A very fine 18ct gold open-faced perpetual calendar watch with linear aperture display, moon phases, state-of-wind indication and indirect centre seconds
Breguet No. 2343 | Sold to Monsieur Lucas on 9 June 1935 for Fr. 22,000
Auction Closed
November 9, 08:49 PM GMT
Estimate
40,000 - 60,000 CHF
Lot Details
Description
19’’’ Victorin Piguet ébauche, damascened decoration, lever escapement, bi-metallic compensation balance, blued steel flat hairspring, indirect centre seconds work mounted to the backplate, numbered 2343
silver engine-turned dial, clou de Paris guilloché centre, twin eccentric satin finished chapter rings with black Roman numerals and pearled track for hours and minutes, aperture for moon phases, crémaillère borders, outermost satin ring for centre seconds, satin angled cartouche for state-of-wind indication, all hands blued steel, two satin finished signature panels signed and numbered Breguet No. 2343, dial back stamped 2343
18ct yellow gold Empire case, reeded band, rounded bezels, two recessed pushers to the band, one for instantaneous calendar adjustment (day/date/month), separate corrector for moon phases, snap-on case back, the interior with maker’s mark B beneath spring in lozenge-shaped cartouche for Breguet and numbered B 2343, French eagle’s head assay to inside back, inner rim and bow
Measurements
diameter 50mm
depth 11mm
weight 90.3g
Accompaniments
with a Breguet 250th anniversary certificate
Edward Verrall Lucas (1868-1938).
Sotheby & Co. London, 28 October 1963, lot 91.
Malcolm Gardner (purchased from the above for £320 / $896).
S. E. Prestige, Ilchester Place, London, W14 (certificate 3034 was issued to Prestige in January 1964).
Sotheby & Co., The S. E. Prestige Collection of Important Watches and Clocks, 29 April 1968, lot 31, sold for £900.
George Brito, purchased from the above.
Hervé Chayette, 13 June 1984, lot 93.
Antiquorum Geneva, 15 May 2016, lot 301.
An extremely fine watch that perfectly embodies the traditional Breguet aesthetic, it features a most attractive linear aperture or ‘digital’ display for the perpetual calendar. The instantaneous calendar mechanism can be quickly and easily corrected via a single pusher recessed into the case side, while a secondary pusher adjusts the moon phases. For a note on this very rare Breguet calendar series, see lot 72.
Edward Verrall Lucas (1868-1938)
This watch was originally purchased by Edward Lucas (1868–1938), an essayist, biographer, and publisher, who served as chairman of Methuen & Co. Lucas was born in Eltham, Kent, into a Quaker family, and after an early apprenticeship in bookselling moved into journalism before joining The Globe in 1893. His Life of Charles Lamb (1905) established him as the foremost Lamb scholar of his day, and for thirty years from 1904 he became a regular contributor to Punch.
A prolific author, Lucas published more than 180 volumes, from essays and anthologies to travel writing and art studies, alongside a steady stream of light, witty sketches that made him a familiar literary voice. His long connection with Methuen began with editing and writing for the firm, and in 1910 he joined its board of directors. On the death of Sir Algernon Methuen in 1924, Lucas became chairman, guiding the company through the interwar years.
Celebrated for his accessible style and urbane wit, Lucas broadened the literary horizons of a wide readership. He was appointed to the Order of the Companions of Honour in 1932 and died in London in 1938.1
1 Knox, E., & Chubbuck, K. (2004, September 23). Lucas, Edward Verrall (1868–1938), essayist and biographer. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/34622