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A pocket watch made by Abraham-Louis Breguet comes up for auction

Marina Milojević | 04.20.12 | 07:24 AM

A truly exceptional piece will come up for auction at Christie’s in Geneva on May 14th. It is an extraordinary rare pocket watch made by Abraham-Louis Breguet, the leading watchmaker of his day, and one of the greatest horologists of all time.

Abraham-Louis Breguet is the founder of the Breguet watch brand, and creator of many pieces designed for the members of the European nobility: King George III, Marie-Antoinette, Alexander I of Russia, George IV of the United Kingdom, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington and even Napoleon Bonaparte. The great master is often mentioned as the "Watchmaker of the Kings, King of Watchmakers".

Abraham-Louis Breguet

Any of the watches created by Abraham-Louis Breguet is truly exclusive since this great watchmaker made only 4,500 watches during his lifetime. This certainly means that the watch, which is going to be auctioned in a couple of weeks, is one of the most important lots to appear in years. It is an exceptionally rare 18-carat gold precision watch with two movements ("Montre à deux mouvements"), signed Breguet et Fils. The watch utilizes 26'''gilded brass movement with two complete mechanisms both with gong barrels and fully jewelled, with gold and platinum screws and blued steel Breguet free-sprung balance springs. This is actually one of the experimental watches with two complete movements manufactured by Breguet. The balances on this watch are placed so close each other, that they resonate when moving in sync.

It was first sold in August 1814 to certain Mr. Garcias from London. The initial price was 5,000 francs. The watch was later in the ownership of the Prince of Carignan, Count of Villafranca, who bought it for the amount of 4,500 francs. According to the historical documents, Breguet made only three exemplars of this resonance pocketwatch model: one for George IV, the King of England; one for the French crown, and this one – which is going to be auctioned very soon. The other two pieces are now preserved in the Jerusalem museum.

The watch is going to be offered on the Important Watches Auction, and its estimated price is between CHF800,000 and CHF1,400,000 ($875,956 - $1,532,924). The price will probably go even higher, but we need to remember that the chances to own such horological jewel are becoming increasingly uncommon. If you wish to learn more about the history of this piece, or even place your bid, please visit the Christie’s website.

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