Lot 208

Abraham Louis Breguet et fils à Paris, No. 3020, Case No. 4931, 50 mm, 120 g, circa 1821
A very fine half quarter repeating hunting case pocket watch with lever escapement and jumping hours, manufactured in best movement quality "Garde Temps" - sold on June 11th, 1821 to Count Panin for 4800 Francs, rebuyed by Breguet, entirely restored under the number 4931 and sold again to Monsieur Lacroix in Turin on May 16, 1831 for 4800 Francs.
Case: 18k gold, engine-turned, case maker's punch mark "MAB" (M.A. Buffelard, the successor of Tavernier), additional concealed compartment with the portrait of a young nobleman. Dial: two-colour silvered, engine-turned, auxiliary seconds at "4", secret signature. Movm.: bridge movement, keywind, 1 hammer, 1 gong, early jewelled lever escapement, compensation balance with gold and platinum screws.
The half quarter repeater is activated by pulling out a button in the pendant, turning it and then pressing it down again.
Count Nikita Petrovich Panin (1770–1837), was a Russian diplomat, vice-chancellor, State Chancellor 6 October 1799 – 18 November 1800 (acting) and Foreign Minister of Russia. His uncle was Count Nikita Ivanovich Panin, an influential Russian statesman and political mentor to Catherine the Great for the first 18 years of her reign (1762-1780).
Nikita P. Panin plotted the assassination of Paul I of Russia together with Count Peter Ludwig von der Pahlen and the Russo-Neapolitan Admiral José de Ribas. Ribas died before the assassination, which was actually carried out on 23 March 1801 by a band of dismissed officers headed by General Bennigsen, a Hanoverian in the Russian service, and General Yashvil, a Georgian. The assassination brought Alexander I of Russia to the throne.

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