Bautte. A rare 18K gold hunter case à tact watch with date and duplex escapement

The firm J.F. Bautte & Cie. in Geneva was founded by the celebrated Swiss watchmaker Jean-François Bautte (1772-1837). He established the most complete factory at the time and employed around 300 workers for the production of movements, watchcases, dials, jewellery and automatons. The firm counted many European Royal Families among their clientele and supplied watches also to Turkey, India and China.

The "montre à tact" or "tactful watch" was invented by Abraham Louis Breguet in the late 1790s during an epoch when it was unseemly to read the time in public. The "à tact" system helped to tactfully tell the hour in polite society without taking the watch out of your pocket.

It is also known as the "watch for the blind" as the exposed pointer and markers on the band allow the wearer to determine the time by touch.