Live Auction 8023The Opulent Eye - 500 Years Decorative Arts Europe
A FRENCH BRASS GRANDE SONNERIE STRIKING AND REPEATING TRAVEL CLOCK
Lot 161

A FRENCH BRASS GRANDE SONNERIE STRIKING AND REPEATING TRAVEL CLOCK

THE MOVEMENT BY BREGUET ET FILS, NO. 2779, CIRCA 1815, IN LATER CASE, NO. 247, SECOND HALF 19TH CENTURY

Closed22 September 2011

Price Realised

GBP 3,750

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A FRENCH BRASS GRANDE SONNERIE STRIKING AND REPEATING TRAVEL CLOCK
THE MOVEMENT BY BREGUET ET FILS, NO. 2779, CIRCA 1815, IN LATER CASE, NO. 247, SECOND HALF 19TH CENTURY
CASE: substantial, with bevelled glass panels to top and all sides, inset reeded corner columns, stepped plinth with rear sound fret, on block feet, numbered '247' to rear DIAL: replaced foliate engraved gilt mask to now painted dial with engine-turned centre, blued steel Breguet hands, selection levers to the upper sides for 'QUARTS/HRES ET QUARTS' and 'SONNERIE/SILENCE', dial probably formerly enamel MOVEMENT: twin barrels, platform escapement with silvered viewing funnel above, double-lift Robin escapement, three-arm compensation balance with helical steel spring, fine regulation to the rear, strikework positioned to back plate, strike/repeat on two fine steel gongs, movement stand signed 'Breguet et Fils No. 2779', formerly also with alarm
13¼ in. (34 cm.); 8¼ in. (21 cm.) wide; 6 in. (15.5 cm.) deep

The Duke of Fernan Nunez, 1811.
'The Prince of Wellington', 1818.

Specialist note

According to the Breguet archive, this clock, described as a 'pendule à quatres parties', was first sold on 29 May 1814 to the duc de Fernan Nunez for FF2,400. Subsequently taken back by Breguet, it was re-sold on 27 March 1818 to 'Son Altesse le Prince Wellington' (presumably the Duke of Wellington), again for FF2,400. It was returned to the Breguet workshop in 1870, when owned by a Monsieur Spiers of 13 rue de la Paix, Paris, at which time it was in its present (replaced) case. The original case would almost certainly have been mahogany and the dial enamel, of the third series type illustrated by George Daniels in The Art of Breguet, London, 1974, p. 205. Why and by whom the alteration was made is not known but it is interesting to note that the case is numbered and well made, with its designer having made sure to highlight the escapement and also to create a sound fret for the (now missing) alarm.