BREGUET
“Tact Watch - No. 793”
Sold on October 1, 1800 to Mr Busty
Gold and translucent royal blue enamel tact medallion hunter watch with diamonds accompanied by a double chain and its key
Gold hunter case with translucent blue enamel on the front and back, on the front a flower set with diamonds and on the back an arrow hand set with diamonds for the tactile function for reading the hours using the diamonds on the caseband, push button for secret opening on the caseband.
Off-center dial for indicating hours and minutes on a silver background with Arabic numerals, all the gears and mechanism visible, the cover has a small opening to reveal only the dial, a signed gold protective bowl protects the whole, it bears the number of the watch as well as the winding square and opening for advance / delay
Movement with key winding, subscription caliber with gold finish, ruby cylinder with central barrel, simple three-arm balance in brass, flat hairspring in blued steel, advance and delay adjustment index in blued steel, signature on the plate "Breguet No. 793"
Diam. 40 mm
Gross weight. 54.1 g
We would like to thank Emmanuel Breguet and the archives of the house for providing us with the following information: "Breguet 793: tact watch sold on October 1, 1800 to Mr. Busty for 1,500 Francs"
"The tact watch" by Breguet
"The tact watch" was invented by Abraham Louis Breguet in the late 1790s at a time when it was considered improper to tell the time in public. The "tact" system could help tell the time while being in society without taking the watch out of one's pocket and perhaps offending one's host or neighbor during the highly popular private salons of the time.
As in this engraving of an evening at the Princess of Salm's in 1806, which features very prestigious guests, including Abraham-Louis Breguet, considered one of the most prominent personalities of his time, well
beyond the circle of watchmakers.
Breguet tact watches are classified under different categories, from small to medium and finally large. Of all the tact watches made by Breguet, the “small” category to which our watch belongs is undoubtedly the most sought after. The most famous of all the small-sized tact watches with royal blue translucent enamel is the one made by Breguet for Madame Bonaparte under the number 611, described as Petite montre médaillon à tact and acquired on February 18, 1800 by the famous Joséphine de Beauharnais, future Empress of the French from 1804 to 1809.
It is estimated that there are very few tact watches from this period remaining today, the last one having been presented in Paris by the house of Beaussant Lefèvre, Hôtel Drouot
on March 25, 2021, had belonged to Madame de Tallien, but was of later manufacture, sold on 6 Ventôse An 9 (February 25, 1801) to Mr. Ouvrard for Madame de Tallien. Our tact watch sold on October 1, 1800 to Mr. Busty, is one of the first examples of a "tact watch", the same year as the one sold to Joséphine de Beauharnais, on 29 Pluviose An 8 (February 18, 1800). It is estimated that about thirty-five tact watches like ours are known to date. These exclusive watches were quite expensive, their price being between 1000 and 2000 francs of the time.
Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747–1823)
This watchmaker is considered the father of modern watchmaking, is a Swiss watchmaker who revolutionized the art and science of time measurement. His life and work are marked by technical inventions, a timeless aesthetic style and a lasting influence on the watchmaking industry.
Born in Neuchâtel on January 10, 1747 and died in Paris on September 17, 1823, this watchmaker was at the origin of an unprecedented watchmaking revolution with all his inventions and innovations that built the legend of the Breguet house, which will celebrate its 250th anniversary next year.
The important achievements that marked the beginnings of the Breguet house:
1775 Abraham-Louis Breguet sets up his own business on the Quai de l’Horloge on the Île de la Cité in Paris.
1780 Development of the perpetual watch, designating self-winding watches with an oscillating weight, the first great success of Breguet’s career.
1783 Creation of the “apple” hands, to which he will give his name and which are today called “Breguet-style hands”.
1786 Interest in guilloché for its aesthetics and its functional character of protection, readability of the dial and delimitation of the different reading zones.
1790 Invention of the pare-chute, a shock protection system, the ancestor of the anti-shock system that we know today on all watches with manual or automatic winding.
1796 Launch of subscription watches, i.e. simple watches of a fairly large diameter (61 mm), with a single hand on an enamel dial, marketed on the principle of subscription with payment of a quarter of the price upon ordering.
1798 Presentation at the National Exhibition of 1798 of the sympathetic clock composed of a clock and a watch that winds itself automatically when it is placed in a cradle.
1799 Creation of the first “tact” watch equipped with a system invented by Breguet allowing the time to be read by touch using a tactile hand on the back of the case.
1801 On June 26, Abraham-Louis Breguet obtains a patent for a new type of regulator called
“Tourbillon” a mechanism designed to compensate for the effects of gravity on the regularity of watch movements.
1810 On an order from the Queen of Naples on June 8, Abraham-Louis Breguet creates in his workshops one of the first wristwatches, the Breguet watch No. 2639.
