BREGUET, 18K GOLD OPENFACE KEYLESS LEVER WANDERING AND JUMPING HOUR CHRONOSCOPE WATCH, SOLD TO MONSIEUR GIMBEL SAKS

According to the Archives of Montres Breguet, the movement of the present watch was made in 1928. It was encased and sold on 4 June 1952 to Monsieur Gimbel Saks, amount not recorded in the firm's books.

The name of the buyer must refer to a member of the Gimbel family of New York, owners of the department stores Saks and Gimbels.

The case back of this "Chronoscope" bears the engraved initials S.G.H and facsimile signature possible reading L. Estée. Interestingly, the case back of the possibly unique Patek Philippe split seconds chronograph ref. 1563 sold for over CHF1m in this saleroom on 15 November 2010, lot 328, bears exactly the same engraving. The first owner of these two fine watches was evidently a person of impeccable taste.

The "wandering hour" dial first appeared in the 17th century. In the 1920s and 1930s Breguet sold wandering hour watches with a system patented by the Swiss watchmaker Robert Cart around 1925.

The expression "Chronoscope" is taken from the Greek "chronos" for time and "scope" for range or sector. It stands for an instrument for accurate measurements of small intervals of time.

A similar watch is illustrated in Breguet - Watchmakers Since 1775 by Emmanuel Breguet, p. 316.