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Lot 175
Breguet. A very fine 18K pink gold automatic one minute tourbillon wristwatch with 5-day power reserve
SIGNED BREGUET, TOURBILLON, CLASSIQUE GRANDE COMPLICATION MODEL, NO. 3903, REF. 5317, MOVEMENT NO. 1130, CASE NO. 3903AD, MANUFACTURED IN 2008
Closed11 May 2009
Price Realised
CHF 47,500
More Information
Specialist note
With Breguet Certificate of Origin and Warranty dated 27 September 2008, instruction manual, original fitted wooden presentation box and outer packaging.
The present "Classique Grande Complication" model combines the two most famous symbols of Abraham-Louis Breguet's phenomenal creative genius: the tourbillon and a "perpétuelle" or automatic movement. Its technical appeal is further enhanced by the 5-day power reserve with retrograde indication and the very good overall condition.
A.-L. Breguet was the first to discover, through his oscillating platinum-weight watch, a formula which would produce a reliable automatic watch. In 1780, he started producing his "perpétuelles" commercially, selling the first examples to the Duke of Orléans, cousin of King Louis XVI, and to Queen Marie-Antoinette.
The "tourbillon", Breguet's historic invention patented in 1801, was conceived to compensate for rate errors resulting from the effect of gravity on the moving parts. A watch balance will go fast or slow depending on the position of the watch. Breguet solved the problem by rotating the entire balance and escapement about their common axis once a minute, averaging out the positional errors by the constant rotation. Breguet received a patent from France's ministry of the interior for "a new regulating device known as the tourbillon" on 26 June 1801. The document was dated according to the republican calendar of the time, 7 Messidor, Year IX.
The present "Classique Grande Complication" model combines the two most famous symbols of Abraham-Louis Breguet's phenomenal creative genius: the tourbillon and a "perpétuelle" or automatic movement. Its technical appeal is further enhanced by the 5-day power reserve with retrograde indication and the very good overall condition.
A.-L. Breguet was the first to discover, through his oscillating platinum-weight watch, a formula which would produce a reliable automatic watch. In 1780, he started producing his "perpétuelles" commercially, selling the first examples to the Duke of Orléans, cousin of King Louis XVI, and to Queen Marie-Antoinette.
The "tourbillon", Breguet's historic invention patented in 1801, was conceived to compensate for rate errors resulting from the effect of gravity on the moving parts. A watch balance will go fast or slow depending on the position of the watch. Breguet solved the problem by rotating the entire balance and escapement about their common axis once a minute, averaging out the positional errors by the constant rotation. Breguet received a patent from France's ministry of the interior for "a new regulating device known as the tourbillon" on 26 June 1801. The document was dated according to the republican calendar of the time, 7 Messidor, Year IX.