![BREGUET ET FILS [ 寶璣] | A RARE AND LARGE GOLD AND SILVER RUBY CYLINDER MONTRE À TACT NO. 2065, 'SOUSCRIPTION À TACT' SOLD TO MONSIEUR COMPAIN ON 23 NOVEMBER 1824 FOR 1,300 FRANCS [ 罕有大型黃金及銀製觸覺懷錶備紅寶石工字輪擒縱機芯，編號2065，1824年11月23日以1,300法郎售出]](https://dam.sothebys.com/dam/image/lot/559e6cf2-5211-43f9-aa4d-09c03dc502de/primary/extra_small)
Masterworks of Time: Abraham Louis Breguet, Horologist Extraordinaire 「時間傑作——阿伯拉罕・路易・寶璣：鐘錶鬼才」
Masterworks of Time: Abraham Louis Breguet, Horologist Extraordinaire 「時間傑作——阿伯拉罕・路易・寶璣：鐘錶鬼才」
![View full screen - View 1 of Lot 29. BREGUET ET FILS [ 寶璣] | A RARE AND LARGE GOLD AND SILVER RUBY CYLINDER MONTRE À TACT NO. 2065, 'SOUSCRIPTION À TACT' SOLD TO MONSIEUR COMPAIN ON 23 NOVEMBER 1824 FOR 1,300 FRANCS [ 罕有大型黃金及銀製觸覺懷錶備紅寶石工字輪擒縱機芯，編號2065，1824年11月23日以1,300法郎售出].](https://sothebys-md.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/03f485c/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1321x2000+0+0/resize/385x583!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsothebys-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fmedia-desk%2Fac%2Fc2%2F191e955a43d3937bb2c8893bcf7e%2F019n10397-9y9vr-2.jpg)
BREGUET ET FILS [ 寶璣] | A RARE AND LARGE GOLD AND SILVER RUBY CYLINDER MONTRE À TACT NO. 2065, 'SOUSCRIPTION À TACT' SOLD TO MONSIEUR COMPAIN ON 23 NOVEMBER 1824 FOR 1,300 FRANCS [ 罕有大型黃金及銀製觸覺懷錶備紅寶石工字輪擒縱機芯，編號2065，1824年11月23日以1,300法郎售出]
Lot Closed
June 16, 02:31 PM GMT
Estimate
30,000 - 50,000 CHF
Lot Details
Description
BREGUET ET FILS
[ 寶璣]
A RARE AND LARGE GOLD AND SILVER RUBY CYLINDER MONTRE À TACT
NO. 2065, 'SOUSCRIPTION À TACT' SOLD TO MONSIEUR COMPAIN ON 23 NOVEMBER 1824 FOR 1,300 FRANCS
[ 罕有大型黃金及銀製觸覺懷錶備紅寶石工字輪擒縱機芯，編號2065，1824年11月23日以1,300法郎售出]
• Movement: gilded, ruby cylinder escapement, three-arm balance with compensation curb and parachute suspension, large barrel to the centre with winding sleeve, off-set handset beside barrel, signed and numbered Breguet no. 682
• Dial: off-set white enamel dial, Arabic numerals, outer minute ring, blued steel moon hands, signed to the base Breguet et Fils, gold cuvette surrounding the dial with apertures for winding and hand setting, further aperture for regulation, cuvette signed Breguet no. 682 & no. 2065
• Case: gold covers with decorative sunray patterned engine-turning, the front with dial aperture, revolving case back with raised feathered arrow for à tact indication, silver engine-turned band with raised gold touch pins at the hours
diameter 62mm
Accompanied by a Breguet certificate dated 27 January 2020 which notes that this watch was originally sold in a silver case to Lucien Bonaparte under no.682, on 9 November 1800. It was later re-purchased by Breguet who then cased the watch in gold and sold it to Monsieur Compain on 23 November 1824.
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Monsieur Compain
The montre à tact watch was invented by Abraham-Louis Breguet and produced between 1800 and 1834. It is said that they were worn by fashionable young men who wished to know the time without the embarrassment of their host knowing their anxiety, as one could tell the time without taking the watch out of a pocket. The tact hand to the front of the case is turned until it stops, a small protection feature prevents it from rotating further and leaves the tact hand at the correct time, the position of the hand is then determined by the raised touch pieces which are set at the edge of the case at hourly intervals. A small dial inset to the front cover of the present watch allows a visual examination of the time, opening this cover reveals an inner cuvette with apertures for hand setting and winding. For two similar watches but with their visible time dials arranged beneath rather than opposite their pendants, see G. Daniels, The Art of Breguet, 1975, pp. 189, figs. 160a-c and 198, figs. 183a-c.