A rare, unusual and slim 20ct gold open-faced ruby-cylinder watch with Slavonic chapter ring spelling ТРУБЕЦКОИ [Troubetzkoï] with gold chain and ratchet key

His Highness Prince Nicholas Troubetzkoï (pour Malicheff) 1821.

Louis Desoutter 1922.

Sir David Salomons Collection No. 110 (F), purchased from the above.

Christie’s, The Celebrated Collection of Watches by Breguet, Part II, 1 June 1965, lot 21, purchased by George Daniels for 400 Guineas, $1,176.

Current Collection, purchased through George Daniels as above.

Sir David Salmons, Breguet 1747-1823, French Edition, 1923.

Daniels, George, The Art of Breguet, London & New York: Sotheby Parke, Bernet, 1975, p. 259, figs. 301 a-b.

Breguet, Emmanuel, Breguet Watchmakers since 1775, Revised and Expanded Edition, Swan Éditeur, 2016, p. 220, fig. 259.

The dial of Prince Troubetzkoï’s Breguet watch is highly unusual in its use of Slavonic characters in place of conventional numerals on the chapter ring. By this period, the ornate letter forms of Church Slavonic had been almost entirely removed from secular Russian life, following Peter the Great’s introduction of the simplified Civil Script (Grazhdansky Shrift) in the early eighteenth century. By the early nineteenth century, Slavonic script survived almost solely within the liturgical realm of the Orthodox Church, its use outside religious texts increasingly rare.

In this light, the use of Slavonic characters on Troubetzkoy’s watch may have been intended as a subtle gesture of cultural or spiritual identity, reflecting the enduring resonance of traditional symbols within Russia’s Enlightenment elite.

Breguet and the Russian Market

The Russian market was one that Abraham-Louis Breguet was keen to develop, and efforts to establish a firm foothold there began in earnest during the first years of the 19th century. Initially leveraging diplomatic channels through the Russian embassy in Paris, Breguet began supplying watches to dealers and watchmakers in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In 1808, he sent his salesman Lazare Moreau to establish a dedicated Russian branch, named La Maison de Russie, in St. Petersburg.

Moreau quickly gained access to elite circles, securing audiences with Tsar Alexander I and ultimately helping Breguet obtain the prestigious titles of Watchmaker to His Majesty and the Imperial Navy. Despite this early success, tensions arose between Breguet and Moreau—Breguet expressing concerns over Moreau’s record-keeping and suspecting him of overreaching his authority as his representative. Nonetheless, the initiative proved commercially fruitful. By 1809, sales to Russia had risen dramatically, with 55% of Breguet’s annual output (74 pieces) destined for Russian clients. While many of these passed through the Maison de Russie, others were purchased directly from Breguet in Paris.¹

This flourishing trade came to an abrupt halt in December 1810, following the breakdown of the Franco-Russian alliance originally forged by the Treaty of Tilsit (1807). That same month, Tsar Alexander I issued a ukase prohibiting the importation of French goods, delivering a direct blow to Breguet’s operations in Russia. In the aftermath, Moreau left Russia for England in the spring of 1811, abandoning Breguet’s equipment and materials as well as many unpaid client debts – a devastating commercial setback.

Under the terms of the 1807 alliance, Russia had committed to enforcing Napoleon’s Continental System, a blockade intended to isolate Britain economically. However, the policy had severely damaged Russia’s own trade interests. By late 1810, Alexander had begun to reject French influence outright, both economically and politically. Napoleon’s annexation of the Duchy of Oldenburg (ruled by relatives of the Tsar) and his support for a revived Polish state were viewed in St. Petersburg as direct provocations. Tensions escalated rapidly, culminating in Napoleon’s disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812, which ended in the near-total destruction of the French army. Although the conflict continued until Napoleon’s abdication in 1814, Russia emerged as a dominant post-war power and played a leading role at the Congress of Vienna, which permanently redrew the European balance.

Trade between Breguet and Russia resumed swiftly once political conditions stabilised. On 2^nd April 1814, before Napoleon’s fall, Tsar Alexander I personally visited Breguet at the Quai de l’Horloge while staying in Paris with Talleyrand. Almost from that moment, Russian patronage began to recover steadily, and by 1823, the year of Breguet’s death, Russian clients accounted for approximately 20 percent of total sales, restoring Russia’s position as one of the firm’s most important international markets.²

Prince Nikolai Nikitich Troubetzkoy (1744-1821)

Prince Nikolai Nikitich Troubetzkoï, was a senior member of the ancient Trubetskoy princely family and part of the enlightened Moscow aristocracy of Catherine the Great’s reign. A writer and translator, he contributed to Moskovskie ezhemesiachnye sochineniya (“Moscow Monthly Writings”) and produced Russian versions of articles from Diderot’s Encyclopédie. Deeply engaged in the city’s intellectual life, he was associated with the publisher Nikolai Novikov and the Masonic and Martinist circles that flourished among Moscow’s educated elite in the late eighteenth century.

In 1792, following the government’s investigation of Novikov’s activities, Troubetzkoï was placed under supervision at his estate in Nikitovka, in the Livny district. Restored to favour under Emperor Paul I, he was appointed senator and awarded the Order of St Anna (1st class) in 1797, later attaining the rank of Actual Privy Councillor.

Troubetzkoï spent his final years in Kostroma, he purchased this Breguet watch on 20 March 1821 and died later the same year. 

¹ Breguet, Emmanuel, Breguet Watchmakers since 1775, Revised and Expanded Edition, Swan Éditeur, 2016, p. 224.

² Ibid, p. 226.