BREGUET
Tourbillon “Patent of 7 Messidor Year 9”, ref. 3450, n° 2808
Circa 1995 Platinum (950) and 18k (750) rose gold wristwatch with tourbillon regulator Case: round, fluted caseband, transparent back, signed Dial: silvered and guilloché, off-centered hours and minutes on a circle, Roman numerals, rotating tourbillon cage on a polished steel bridge, signed Movement: mechanical cal. 558, plate with chiseled decoration, 1-minute tourbillon regulator, signed Buckle: platinum pin Diameter: 36 mm Gross weight: 79.00 g. A platinum and 18k rose gold manual winding wristwatch with tourbillon, platinum buckle. With a presentation box June 26, 1801, or rather 7 Messidor year IX of the Republican calendar then in force in France, is a legendary date in the history of watchmaking and the house of Breguet. On this day, Abraham-Louis Breguet obtained a patent for a new type of regulator called a “Tourbillon” for ten years. Starting from the observation that the Earth's gravity is the enemy of the regularity of watch movements, because it causes variations in settings each time the position of a watch changes when worn, Abraham-Louis Breguet had the brilliant idea of designing a movement capable of correcting these instabilities. By installing the entire escapement in a mobile cage that makes a complete rotation every minute, Breguet signed one of the most beautiful inventions in modern watchmaking. June 26, 1801, or rather Messidor 7, Year IX of the Republican calendar then in force in France, is a mythical date in the history of watchmaking and the House of Breguet. On this day, Abraham-Louis Breguet was granted a ten-year patent for a new type of regulator called the “Tourbillon”. Abraham-Louis Breguet's ingenious idea was to design a movement capable of correcting these instabilities, based on the observation that the Earth's gravity is the enemy of watchmaking regularity, as it causes variations in settings each time a watch is worn in a different position. By installing the entire escapement in a mobile cage that performs a complete rotation every minute, Breguet created one of the finest inventions of modern watchmaking.
