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Lot 110
The Grand Duke Alexis of Russia Breguet. A fine and rare late 19th century French silver humpbacked grande sonnerie-striking carriage clock with repeat and alarm Breguet, number 1745. Sold to Grand Duke Alexis of Russia the 31 January 1894 for 3,000 Francs.
11 December 2019, 14:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£70,000 - £100,000
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The Grand Duke Alexis of Russia Breguet. A fine and rare late 19th century French silver humpbacked grande sonnerie-striking carriage clock with repeat and alarm
Breguet, number 1745. Sold to Grand Duke Alexis of Russia the 31 January 1894 for 3,000 Francs.
The case:
Humpbacked with moulded edges and raised on button feet, set to the sides with a pair of silver loops connected by a silver belcher link chain, the top of the arch with a gold button to repeat the hours and quarters on demand, the rear door on a seven-piece hinge and stamped 'B 1745' to the interior.
The dial:
Protected by a bevelled glazed door on a seven-piece hinge and set with a finely engine turned gilt mask applied with the silver signature plaques 'Breguet' and 'No. 1745', the silvered dial with outer Arabic minutes marked in 5s encircling a minute band, bold Roman numerals and a dotted inner track denoting the quarters, around a finely engine turned centre with dark blued steel hands and a shaped gold hand for the alarm setting.
The movement:
Of eight day duration, the signed and numbered arched frosted gilt plates united by four screwed pillars, each of the three trains with bright polished steel clicks on the backplate with hand-engraved feathered arrows to indicate the direction of winding, the lever platform escapement with cut and compensated bimetallic balance, gold timing screws and Breguet's overcoiled blued steel spring to a lever escapement, striking the hours and the quarters on a pair of polished steel coiled gongs struck by shaped frosted gilt hammer heads, with a three-position selection lever offering Grande Sonnerie, Silence, or Petite Sonnerie striking.
16cms (6ins) high.
The case:
Humpbacked with moulded edges and raised on button feet, set to the sides with a pair of silver loops connected by a silver belcher link chain, the top of the arch with a gold button to repeat the hours and quarters on demand, the rear door on a seven-piece hinge and stamped 'B 1745' to the interior.
The dial:
Protected by a bevelled glazed door on a seven-piece hinge and set with a finely engine turned gilt mask applied with the silver signature plaques 'Breguet' and 'No. 1745', the silvered dial with outer Arabic minutes marked in 5s encircling a minute band, bold Roman numerals and a dotted inner track denoting the quarters, around a finely engine turned centre with dark blued steel hands and a shaped gold hand for the alarm setting.
The movement:
Of eight day duration, the signed and numbered arched frosted gilt plates united by four screwed pillars, each of the three trains with bright polished steel clicks on the backplate with hand-engraved feathered arrows to indicate the direction of winding, the lever platform escapement with cut and compensated bimetallic balance, gold timing screws and Breguet's overcoiled blued steel spring to a lever escapement, striking the hours and the quarters on a pair of polished steel coiled gongs struck by shaped frosted gilt hammer heads, with a three-position selection lever offering Grande Sonnerie, Silence, or Petite Sonnerie striking.
16cms (6ins) high.
Footnotes
Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich (1850-1908) was the fifth child of the Tsar Alexander II of Russia and the brother of Alexander III. He was appointed Admiral of the Russian fleet in 1883, but after defeat by the Japanese in 1905 he lost his post and retired to Paris where he had a house. He was a lover of the arts and a collector.
A very similar example, numbered 1083 with Grande and Petite Sonnerie striking and alarm in its box originally sold to Mdm. Polotsov on 28th December 1893 for 2400 Francs, was sold by Antiquorum in Geneva in April 2006 for CHF233,000.