ruby-set cylinder escapement, monometallic balance (gilded brass) and blued steel flat hairspring, index regulator with temperature compensating bimetallic curb fitted to the index regulator, top pivot with parachute; Case No.: 3807B and 55; Movement No.: 3807; Signature: Dial and movement, case made (by Jean-Louis Joly, Paris)
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
Pocket watches
The pocket watch was the dominant personal timekeeper from the late seventeenth century until the First World War. Its development tracks the history of the escapement: verge watches with fusees until the late eighteenth century; Thomas Mudge's lever escapement (c. 1755) and the cylinder escapement popularised by George Graham and later by Swiss makers; and the Swiss and English lever watches of the nineteenth century. Lépine's bar-bridge calibre and keyless winding made watches thinner and easier to use.
Industrialisation transformed the trade: American factories such as Waltham (from 1850) and Elgin produced interchangeable parts by machine, and Swiss makers responded with their own mechanisation after the 1876 Philadelphia Exhibition. By 1900 a reliable watch was affordable to millions; the finest makers continued to produce complications and precision watches.
What to look for
- The escapement: verge (crown wheel), cylinder, duplex, English or Swiss lever.
- Key winding (a square arbor in dial or back) or keyless crown winding.
- Signatures and serial numbers on the movement, dial and inside case back.
- Hallmarks, case maker's marks and gold or silver standards stamped in the case.
- Dial material: enamel, silver, gold, later printed metal.
Dating clues
- Verge watches dominate before c. 1800; cylinder watches c. 1770–1900; lever watches after c. 1820.
- Keyless winding: increasingly common after c. 1860.
- Manufacturer serial number lists exist for Waltham, Elgin, Longines, Omega, Patek Philippe and others.
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 escapementDetached lever escapementFuseeIdentification Centre
Related records
Pocket Watches · Sold to the Russian Consul the 25 August 1817 Mr Hercevanoff
Breguet & Fils pocket watch, Sold to the Russian Consul the 25 August 1817 Mr Hercevanoff
Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
Pocket Watches · 1745–1755
Pocket watch by Jean Baptiste Baillon, France, 1745–1755
Museum of City History Leipzig
Pocket Watches · circa 1750
Baillon À Paris pocket watch, circa 1750
Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
Pocket Watches · 1750-65
Enamelled gold watch, signed 'Baillon A Paris', with a casemaker's mark, 'RC crowned', probably Switzerland, mid 18th century
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Pocket Watches · 1750–1780
Pocket watch by BONBIERE, France, 1750–1780
Bohuslän Museum
Pocket Watches · 1750
Pocket watch by Patron, France, 1750
Museum of City History Leipzig
Pocket Watches · 1760-1761
Enamelled gold, quarter repeating watch, Paris, 1760-62, Romilly
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Pocket Watches · 1770-5
Enamelled copper gilt watch set with pastes, signed 'Vauchez A Paris'; made in France or Switzerland, 1770-5
Victoria and Albert Museum, London