An exceptionally rare and very fine and small 20ct gold open-faced half-quarter repeating calendar watch with moon phases and double wheel duplex escapement

Phillips, Hong Kong, December 2015, Lot 320

Breguet himself made only very limited use of the duplex escapement, a system more commonly associated with English watchmaking and later for Swiss watches made for the Chinese market. Admired for the freedom it gave to the balance — imparting an impulse on every other vibration and leaving the remainder of the arc virtually untouched — it demanded exceptional precision, as the locking depths were extremely fine. Although made after the death of Abraham-Louis, the present watch nevertheless reflects the master’s enduring influence.

What makes this example especially remarkable is its slender form: just 8 mm thick including the crystal (6.2 mm without) and a compact diameter of only 36.5 mm, a dimension modest even by the standards of a modern wristwatch. The duplex was generally reserved for thicker watches, as its construction demanded greater depth, yet here the Breguet workshop succeeded in incorporating the mechanism into an unusually slim design — made all the more impressive by the addition of repeating and calendar work beneath the dial.

The attention to detail is equally distinguished, with a series of refined features: a discreet slide beside the pendant that shutters the winding aperture on the case back, and special adjusters seamlessly integrated into the sides of the case, enabling convenient manual correction of the calendar and moon phases when required. Together, these elements demonstrate the technical ambition and aesthetic sophistication that defined Breguet’s output, even in the hands of his successors.

The Breguet Archives record that this watch was sold on 31 December 1829 to Princess Bagration as a present for Colonel Cradock [Caradoc]. At the time serving as British ambassador in Paris, Cradock married Princess Bagration only days later, on 11 January 1830, suggesting the watch may have been a wedding gift. The marriage was not a success and the pair soon separated. Indeed, the Archives note that this watch was bought back by Breguet on 29 December 1830 for Fr. 3,600 and refurbished. During the refurbishing, the Archives note that a new case was made for the watch by Joly whose maker’s mark can be found inside the back. The original case by Tavernier was numbered 4200 and the new Joly case was numbered 685 and stamped accordingly, together with its corresponding Breguet number B 4730. Following the refurbishment, the watch was sold on 29 December 1835 to Nathaniel de Rothschild for Fr. 4,000.

John Hobart Cradock 1799-1873

John Hobart Cradock [Caradoc] (the family name was later changed by his father to Caradoc), 2nd Baron Howden (1799–1873), only son of John Francis Cradock, 1st Baron Howden, was educated at Eton and began his career as an officer in the Grenadier Guards. He was appointed aide-de-camp to the Duke of Wellington in Paris after Waterloo, remaining with him until the dispersal of the army of occupation in 1818. Renowned for his striking good looks, he became known in society as “Beauty Caradoc,” a reputation underlined by a succession of romantic entanglements. In Paris he notoriously fought a duel over the Duchesse d’Esclaux, and his liaison with Emily Cowper (later Lady Palmerston, the future wife of the Prime Minister) was equally well known.

Caradoc entered the diplomatic service in the 1820s, serving at Berlin and Paris and on missions in Egypt, Greece, and Spain. He was wounded at Navarino (1827) and again at Antwerp (1832). The conspicuous injury he sustained at Antwerp, which obliged him to wear a ribboned sleeve, gave rise to a Parisian fashion known as the manche à la Caradoc, in which women imitated the effect with ribboned or slashed sleeves.

On 11 January 1830 Caradoc married Princess Catherine Bagration (1783–1857), born Countess Skavronskaya and widow of Prince Pyotr Bagration, the celebrated Russian general killed at Borodino. Known throughout Europe as “the Naked Angel” for her beauty and diaphanous gowns, Princess Bagration was a central figure in Napoleonic and post-Napoleonic society. Her salons in Vienna and later in Paris attracted leading statesmen, generals, and writers, and her relationships with Metternich, Tsar Alexander I, and others made her one of the most talked-about women of her age. Although the marriage produced no children and ended in separation, it firmly linked Caradoc to one of the most brilliant and cosmopolitan figures of the era.

Caradoc succeeded as 2nd Baron Howden in 1839 upon the death of his father and pursued a successful diplomatic career, serving as British minister at Rio de Janeiro and later at Madrid, where he was highly regarded. Promoted lieutenant-general in 1859, he retired to his estate near Bayonne, where he died in 1873.¹

Nathaniel de Rothschild (1812-1870)

Nathaniel de Rothschild, Baron de Rothschild (1812–1870), was the third son of Nathan and Hannah Rothschild of the London branch of the famous banking family. He eventually pursued his career in the Paris house of the banking dynasty, settling in Paris from 1840. In 1842 Nathaniel married his cousin Charlotte, daughter of James de Rothschild. In 1853 he acquired the Bordeaux vineyards that became Château Mouton Rothschild, establishing a name that endures as one of the world’s great wines, and a few years later purchased 33 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. Nathaniel died in Paris in 1870 and was buried in the Rothschild family vault at Père Lachaise.²

¹ Stephens, H., & Matthew, H.  (2008, January 03). Caradoc [formerly Cradock], John Hobart, second Baron Howden (1799–1873), diplomat. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography  https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/4603

² Gray, V., & Aspey, M.  (2015, May 28). Rothschild, Nathan Mayer (1777–1836), merchant and financier. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/24162