Lot 178

Breguet et Fils

Repetiton à Ponts

An important and heavy quarter repeating "Repetiton à Ponts" pocket watch with jumping hours and ruby cylinder escapement - sent by Monsieur Dubois fils to Lord Lauderdale on 24 February 1807 for 2,200 francs - with gold watch chain, ratchet key and original box

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This timepiece is a high quality watch by Breguet which possesses most of the technical features of the so-called "Premiere Classe" repeater watches Breguet had created for everyday use: jumping hour, overhanging ruby escapement, spring suspension of the balance top pivot and bimetallic temperature compensation.

James Maitland, 8th Earl of Lauderdale KT PC (* 26. Januar 1759 at Hatton House near Ratho, Midlothian; † 10. September 1839 at Thirlestane Castle, Berwickshire) was a politician (representative peer for Scotland in the House of Lords) and prominent economist.
James Maitland was the oldest son of James Maitland, 7th Earl of Lauderdale. He studied law at the universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow. He became a member of the British House of Commons in 1780, representing the Rotten Borough of Newport in Cornwall, from 1784 to 1789 he represented the Borough of Malmesbury in Wiltshire. After the death of his father in 1789, the Scottish peers voted for him to be representative peer for Scotland in the House of Lords, ending his time in the House of Commons. Maitland originally supported the ideology of the French Revolution and spent considerable time in Paris, forming a personal friendship with Jean Paul Marat.
When the Whigs under Grenville took over government in 1806, Maitland was awarded the title of Baron Lauderdale of Thirlestane in County
Berwick, which meant he was now a peer of the United Kingdom with a permanent seat in the House of Lords. He also became a sworn member of the Privy Council in 1806 and Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland for a short while.
From August to Oktober 1806 he participated in the unsucessful peace talks with Napoleon I. In Paris, which had been originated by Charles James Fox. Later Lauderdale became a Tory and voted against the Reform Bill of 1832. He was made a Knight of the Thistle in 1821. He died at Thirlestane Castle in Berwickshire on September 10, 1839.
Source: de.wikipedia.org