Lot 171

Breguet

An extremely rare Parisian gold enamel verge pocket watch studded with half pearls and diamonds. The watch comes with a matching gold enamel chatelaine and with an original silk-lined morocco case

Sold

This magnificent ensemble consisting of a pocket watch and a chatelaine is beautifully decorated with enamelling, split pearls and diamonds. The back of the watch shows the allegory of friendship portrayed by a young boy and a young lady. The upper half displays two banners beset with pearls: "Ca Ce(st)" ("This is") and "D'Amitie" ("Friendship") below. The scene is framed by a border of rose cut diamonds, translucent cobalt blue enamel and split pearls. The matching three-part chatelaine is adorned with split pearls and consists of several gold chains made of round and navette shaped links; it is also ornamented with a double-sided enamel badge painted with shepherdesses and four ornaments – a key and a signet, and a hook and a pendant, length 250 mm.
Abraham-Louis Breguet imitaton
Breguet was the best and the most renowned watchmaker of his time. He was also a most sought-after victim of counterfeiting, which made him create a secret signature to distinguish his authentic works from the forgeries. A large number of counterfeit watches with Breguet's forged signature were produced during his life time and even after his death. Most of these watches were of poor quality or not even of a type ever produced by Breguet (for example, musical or quarter repeating watches with automaton jacks). Fakes often appear to be or genuine Breguet origin; but to the eyes of a connoisseur, the quality and technical details make the forgery glaringly obvious.