A 20ct gold open-faced extra flat ruby cylinder Montre Médaillon watch with a gold chain and ratchet key
Breguet No. 5066 | Sent on deposit to Jousselin et Brasch on 11 September 1832 for Fr. 1800
Auction Closed
November 9, 08:49 PM GMT
Estimate
8,000 - 12,000 CHF
Lot Details
Description
gilded movement, ruby cylinder escapement, gold three-arm balance with parachute suspension, blued steel hairspring, extended blued steel regulation arm with arc for dial aperture, bottom plate numbered 5066
silver dial, damier guilloché pattern, satin finished chapter rings with crémaillère borders, black Roman numerals and pearled minutes, arc-form aperture for regulation, gold Breguet hands, angled cartouche signed Breguet, numbered dial back 5066
20ct gold extra flat Joly case, engine-turned back, bezel and band à grains d’orge, bayonet fitted back turning to reveal winding aperture, concealed securing screw for case back dial side at X, case back interior numbered 5066 B and 712, case maker's mark lozenge-shaped cartouche with a bird and pellet above and below L J for Joly, Paris Pegasus 2 assay in irregular hexagonal cartouche (second standard gold 840/1000, 1819-1838), pendant dial side with Paris Ox head assay (1822-1838) and rubbed assay to reverse
Measurements
diameter 31mm
depth including crystal 6.4mm
length of chain/key 142mm
weight of watch approx. 22g.
weight of watch with chain/key 28.2g
Accompaniments
with a gold Breguet double-ended ratchet key with male/female squares and short chain, Breguet certificate no. 2640, dated 5 March 1923, a Breguet 250th anniversary certificate and original red morocco leather presentation case, the lid with gilt numbering 5066, base with gilt oval stamp Breguet 39, Quai d’Horloge du Palais et 4 Place de la Bourse, à Paris.
The Breguet Archives note that three certificates have been issued for this watch, nos. 1346, 2626 and 2640. Originally sold to Monsieur Wenham in Russia on 8 December 1832, the archives record that it was returned to Breguet for service on three occasions: first by le Comte de Fersen of Dresden in 1835, then by Princess Soltykoff in 1851, and finally by Monsieur Kotschoubey in 1859.
Jousselin & Brasch were a merchant and banking house established in St. Petersburg and are listed among the city’s principal firms in the 1835 General Mercantile Guild Almanac for the Austrian Empire.1 They also acted as agents for Breguet in Russia. A series of documents published by Felipe Fernández-Armesto in Anuario de Estudios Atlánticos 27 (1981) record their dealings with the Betancourt family: in 1822–23, correspondence with Agustín de Betancourt concerning “certain gold watches supplied by the house of Breguet in Paris” (doc. 18, p. 254); a receipt issued in St Petersburg on 4/16 August 1824 to Alfonso de Betancourt for a Breguet gold watch valued at 2,500 francs (doc. 19, p. 257); a power of attorney granted by Breguet in Paris, 20 August 1824, authorising Jousselin & Brasch to collect amounts owed (doc. 20, p. 258); and a further receipt signed in St Petersburg on 17/29 March 1825 acknowledging payment by Madame de Betancourt for a Breguet gold watch (doc. 21, p. 259).2 Their wider role as intermediaries for Breguet’s Russian clientele is confirmed by the Breguet company archives: for example, Breguet no. 3795 was delivered to Jousselin & Brasch for Prince Belosselsky on 11 January 1823, and no. 4005 was sold via the firm to Prince Sapoukhin on 1 May 1823.3
To protect French watchmakers from a surge of imported and often counterfeit timepieces—despite a ban on foreign watch imports under the law of 5 Brumaire Year V— two new special assay marks for watches were introduced from 19 September 1821 until 1838. These marks, applied alongside standard hallmarks, aimed to curb the use of fake or stolen assay stamps, particularly those originating from former French territories like Switzerland. Comprising an Ox head for gold or crayfish for silver watches, these marks were struck on the pendant, dial side (standard hallmarks continued to be applied to the inside case backs).4
1 Franz B. Fray (comp. and ed.), Allgemeiner Handlungs-Gremial Almanach für den österreichischen Kaiserstaat. Jahrgang 1835 (Vienna, 1835), 778–779.
2 Fernández-Armesto, Felipe “Nueva aportación documental sobre Agustín de Betancourt y Molina y su familia,” Anuario de Estudios Atlánticos 27 (1981), 239–259, here docs. 18–21, pp. 254–259.
3 See Antiquorum Geneva auctions 14 November 2004, lot 83 and 18 October 1997, lot 39.
4 See: Fieggen, M., French Precious Metal Hallmarks 1789 to date, Paris, 2024, pp. 56-57.