A boxed mahogany split-seconds deck watch with 24-hour dial
Breguet No. 4373 | Sold on 14 April 1948 to Air France
Auction Closed
November 9, 08:49 PM GMT
Estimate
8,000 - 20,000 CHF
Lot Details
Description
23.7’’’ frosted gilded movement, jewelled lever escapement, bi-metallic compensation balance, blued steel balance spring with overcoil, index regulator, split mechanism visible to backplate, numbered 4373
silvered dial, Arabic 24-hour numerals, outer ring for minutes/seconds with Arabic 5-minute/second calibrations, blued steel epée hands, blued steel split hands, signed and numbered Breguet 4373
fitted mahogany box with hinged lid, inner blackened metal mount with split-seconds pusher, wind/hand-setting selector, large winding crown, stop/start lever each marked accordingly rattrapante, mise à l’heure, arret/marche and signed Breguet 4373, small metal plaque mounted within lid scratch numbered 1511A56, the nickel-chrome watch case with bevel gear for winding/hand-setting and extended pushers for start/stop & split with cams joining to frame’s pushers, chromed casing numbered to inner rim and case back 4373
Measurements
box 133mm x 110mm x 56mm
dial diameter 54mm
metal dial surround 110mm x 92mm
Accompaniments
with a Breguet 250th anniversary certificate
Just as the firm had distinguished itself in the nineteenth century by supplying marine chronometers to the French Navy, so in the twentieth century (under the ownership of the Brown family) Breguet continued this tradition with the production of specialist precision timing instruments, such as the present boxed split-seconds chronograph supplied to Air France in 1948 and the Type XX chronographs developed for the French Aéronavale in the 1950s.