An 18ct pink gold open-faced two-train perpetual calendar watch with retrograde date and chronograph with jumping fifths
Breguet No. 4420 | Sold to Monsieur Jean Dollfus on 12 July 1922 for Fr. 6,500
Auction Closed
November 9, 08:49 PM GMT
Estimate
30,000 - 50,000 CHF
Lot Details
Description
20''' frosted gilded, two-train with tandem keyless winding for the two barrels, lever escapement, jewelled to the centre, bi-metallic compensation balance, blued steel hairspring with Breguet overcoil, precision cam-form regulation, chronograph seconds and jumping 5ths activated via push button through crown
white enamel dial, Roman numerals, outer Arabic minute ring, outermost track for chronograph seconds, retrograde sector for date, apertures for day and month, unusual oval aperture with fixed disc displaying a night sky with a central circular aperture revealing the moon phases, sunken subsidiary dial for jumping 5ths of a second, blued steel hands, pink gold date hand, the chronograph seconds hand with fleur-de-lys tail
18ct pink gold polished case with rounded bezel, pusher to left of pendant for quick-set tandem day/date adjustment, olivette to right for adjusting hands, polished hinged cuvette with milled borders and signed and numbered Breguet No. 4420, further numbered to inside of cuvette and inside case back 2913, rubbed French owl import assay marks to back and pendant
Measurements
diameter 53mm
depth 16.5mm
weight 137g
Accompaniments
with a Breguet 250th anniversary certificate
An ingenious and technically complex creation, this watch is conceived with a particular emphasis on legibility and visual clarity. Instead of employing conventional subsidiary dials, the indications for the day and month are shown through apertures, while the date is displayed by means of an arc-form retrograde hand. The chronograph is driven by an independent train, with a pusher set into the crown starting, stopping, and resetting both the chronograph seconds hand and the subsidiary flying fifths of a second dial.
Brothers Jean (b. 1884) and Louis Dollfus (b. 1901) were important patrons of Breguet who, between them, acquired a number of unusual and significant complication watches from the firm during the 1920s. They belonged to the prominent family of textile manufacturers whose company, Dollfus-Mieg et Cie (D.M.C.), was founded in Mulhouse, France, in 1746. By the 20th century, D.M.C. had grown into one of Europe’s largest textile and industrial groups.
The present piece, purchased by Jean Dollfus, is among the earliest Breguets acquired by either brother, and its unusual display may well have sparked their enthusiasm for collecting watches from this celebrated maker. Their Breguet collection eventually came to include two Tourbillons, nos. 986 and 1389 (sold in 1926 and 1927); a Pocket Chronometer, no. 472 (sold in 1924); a Two-Train Chronometer Clockwatch, no. 680 (sold in 1926); a Chronoscope, no. 1285 (sold in 1926); a platinum dress watch, no. 4344 (sold in 1929); a split-seconds chronograph, no. 2170 (sold in 1929); and a wristwatch with perpetual calendar and moon phases, no. 2516 (sold in 1934).