French Time Pieces
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Clocks Old clocks Mechanical craft ca 1800
Chronology : 1810-1819 1830-1839
See also : Clocks Old clocks Mechanical craft ca 1800
Chronology : 1810-1819 1830-1839
ca 1650 gold, enamel and diamond-set Watch
2019 SOLD for £ 2.17M by Sotheby's
Died in Paris in 1644, Jean Toutin had invented a process for painting enamel colors over a layer of white enamel. The implementation was laborious but it interested the miniaturists by the direct realization of the drawing, contrary to the usual champlevé based on a withdrawal of material. Its heating also had the advantage of being free of cracks.
Jean Toutin applied his method to watches that were appreciated at the court of Louis XIII but also in England. No piece created by him has survived but his technique had a few followers and is known as Blois-style enamel work.
Six pocket watches have survived with a turquoise blue decoration made around 1650 in the style of Blois. A certain similarity may suggest that this camaieu was made by a single artist but the dials are signed by six different watchmakers, three in London, two in Paris and one in Bordeaux.
The watch signed by a man named Jehan Cremsdorff in Paris uses several enamel techniques. The exterior of its cover and back is decorated in enamel on chased gold, with a champlevé relief flower pattern on a turquoise background. One of these sides is cloisonné. The inner walls of both the cover and the back and the dial are decorated in the Blois-style blue. These three figures are reproductions of allegories of Virtues edited as engravings by Abraham Bosse around 1636. It is also inlaid with diamonds.
This Cremsdorff specimen is a 6 cm diameter verge escapement watch, 7.6 cm in height including the pendant. It has a single hand which is normal for its time : the minute hand will be available on watches from 1687.
It was sold for CHF 1.8M by Christie's on May 13, 1986 and for £ 2.17M by Sotheby's on July 3, 2019, lot 4.
Jean Toutin applied his method to watches that were appreciated at the court of Louis XIII but also in England. No piece created by him has survived but his technique had a few followers and is known as Blois-style enamel work.
Six pocket watches have survived with a turquoise blue decoration made around 1650 in the style of Blois. A certain similarity may suggest that this camaieu was made by a single artist but the dials are signed by six different watchmakers, three in London, two in Paris and one in Bordeaux.
The watch signed by a man named Jehan Cremsdorff in Paris uses several enamel techniques. The exterior of its cover and back is decorated in enamel on chased gold, with a champlevé relief flower pattern on a turquoise background. One of these sides is cloisonné. The inner walls of both the cover and the back and the dial are decorated in the Blois-style blue. These three figures are reproductions of allegories of Virtues edited as engravings by Abraham Bosse around 1636. It is also inlaid with diamonds.
This Cremsdorff specimen is a 6 cm diameter verge escapement watch, 7.6 cm in height including the pendant. It has a single hand which is normal for its time : the minute hand will be available on watches from 1687.
It was sold for CHF 1.8M by Christie's on May 13, 1986 and for £ 2.17M by Sotheby's on July 3, 2019, lot 4.
#AuctionUpdate: Landmark price for a 17th century watch: Jehan Cremsdorff’s extraordinary gold, enamel and diamond-set verge watch, circa 1650 - an early masterpiece of enamel work - just fetched $2.7m in our London Treasures sale #SothebysWatches pic.twitter.com/I2S0lH04VI
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) July 3, 2019
1766 Montigny Flat Desk with Cartonnier
2015 SOLD for € 2.22M by Christie's (unpaid)
Philippe-Claude Montigny is a cabinetmaker at the end of the reign of Louis XV. Cousin of René Dubois, he is also an occasional collaborator to Etienne Levasseur who is at that time the skilled successor of Boulle. The large bureau plat in the style of Boulle naturally becomes one of his specialties.
All accessories are designed for writing: drawers and pull in the desk, black leathered top and the very tall serre papier now named cartonnier or filing cabinet which is surmounted by a clock.
The desks stamped by Montigny are rare. One of them was sold for € 2.22M by Christie's on November 4, 2015, lot 510. Please watch the video shared in 2015 by the auction house. It passed at Christie's on October 13, 2021, lot 16, from a lower estimate of $ 600K. The auction house indicated in the catalogue that it was "in whole or in part" owned by them, which suggests that it was unpaid in 2015.
It retained its matching cartonnier with its original clock as they were described in the inventory of the estate of a former intendant of Louis XVI in 1795. Two period écritoires are joined to complete the equipment.
The desk is adorned with a leafy garland in antiquisant style 'à la grecque' which was fashionable in the early 1760s. It certainly dates from the very beginning of the accession to the maîtrise by Montigny in 1766. The sets of furniture of this period in which desk, cabinet and clock were never separated are of extreme rarity.
All accessories are designed for writing: drawers and pull in the desk, black leathered top and the very tall serre papier now named cartonnier or filing cabinet which is surmounted by a clock.
The desks stamped by Montigny are rare. One of them was sold for € 2.22M by Christie's on November 4, 2015, lot 510. Please watch the video shared in 2015 by the auction house. It passed at Christie's on October 13, 2021, lot 16, from a lower estimate of $ 600K. The auction house indicated in the catalogue that it was "in whole or in part" owned by them, which suggests that it was unpaid in 2015.
It retained its matching cartonnier with its original clock as they were described in the inventory of the estate of a former intendant of Louis XVI in 1795. Two period écritoires are joined to complete the equipment.
The desk is adorned with a leafy garland in antiquisant style 'à la grecque' which was fashionable in the early 1760s. It certainly dates from the very beginning of the accession to the maîtrise by Montigny in 1766. The sets of furniture of this period in which desk, cabinet and clock were never separated are of extreme rarity.
1774 Régulateur de Parquet by Berthoud
1999 SOLD for £ 1.93M by Christie's
The mastery of the seas requires the precise measurement of longitude. The English effort paid off : John Harrison invented the marine chronometer.
The marquis de Choiseul, raised to duc de Praslin in 1762, swapped in 1766 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the Ministry of Marine, just as strategic. To cancel the French backwardness, he commissions the two most skilful watchmakers established in Paris, Pierre Le Roy and the Swiss born Ferdinand Berthoud. It is Praslin who conceives the first official French circumnavigation, whose captain is Bougainville.
In 1764 and 1765, Praslin acquires Fouquet's castle in Vaux and a residence in Paris, built on the banks of the Seine for Fouquet's grandson, which becomes the hôtel de Choiseul-Praslin. The luxury of its decoration, including some furniture by Boulle, is worthy of the minister disgraced by Louis XIV.
The régulateur de parquet (longcase clock) from the hôtel's grand salon is a work by Berthoud, with a case stamped by Lieutaud and gilded bronzes by Caffiéri's son. This is of course the best in Paris for that sort of piece. It includes the calendar, complications related to Sun and Moon, a needle barometer, as well as the équation de Berthoud revealed to the Académie des Sciences in 1752 to differentiate between apparent and mean solar times.
This sumptuous 2.66 m high piece of time and furnishing was sold for £ 1.93M by Christie's on July 8, 1999, lot 207. For the date, the only reference is a spring marked 1774.
The marquis de Choiseul, raised to duc de Praslin in 1762, swapped in 1766 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the Ministry of Marine, just as strategic. To cancel the French backwardness, he commissions the two most skilful watchmakers established in Paris, Pierre Le Roy and the Swiss born Ferdinand Berthoud. It is Praslin who conceives the first official French circumnavigation, whose captain is Bougainville.
In 1764 and 1765, Praslin acquires Fouquet's castle in Vaux and a residence in Paris, built on the banks of the Seine for Fouquet's grandson, which becomes the hôtel de Choiseul-Praslin. The luxury of its decoration, including some furniture by Boulle, is worthy of the minister disgraced by Louis XIV.
The régulateur de parquet (longcase clock) from the hôtel's grand salon is a work by Berthoud, with a case stamped by Lieutaud and gilded bronzes by Caffiéri's son. This is of course the best in Paris for that sort of piece. It includes the calendar, complications related to Sun and Moon, a needle barometer, as well as the équation de Berthoud revealed to the Académie des Sciences in 1752 to differentiate between apparent and mean solar times.
This sumptuous 2.66 m high piece of time and furnishing was sold for £ 1.93M by Christie's on July 8, 1999, lot 207. For the date, the only reference is a spring marked 1774.
1784 La Négresse
2019 SOLD for € 1.45M by Sotheby's
In London and Geneva in the early 1780s, clever mechanics created objects that were altogether automatons, clocks and music boxes. The fantasy of the themes responds to the fashion of the time.
In 1784 in Paris, the baron de Ville d'Avray buys the office of Intendant du Garde-Meuble de la Couronne. In the shop of the clockmaker Furet in rue Saint-Honoré, a black head wearing a Nubian princess turban amuses the public. Ville d'Avray buys this piece for 4,000 livres.
This bronze bust conceals an ingenious clock, and its base contains a mechanical organ. The piece is 72 cm high overall. The woman is wearing a pair of hanging earrings. One of them triggers the appearance of the figure of the minutes in place of the iris of the right eye and similarly the figure of hours in the left eye. The other earring triggers the music.
Ville d'Avray is waiting for a good opportunity to place this clock. It clogs up very quickly by the coagulating oils, and he has it twice revised. He also acts to diversify the music. The clock is finally offered to the royal family among the 1792 new year gifts. Queen Marie-Antoinette decides not to leave this fragile piece in the hands of the Dauphin.
The Négresse was not a unique piece. The royal copy was authenticated in 1956 on the occasion of an exhibition at the Orangerie by Pierre Verlet, curator of the objects of art of the Louvre Museum. It wears two plaques in the name of Furet et Godon, who were associated from 1784 until Furet's bankruptcy in 1786.
Belonging since 1937 to the collection of the comtes de Ribes, the "Négresse de Marie-Antoinette" was sold for € 1.45M from a lower estimate of € 1M by Sotheby's on December 11, 2019, lot 10.
Dated 1817 by a former supplier of Godon, probably after a repair, an incomplete copy of the same model was sold for € 1M by Sotheby's on October 11, 2022, lot 72. Three other examples are known.
In 1784 in Paris, the baron de Ville d'Avray buys the office of Intendant du Garde-Meuble de la Couronne. In the shop of the clockmaker Furet in rue Saint-Honoré, a black head wearing a Nubian princess turban amuses the public. Ville d'Avray buys this piece for 4,000 livres.
This bronze bust conceals an ingenious clock, and its base contains a mechanical organ. The piece is 72 cm high overall. The woman is wearing a pair of hanging earrings. One of them triggers the appearance of the figure of the minutes in place of the iris of the right eye and similarly the figure of hours in the left eye. The other earring triggers the music.
Ville d'Avray is waiting for a good opportunity to place this clock. It clogs up very quickly by the coagulating oils, and he has it twice revised. He also acts to diversify the music. The clock is finally offered to the royal family among the 1792 new year gifts. Queen Marie-Antoinette decides not to leave this fragile piece in the hands of the Dauphin.
The Négresse was not a unique piece. The royal copy was authenticated in 1956 on the occasion of an exhibition at the Orangerie by Pierre Verlet, curator of the objects of art of the Louvre Museum. It wears two plaques in the name of Furet et Godon, who were associated from 1784 until Furet's bankruptcy in 1786.
Belonging since 1937 to the collection of the comtes de Ribes, the "Négresse de Marie-Antoinette" was sold for € 1.45M from a lower estimate of € 1M by Sotheby's on December 11, 2019, lot 10.
Dated 1817 by a former supplier of Godon, probably after a repair, an incomplete copy of the same model was sold for € 1M by Sotheby's on October 11, 2022, lot 72. Three other examples are known.
#AuctionUpdate Cette superbe pendule musicale et automate, chef-d’œuvre d’horlogerie française, fut présentée Marie Antoinette en 1792. Elle obtient 1,4 M€ , au dessus de son estimation #RibesCollection pic.twitter.com/8rvH7jy5iE
— Sotheby's France (@SothebysFr) December 11, 2019
1800 Complication Watch by Breguet
2016 SOLD for CHF 3.25M by Christie's
Watch lovers have always enjoyed the instruments of the utmost complexity. In 1783, one of them commissions to Breguet a montre de gousset (pocket watch) with all the complications including among several others the perpetual calendar, chronograph, minute repeater, reserve power indicator and chime.
This enthusiast who played for Breguet a similar role as Graves with Patek Philippe 150 years later was probably the Count Fersen known as a fervent admirer of the Queen of France and the watch was named the Marie-Antoinette. It was completed in 1827, four years after the death of Abraham-Louis Breguet.
Breguet was the most skilful watchmaker of his time and the Marie-Antoinette could be used as a kind of prototype. On May 16, 2016, Christie's sold for CHF 3.25M from a lower estimate of CHF 600K a high complication watch sold new in 1800 of our calendar (An VIII of the Republican calendar) to General Moreau, lot 123.
This pocket watch 55 mm in diameter has the serial number No. 217 of the brand. It is the only example beside the Marie-Antoinette to offer in the same case the perpetual motion and the equation of time.
The perpétuelle is a self winding mechanism with an oscillating weight offering 60 hours of autonomy from the effect of moderate movements of the user, with a protection against shocks on horseback. The equation of time is a correction of the difference between standard and solar times which can reach up to 16 minutes.
This piece does not include the technique of the tourbillon invented by Breguet in 1801. The steadiness is ensured by the échappement libre à ancre (lever escapement), another difficulty that only Breguet knew to overcome.
It had been sold new in 1800 CE (An VIII of the Republican calendar) to General Moreau. Moreau died in the battle of Dresden in 1813. Breguet reacquired the 217 and modernized the dial before selling it in 1817 to Charles-Louis Havas, the financier who became famous for opening in Paris in 1832 the first ever newspaper translation business which became in 1835 his Havas Agency.
This enthusiast who played for Breguet a similar role as Graves with Patek Philippe 150 years later was probably the Count Fersen known as a fervent admirer of the Queen of France and the watch was named the Marie-Antoinette. It was completed in 1827, four years after the death of Abraham-Louis Breguet.
Breguet was the most skilful watchmaker of his time and the Marie-Antoinette could be used as a kind of prototype. On May 16, 2016, Christie's sold for CHF 3.25M from a lower estimate of CHF 600K a high complication watch sold new in 1800 of our calendar (An VIII of the Republican calendar) to General Moreau, lot 123.
This pocket watch 55 mm in diameter has the serial number No. 217 of the brand. It is the only example beside the Marie-Antoinette to offer in the same case the perpetual motion and the equation of time.
The perpétuelle is a self winding mechanism with an oscillating weight offering 60 hours of autonomy from the effect of moderate movements of the user, with a protection against shocks on horseback. The equation of time is a correction of the difference between standard and solar times which can reach up to 16 minutes.
This piece does not include the technique of the tourbillon invented by Breguet in 1801. The steadiness is ensured by the échappement libre à ancre (lever escapement), another difficulty that only Breguet knew to overcome.
It had been sold new in 1800 CE (An VIII of the Republican calendar) to General Moreau. Moreau died in the battle of Dresden in 1813. Breguet reacquired the 217 and modernized the dial before selling it in 1817 to Charles-Louis Havas, the financier who became famous for opening in Paris in 1832 the first ever newspaper translation business which became in 1835 his Havas Agency.
La montre du fondateur de l'AFP mise aux enchères le 16 mai à #Genève https://t.co/SwAls5tk1C #Montres pic.twitter.com/hJFRif0dqp
— Christie's Paris (@christiesparis) April 8, 2016
1808 Tourbillon Watch by Breguet
2020 SOLD for £ 1.58M by Sotheby's
The Régulateur à Tourbillon (Whirling about Regulator), patented by Breguet in 1801 after the achjevement of a prototype, is one of the most important inventions in the history of timepieces. The instrument, now protected against variations in its position and fluctuations in gravity, can be used in travel without loss of precision.
Breguet develops after 1806 the applications for its tourbillon. The four-minute rotation, replacing the one-minute rotation, decisively improves the stability.
The most enthusiastic horology lovers are alerted about this progress. France is at war with England. King George III discreetly uses the services of an intermediary named Recordon to obtain one of these watches.
Breguet retrieved the reference of this piece in their archives. Sold on June 29, 1808 to Recordon for the King of England, it appears to be the very first tourbillon to have been marketed. It includes a thermometer, which is certainly a specific requirement of the king, and a Robin escapement that Breguet rarely used. To mitigate the risk of interception by customs, the Breguet brand does not appear on the outside and the dial is signed by Recordon. The payment of the 4,800 francs was completed in 1813 by the Prince Regent.
Remained in its original configuration, the Breguet watch of George III was sold by Sotheby's for £ 550K on November 9, 1999 and for £ 1.58M on July 14, 2020, lot 28.
A watch from the same period, with a Breguet escapement and without a thermometer, is certainly the very first to have incorporated the four minute tourbillon. Sold for 4,600 francs on February 12, 1809 for Count Potocki, it was sold for CHF 820K by Christie's on May 12, 2014.
Breguet develops after 1806 the applications for its tourbillon. The four-minute rotation, replacing the one-minute rotation, decisively improves the stability.
The most enthusiastic horology lovers are alerted about this progress. France is at war with England. King George III discreetly uses the services of an intermediary named Recordon to obtain one of these watches.
Breguet retrieved the reference of this piece in their archives. Sold on June 29, 1808 to Recordon for the King of England, it appears to be the very first tourbillon to have been marketed. It includes a thermometer, which is certainly a specific requirement of the king, and a Robin escapement that Breguet rarely used. To mitigate the risk of interception by customs, the Breguet brand does not appear on the outside and the dial is signed by Recordon. The payment of the 4,800 francs was completed in 1813 by the Prince Regent.
Remained in its original configuration, the Breguet watch of George III was sold by Sotheby's for £ 550K on November 9, 1999 and for £ 1.58M on July 14, 2020, lot 28.
A watch from the same period, with a Breguet escapement and without a thermometer, is certainly the very first to have incorporated the four minute tourbillon. Sold for 4,600 francs on February 12, 1809 for Count Potocki, it was sold for CHF 820K by Christie's on May 12, 2014.
Fit for a King: King George III's Tourbillon Watch - an horological treasure discreetly sold by French watchmaking genius Breguet to the King of England in the midst of the Napoleonic Wars - will be auctioned in London in July. Click here for more details:https://t.co/Oal8BTVNgx pic.twitter.com/nfqYozr1fi
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) June 18, 2020
1814 Complication Watch by Breguet
2012 SOLD for CHF 4.3M by Christie's
A watchmaker is primarily a physicist. Nothing is simple for reaching the extreme precision required for time measuring scientific instruments. They have to deal with gravity, thermal expansion, and also the irregularities of the sun's apparent motion.
The eighteenth century had highly important mechanics. Abraham-Louis Breguet, micro-mechanical genius, settled into pocket watches the most extraordinary complications of the clocks, and was the inventor of basic concepts such as the tourbillon and the wristwatch.
On May 14, 2012, Christie's sold a Breguet watch for CHF 4.3M from a lower estimate of CHF 800K, lot 230.
This complication piece sold in 1814 has two main dials. It integrates two similar and symmetrical complete mechanisms. The idea of the inventor was to compensate the mechanical resonance, a source of error that was a challenge for the watchmakers. This is the first of three watches made by Breguet on this principle. The other two has been provided to the kings of England and France.
The eighteenth century had highly important mechanics. Abraham-Louis Breguet, micro-mechanical genius, settled into pocket watches the most extraordinary complications of the clocks, and was the inventor of basic concepts such as the tourbillon and the wristwatch.
On May 14, 2012, Christie's sold a Breguet watch for CHF 4.3M from a lower estimate of CHF 800K, lot 230.
This complication piece sold in 1814 has two main dials. It integrates two similar and symmetrical complete mechanisms. The idea of the inventor was to compensate the mechanical resonance, a source of error that was a challenge for the watchmakers. This is the first of three watches made by Breguet on this principle. The other two has been provided to the kings of England and France.
1827 Equation of Time by Breguet
2012 SOLD for CHF 2.55M by Christie's
On May 14, 2012, Christie's sold a Breguet watch for CHF 2.55M from a lower estimate of CHF 800K, lot 232. This complication piece has two main dials.
This specimen with the equation of time, sold in 1827, is posthumous. Antoine-Louis Breguet had succeeded his father Abraham-Louis.
One mechanism provides the official time calculated according to a regular day of 24 hours, and the other mechanism provides real solar time as it was read from sundials at the ground. The motion drift of earth and sun can reach a quarter of an hour, almost repetitively from year to year.
This specimen with the equation of time, sold in 1827, is posthumous. Antoine-Louis Breguet had succeeded his father Abraham-Louis.
One mechanism provides the official time calculated according to a regular day of 24 hours, and the other mechanism provides real solar time as it was read from sundials at the ground. The motion drift of earth and sun can reach a quarter of an hour, almost repetitively from year to year.
1831 Breguet Watch
2008 SOLD for € 3.5M by Bailly-Pommery et Voutier (probably unpaid)
An astronomical watch with a gridded silver dial signed by Breguet is a precursor of high complication watches.
In a very small diameter and width, 47 mm and 6.7 mm respectively, it includes three apertures for days, dates, age and phases of the moon, two counters, one for months and seconds, two sectors for power reserve and equation of time, advance delay adjustment at six o'clock, plus a repetition of the half quarters. The slide repetition arming was a new feature at that time.
It had been sold for 7,000 francs in October 1831 after a preparation of four years to the 11th duke of Somerset of the Seymour family, or to Lord Henry Seymour Conway.
It was sold for € 3.5M by Bailly-Pommery et Voutier on April 9, 2008, lot 73. The same watch was sold on November 12, 2013 by Sotheby's for CHF 1.02M, lot 330. The 2013 catalogue does nor refer to the 2008 sale, possibly meaning that it was unpaid at that auction and had gone back to its owner.
An almost identical watch was sold for 7,800 francs in 1827 to Lord Yarmouth, a brother of Lord Henry. This double commercial act brings us to visit the extravagant world of dandies, the wealthy clients of Breguet.
The father of these two customers was the 3rd Marquess of Hertford, who during the Regency went against a certainly stiff competition to be considered as the greatest depraved in England. In 1802, he took advantage of a truce between France and England to come to Paris that attracted him for the freedom of its pleasures.
The change of regime in France in 1830 did not stop the new anglomania. Around Lord Henry, aristocrats developed a new fashion for horse racing through worldly clubs, without adding the English sporting tradition. Breguet became the supplier of the duc d'Orléans, son of the new king.
Lord Henry became a somewhat mythical character whom the carnival followers nicknamed Milord l'Arsouille, a wording that would have been perfectly suited to his father and does not have the same rough meaning as its equivalent in the English slang.
In a very small diameter and width, 47 mm and 6.7 mm respectively, it includes three apertures for days, dates, age and phases of the moon, two counters, one for months and seconds, two sectors for power reserve and equation of time, advance delay adjustment at six o'clock, plus a repetition of the half quarters. The slide repetition arming was a new feature at that time.
It had been sold for 7,000 francs in October 1831 after a preparation of four years to the 11th duke of Somerset of the Seymour family, or to Lord Henry Seymour Conway.
It was sold for € 3.5M by Bailly-Pommery et Voutier on April 9, 2008, lot 73. The same watch was sold on November 12, 2013 by Sotheby's for CHF 1.02M, lot 330. The 2013 catalogue does nor refer to the 2008 sale, possibly meaning that it was unpaid at that auction and had gone back to its owner.
An almost identical watch was sold for 7,800 francs in 1827 to Lord Yarmouth, a brother of Lord Henry. This double commercial act brings us to visit the extravagant world of dandies, the wealthy clients of Breguet.
The father of these two customers was the 3rd Marquess of Hertford, who during the Regency went against a certainly stiff competition to be considered as the greatest depraved in England. In 1802, he took advantage of a truce between France and England to come to Paris that attracted him for the freedom of its pleasures.
The change of regime in France in 1830 did not stop the new anglomania. Around Lord Henry, aristocrats developed a new fashion for horse racing through worldly clubs, without adding the English sporting tradition. Breguet became the supplier of the duc d'Orléans, son of the new king.
Lord Henry became a somewhat mythical character whom the carnival followers nicknamed Milord l'Arsouille, a wording that would have been perfectly suited to his father and does not have the same rough meaning as its equivalent in the English slang.
1835 The Breguet Clock of the Duc d'Orléans
2012 SOLD for $ 6.8M by Sotheby's
In 1795 Abraham-Louis Breguet imagines the combination of a clock and a watch. This outstanding inventor manages later to achieve this stupendous set known as Breguet Sympathique.
After being used during the day, the watch is repositioned in a cradle at the top of the clock. At midnight, the clock triggers a mechanism that enters the watch, measures and rectifies the error. After a few days, the value of the error is integrated into the beat of the watch and its adjustment becomes automatic.
When Breguet died in 1823, five copies have been made. Only kings can afford to own such an expensive mechanism.
Being an extremely remote cousin of Charles X, Louis Philippe I becomes King of France after a revolution. His eldest son, the duc d'Orléans, is a brilliant prince who would like to live again in the luxury of the Ancien Régime. He commissions his sympathique clock to the Breguet workshop. It is completed in 1835.
Luxury adds to technical feat. 58 cm high, the piece is made in the imitation of Boulle style which is so fashionable in that time, in a cabinet by Bellangé and with Denière bronzes on a design by Questel.
The clock and the watch of this set have not been separated. Having been restored to operation by George Daniels, it provides an exceptional demonstration of one of the most advanced ideas of automatism.
It was sold by Sotheby's for $ 5.8M on December 2, 1999 and for $ 6.8M on December 4, 2012, lot 124.
After being used during the day, the watch is repositioned in a cradle at the top of the clock. At midnight, the clock triggers a mechanism that enters the watch, measures and rectifies the error. After a few days, the value of the error is integrated into the beat of the watch and its adjustment becomes automatic.
When Breguet died in 1823, five copies have been made. Only kings can afford to own such an expensive mechanism.
Being an extremely remote cousin of Charles X, Louis Philippe I becomes King of France after a revolution. His eldest son, the duc d'Orléans, is a brilliant prince who would like to live again in the luxury of the Ancien Régime. He commissions his sympathique clock to the Breguet workshop. It is completed in 1835.
Luxury adds to technical feat. 58 cm high, the piece is made in the imitation of Boulle style which is so fashionable in that time, in a cabinet by Bellangé and with Denière bronzes on a design by Questel.
The clock and the watch of this set have not been separated. Having been restored to operation by George Daniels, it provides an exceptional demonstration of one of the most advanced ideas of automatism.
It was sold by Sotheby's for $ 5.8M on December 2, 1999 and for $ 6.8M on December 4, 2012, lot 124.
Die Uhr entstand zwischen 1832 und 1835 in Frankreich.#Uhr #Breguet #Frankreich
— Barnebys.de (@Barnebysde) March 17, 2024
1924 Portico Mystery Clock by Cartier
2025 SOLD for CHF 3.9M by Phillips
The pendule mystérieuse (mystery clock) was invented in the 1830s by the illusionist magician Robert-Houdin. The invisible movement is transmitted to the hands through a transparent crystal toothed wheel.
From 1912 the clockmaker Maurice Couët develops and builds examples of the highest luxury for the Cartier brand.
Designed by Couët, the Portico Mystery clock takes the shape of the gateway of a Chinese temple, improved by various symbols of longevity. The timepiece is suspended to the bar of that portico. On the other models the movements are linked from the base.
Six examples were released by Cartier between 1923 and 1925. They were exhibited at the 1925 Paris Exposition des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes.
The No. 3, 38 cm high, executed in 1924, is the most opulent with its square shaped rose quartz pillars instead of rock crystal for the other five. The 12 sided rock crystal dial is appearing to float over a mother of pearl and onyx bezel with diamond set numerals. The rose cut diamond hands are dragon shaped.
Accompanied by its personalized Cartier presentation box and its key in matching number, it was sold for CHF 3.9M by Phillips on May 11, 2025, lot 118. Please watch the video narrated by Aurel Bacs, shared by the auction house.
The No. 4, 39 x 28 x 14 cm, was sold for CHF 1.8M by Antiquorum on November 19, 1996, lot 434.
From 1912 the clockmaker Maurice Couët develops and builds examples of the highest luxury for the Cartier brand.
Designed by Couët, the Portico Mystery clock takes the shape of the gateway of a Chinese temple, improved by various symbols of longevity. The timepiece is suspended to the bar of that portico. On the other models the movements are linked from the base.
Six examples were released by Cartier between 1923 and 1925. They were exhibited at the 1925 Paris Exposition des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes.
The No. 3, 38 cm high, executed in 1924, is the most opulent with its square shaped rose quartz pillars instead of rock crystal for the other five. The 12 sided rock crystal dial is appearing to float over a mother of pearl and onyx bezel with diamond set numerals. The rose cut diamond hands are dragon shaped.
Accompanied by its personalized Cartier presentation box and its key in matching number, it was sold for CHF 3.9M by Phillips on May 11, 2025, lot 118. Please watch the video narrated by Aurel Bacs, shared by the auction house.
The No. 4, 39 x 28 x 14 cm, was sold for CHF 1.8M by Antiquorum on November 19, 1996, lot 434.
1926 Nécessaire de Bureau by Cartier
2017 SOLD for € 1.12M by Christie's
For a rich foreigner or an aristocrat residing in Paris, it is of the highest chic to have a mansion avenue du Bois which will become avenue Foch in 1929. The Palais Rose built from 1896 to 1902 reaches a culmination of that luxury.
The Palais Rose was built with the best marbles on the model of the Grand Trianon by comte Boni de Castellane who furnished it in an unbelievable luxury. Castellane could spend without sparing : he had obtained the hand and dowry of Anna Gould whose father had accumulated in the railway industry one of the most colossal fortunes in America.
Castellane spends too much and divorce becomes inevitable. Anna Gould remains in the Palais Rose and becomes after her second marriage in 1908 duchesse de Talleyrand and princesse de Sagan.
On March 7, 2017, Christie's sold furniture and objects from the Palais Rose, destroyed in 1969 on behalf of a real estate developer. An opulent nécessaire de bureau (desk kit) commissioned by Anna Gould to Cartier in 1926, was sold for € 1.12M, lot 19.
The Société Cartier is one of the pioneers of the Art Déco style much fashionable in Paris after the specialized exhibition of 1925, promoting functional objects. Cartier also offers various themes of oriental fantasy increasingly enjoyed at that time by the wealthy clients.
Anna Gould's kit is depicting a Japanese pagoda in a garden, decorated with figures of dragons and Fo lions. Mixing coral, aventurine, rock crystal, agate and mother-of-pearl and colored in enamels and lacquers, it measures 28 x 24 x 12 cm overall and weighs 6.7 Kg.
Centered on a pendulette, this piece includes two inkwells and a pen holder without omitting a lighting made of two 110-volt bulbs. In 2017 Cartier added a dip pen in lapis lazuli, quartz, onyx and coral matching the nécessaire.
The Palais Rose was built with the best marbles on the model of the Grand Trianon by comte Boni de Castellane who furnished it in an unbelievable luxury. Castellane could spend without sparing : he had obtained the hand and dowry of Anna Gould whose father had accumulated in the railway industry one of the most colossal fortunes in America.
Castellane spends too much and divorce becomes inevitable. Anna Gould remains in the Palais Rose and becomes after her second marriage in 1908 duchesse de Talleyrand and princesse de Sagan.
On March 7, 2017, Christie's sold furniture and objects from the Palais Rose, destroyed in 1969 on behalf of a real estate developer. An opulent nécessaire de bureau (desk kit) commissioned by Anna Gould to Cartier in 1926, was sold for € 1.12M, lot 19.
The Société Cartier is one of the pioneers of the Art Déco style much fashionable in Paris after the specialized exhibition of 1925, promoting functional objects. Cartier also offers various themes of oriental fantasy increasingly enjoyed at that time by the wealthy clients.
Anna Gould's kit is depicting a Japanese pagoda in a garden, decorated with figures of dragons and Fo lions. Mixing coral, aventurine, rock crystal, agate and mother-of-pearl and colored in enamels and lacquers, it measures 28 x 24 x 12 cm overall and weighs 6.7 Kg.
Centered on a pendulette, this piece includes two inkwells and a pen holder without omitting a lighting made of two 110-volt bulbs. In 2017 Cartier added a dip pen in lapis lazuli, quartz, onyx and coral matching the nécessaire.
