November 2022 (updated September 2023)ratskunk

über-draft—not ready for publication

'Tis hard to say, if greater Want of Skill
Appear in Writing or in Judging ill.
— An Essay on Criticism: Alexander Pope (1711)

Caveat lector: To Err is Humane; to Forgive, Divine—the author (me) apologises for errata; the author admits to a primitive knowledge of Breguet and politely yields to the savoir-faire of the Breguet ninja for a remedy to the author's predestined mistakes—readers are asked to send corrections to the author—thank you.

Note to Reader: article is sans narrative, more-or-less a hodge-podge of soupçons regarding the 1923 Musée Galliera Breguet expo—the article is not a deep-dive, but rather a tipping of the toe into the shoals of the wide sea of Breguet.

Buy the Ticket,
Take the Ride
— Hunter S. Thompson

Part 1 a

Musée Galliera Centenaire de A.L. Breguet 1747–1823
exposition de son œuvre d'horlogerie et de chronométrié

The September 19, 1823 Journal des débats politiques et littéraires noted the September 17, 1823 passing of Abraham-Louis Breguet…

Nons nous sommes empressés de rendre un premier hommage à M. Breguet en annonçant là perie que la France vient de faire du. premier horlogier que l'Europe, possédât. C'est dans le même esprit destinie pour le génie des arts libéraux que nous offrons en ce moment aù public le récit succinct defunèrailles de M. Bréguet, qui ont eu lieu aujourd jeudi 18 septembre. Un cortège composé d'hommes célébrés dans le sciences et dans les arts a conduit la dépouille mortelle de ce grand artiste jusqu au cimetière du Pere Lachaise, lieu de sa sépulture. M. Charles Dupin, M Arago et M. Ternaux au nom du conseil-général des manufactures, ont successivement exprimé les regrets de leurs corps, ils ont payé un juste tribut d'éloges aux talens el surtout aux qaulitiés de M. Bréguet, qui comptoit au nombre de ses amis les plus intimes les trois persones rliargées d'ètre les interprè es des regrets universels qu'a excités la mort imprévue et subite d'un artiste à qui une vieir lessé vigoureuse sembloit prome une plus longue carrière.

The September 20, 1823 Paris Le Constitutionnel published an article Les funérailles de Breguet opening with the paragraph…

Sic Itur Ad Astra.
— Virgil

The September 28, 1823 Paris Gazette nationale ou le Moniteur universel published an article regarding the funeral (September 18, 1823) of A.L. Breguet— Charles Dupin of the l'Académie Royale des Sciences closes the rememberance…

Abraham Louis Breguet's final resting place is Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris (11^ème Division)—west of the Casimir Périer Roundabout inside the triangle bordered by Chemin Talma (to the north), Chemin Méhul (to the east) and Chemin Denon (to the west). Le véritable conducteur aux Cimetières (1830, page 101) regarding Breguet's tomb…

Ay fleeth the tyme; it nyl no man abyde. And thogh youre grene youthe floure as yit,
In crepeth age alwey, as stille as stoon, And deeth manaceth every age, and smyt
In ech estaat, for ther escapeth noon; And al so certein as we knowe echoon
That we shul deye, as uncerteyn we alle Been of that day whan deeth shal on us falle.
— Clerkes Tale of Oxenford, Chaucer

In 1819 the 5^th Des Expositions Des Produits was held from August 25^th–September 23^rd at the Louvre by the order of Louis XVIII…

ORDONNANCE DU ROI. Au château des Tuileries, le 13 janvier 1819. Louis, par la grâce de Dieu roi de France et de Navarre , à tous ceux qui ces présentes verront, salut. Nous avons pensé que l'exposition périodique des produits de nos manufactures et de nos fabriques serait un des moyens les plus efficaces d'encourager les arts, d'exciter l'émulation et de hâter les progrès de l'industrie… Tous les manufacturiers et fabricans établis en France qui voudront concourir à cette exposition, seront tenus de se faire inscrire au secrétariat général de la préfecture de leur département, à l'époque qui sera indiquée par notre ministre secrétaire d'état de l'intérieur.

Donné en notre château des Tuileries, le 13 janvier de l'an de grâce 1819. et de notre règne le vingt-quatrième.
Signé LOUIS.

Breguet's entry in the “ORDERS, REPORTS AND CIRCULAR at the public exhibition of the products of French industry in 1819” published in four volumes in 1824…

Etienne de Jouy's 1821 report on the 5^th Paris exhibition Etat actuel de l'industrie française, ou coup d'oeil sur l'exposition de ses produits dans les salles du Louvre, en 1819 includes a brief mention of Breguet—witness Abraham Breguet's reknown in his own lifetime.

La salle sous le n^o. 5, placée immédiatement derrière le frontispice de la colonnade [Louvre], est occupée par les plusieurs ouvrages précieux du célèbre Breguet. Nommer Breguet, c'est annoncer des perfectionnemens obtenus par le concours du génie qui invente, de la science qui calcule de l'observation qui compose, et de l'art qui exécute. Cet habile horloger a désormais atteint la haute de son art…— Etienne de Jouy (1764–1846)

The room under no. 5, placed immediately behind the frontispiece of the colonnade [Louvre], is occupied by several precious works by the famous Breguet. To name Breguet is to announce improvements obtained through the collaboration of genius which invents, science which calculates, observation which composes, and art which executes. This skillful watchmaker has now reached the height of his art…

The 1806 Napoleonic Exposition des produits de l'industrie française, held at the Esplanade des Invalides from September 25–October 19 officiated by Jean-Baptiste Nompère de Champagny (1756–1834) occassioned the unveiling of Breguet's tourbillon and earned Breguet the Medailles d'Or.

Il est à remarquer en outre que M, Breguet est le premier qui, en France, ait traité la belle horlogerie en manufacture. Tous ces faits prouvent combien M. Breguet est digne de sa haute réputation et de la distinction qui lui fut accordée en l'an 9. [l'an 10]

It should also be noted that Mr. Breguet was the first in France to treat fine watchmaking in manufacturing. All these facts prove how Mr. Breguet is worthy of his high reputation and the distinction which was granted to him in the year 9 [year 10].

Abraham Louis Breguet, esteemed in friendship, hallowed in horology, lauded in life and venerated in death, was bestowed the priveledge of chevalier de l'Ordre royal de la Legion-d' Honneur by Louis XVIII on September 8, 1819—the Journal des débats politiques et littéraires September 12, 1819 notes the occasion…

— Une ordonnance du Roi, du 8 septembre, porte:
« Sur le rapport qui nous a été fait, par notre ministre secrétaire d'Etat de l'intérieur, des services nombreux et importans qu'ont rendus aux sciences et aux arts les sieurs Lerebours et Bréguet, le premier par ses découveries et par les perfectionnemens qu'il a apportés dans la construction des instrumens d'optique et de mathématique; le second, par la supériorité qu'il est parvenu à donner à l'horlogerie française, el entr'aulres aux montres marines; voulant témoigner à ces deux savans artistes la cas que nous faisons de leurs talens et de leurs lumières, nous avons ordonné et ordonnons ce qui suit;
» Le sieur Lerebours, opticien, et le sieur Bréguet, horloger, sont nommés chevaliers de l'Ordre royal de la Legion-d' Honneur. »

Note: The decoration of the royal order of the Legion of Honor consists of a star with five double rays, surmounted by the royal crown. The center of the star, surrounded by a wreath of oak and laurel, presents, on one side, the effigy of Henri IV with this exergue, Henri IV, King of France and Navarre and on the other; three fleur-de-lis with this exergue, Honor and Country. Chevalier wear the silver decoration on one of the buttonholes of their coat, attached by a red moiré ribbon

Baron Alfred Auguste Ernouf (1816–1889) in the 1867 book Histoire de trois Ouvriers Français, Richard-Lenoir, A. L. Bréguet, M. Brézin commences the chapter on Breguet with the penultimate words of Jean-Baptiste Joseph Fourier's (1768–1830) eulogy for Abraham Breguet given at the French Academy of Sciences on June 5, 1826…

The ultimate words of Fourier's eulogy are as follows…

Part 1 b

To celebrate the centenary of the venerated watchmaker A.-L. Breguet Edouard Gélis (French horological historian) and Georges Brown of the Brown family (Breguet principals 1870–1970) organised the exhibit: Musée Galliera Centenaire de A.L. Breguet 1747–1823 Exposition de son œuvre d'horlogerie et de chronométrié which was open to visitors from October–November 1923. The October 20, 1923 journal La Fédération Horlogère published a program of events regarding the Centenaire de A.L. Breguet which included…

Many articles concerning the Centenaire de A.L. Breguet appeared in sundry French & Swiss newspapers and journals in 1923 e.g. a four-page section on A.-L. Breguet appeared in the September 22, 1923 L'Illustration newspaper and La Fédération horlogère suisse featured a seven-part series on A.-L. Breguet in the September 29–October 20 issues of the journal. The picture of Abraham Breguet appeared in the September 17, 1923 Feuille d'Avis de Neuchâtel newspaper article Le centenaire de Breguet. Across the Atlantic the Jewelers' Circular & Horological Review featured many articles regarding the Centenaire de A.L. Breguet in the fall of 1923 (including English translations from French publications).

M. A. Lebeuf of the Observatoire National de Besançon reflecting on the Centenaire de Breguet in a May 1924 article in the Bulletin chronométrique includes a quote from Jacques Breguet…

A painting is complete when it
has the shadows of a god.
— Rembrandt

The 1923 Musée Galliera Breguet expo was published in all manner and fashion of French newspapers, magazines and journals such as: La Nature, Beaux-Arts, Art de Décoration, Mercure de France, Revue de l'Art & Le Figaro. Supplément littéraire—Gaston Derys (curator Musée Galliera) ends the Le Figaro Centenaire Breguet article (October 27, 1923)…The December 1923 La Renaissance de l'art Français article L'oeuvre d'horlogerie d'Abram-Louis Breguet à Galliera features a Breguet Pendule Pyramidale (bronzes de Thomire)—the clock is Breguet N^o. 453 (Musée Galliera expo catalog N^o. 1).

Mais peut-être quelque rêveur regrette-ra-t-il 1e siècle où le chevalier de Boufflers portait deux montres, une dans chaque gousset, et, indifférent à leur exactitude, répondait à une dame qui lui demandait pourquoi il avait ces deux montres:

L'une avance, l'autre retarde… Quand près de vous je dois venir,
A la première, je regarde, A l'autre, quand je dois sortir…

A snippet from the October 1923 Floreal magazine article A Propos du Cententaire Bréguet: Quelques notes sur les montres. The November 29, 1923 Civil and Military Gazette expresses a provincial posture—decidedly English—on the Centenaire Breguet.

The October 17, 1923 La Fédération horlogère suisse advertised a bronze medal celebrating the Breguet centenary: produced by Hugeunin Medailleurs Le Locle the obverse featured Abraham Breguet by the artist E. Rothinberger and the reverse “1747–1823 / A la mémoire d'Abraham-Louis Breguet / L'industrie horlgère neuchâteloise / 1923”. Eberhard & Cie jumped on the Breguet bandwagon with advertisements in the September 15 & 17, 1923 Feuille d'Avis de Neuchâtel newspaper…

The same September 17^th issue of the Feuille d'Avis de Neuchâtel acknowledged the centennial death of Neuchâtel's famous emigree beginning…

Les noms [Leroy, Lapaute & Berthoud]…occupent une grande place dans l'histoire de l'horlogerie; mais leur célébrité s'efface devant celle de l'artiste dont les découvertes honorent le plus notre époque, de Bréguet, qui, après avoir commencé par être simple ouvrier, devint l'horloger des gouvernements et des rois.
— François Valentin: Les Artisans Célèbres (1843)

The January 1, 1925 Almanach scientifique presented a four page biography on Breguet by Jacques Boyer (1869–1960) following the 1923 Breguet centenary celebrations. The alien appearing on the cover of the journal is from the enclosed short-story: Le Messager de la planète by José Moselli (1882–1941) about Danish explorers (Ottar Wallens & Olaf Densmold) who encounter a stranded space-traveller from Mercury at the South Pole. The pictures of the Breguet watches in the Almanach scientifique are from the 1923 Paris Musée Galliera Breguet expo.

LA VIE D'UN GRAND INVENTEUR

Il y a plus de cent ans que Breguet inventa les horloges et les montres perfectionnées dont nous nous servons

La Suisse et la France ont célébré dignement le centenaire de la naissance d'Abraham-Louis Breguet, qui porta l'horlogerie à un si haut degré de perfection. A notre tour, nous allons retracer l'œuvre du prestigieux artiste et rectifier, chemin faisant, grâce à des documents exhumés à cette occasion, certaines légendes accréditées sur son compte.

Abram ou Abraham-Louis Breguet naquit à Neufchâtel le io janvier 1747, et, depuis l'éloge historique de l'illustre mécanicien prononcé par le baron Fourier à l'Académie des sciences en 1826, maints dictionnaires biographiques ont répété que sa famille, d'origine picarde, fut chassée de France par la révocation de l'édit de Nantes. Or, les récentes recherches effectuées par un archiviste neufehafrelois, M. Léon Montandon, prouvent que les ancêtres de notre savant horloger étaient des bourgeois fixés dans le canton de Neufchâtel bien avant l'exode des protestants français à l'étranger.

Le Messager de la planète
José Moselli

Un étre descendit de mercure sur la terre. il fut rencontré au pole sud par deux savants de christiania dont l'odyssée tragique est ici racontée.

The Musée Galliera Breguet expo was unprecedented in the early 20^th century featuring 13 score Breguet watches and clocks; unrivaled even by the 125 Breguet watches appearing in the 1976 Musée International Horlogerie de La Chaux-de-Fonds exhibition: L'œuvre d'Abraham-Louis Breguet, the ≈ 120 Breguets in the 2004 exhibition Breguet in the Hermitage and the 2009 Louvre Museum's An Apogee of European Watchmaking exhibition's 130+ Breguet timepieces.

The British Horological Institute was offically represented in Paris by Lieut.-Commdr. R. T. Gould—Commander Gould writes in his account of the Musée Galliera Breguet expo in the February, 1924 Horological Journal…

Centenaries, generally speaking, have a habit of being rather fatiguing affairs, and those who participate in them exhibit, more often than otherwise, a carefully controlled and restrained enthusiasm, having its “spiritual home” in Laodicea; but the Breguet Centenary commemoration recently held in Paris…must undoubtedly be regarded as [a] brilliant exception to the general rule.

The exhibits, taken as a whole, afford a convincing proof of the very firm foundations upon which Breguet's great reputation rests. They bear the stamp of a master-mind, and it is difficult to determine whether their mechanical ingenuity, their marvellous workmanship or their artistic merit deserves the greatest tribute of praise.

Mon ami, tu vois comme les richesses de ce monde sont périssables; il n'y a de solide que la vertu.
— Voltaire

E. Ferret in the 1890 monograph Les Breguet regarding Abraham Breguet, Louis-Antoine Breguet (1776–1858), Louis-François Breguet (1804–1883) and Antoine Breguet (1851–1882) writes…

Abraham Breguet dut à ses travaux la faveur d'être nommé horloger de la marine, puis membre du Bureau des longitudes, membre de la Légion d'honneur, de l'Institut, de la Société d'Encouragemet, du Conseil royal des Arts et Manufactures, etc. Il mourut sans douleur, comme foudroyé, en 1823…Il était simple dans ses manières et dans son langage; avec ses amis, il était d'une naîveté charmante, d'un engouement réel et communicatif…Ce fut un homme de bien dans toute l'acception du mot.

Abraham Breguet owed to his work the favor of being appointed watchmaker to the navy, then member of the Bureau des longitudes, member of the Legion of Honor, of the Institute, of the Société d'Encouragemet, of the Conseil royal des Arts et Manufactures, etc. He died without pain, as if struck down, in 1823…He was simple in his manners and in his language; with his friends, he was charmingly naive, genuinely enthusiastic and communicative…He was a good man in every sense of the word.

In the 1869 book Das Buch berühmter Kaufleute published by Franz Otto Spamer (1820–1886) under Die Uhren—Industrie und ihre Meister the section (pages 358–362) on Breguet begins and ends…

The bird a nest, the spider a web,
man friendship.
— William Blake

QUI donc est Monsieur Louis Desoutter? Voici la réponse…personne mieux que lui ne connaît les ouvrages de Breguet. sir david salomons: breguet (1747–1823) french edition, 1923 (note de l'auteur sur le traductteur, pg. ix)

N.B. To recognize the 1823 Breguet centenary Louis Albert Desoutter (1858–1930) French watchmaker, Breguet scholar and retailer based in London translated David Salomons' canonical 1921 Breguet book into French; 550 copies of the book were printed—according to the 1921 and 1923 editions of the Salomons' Breguet book: “Photographs by Mr. L. Desoutter” & “Photographies de M. L. Desoutter”. Louis Desoutter lent eight Breguets to the 1923 Musée Galliera (Breguet N^os. 398, 786, 1481, 1817, 3073, 4095, 4548 & 4946. Please note as well: Louis Desoutter sold Breguet N^o. 20-148 (Duc de Praslin) to David Salomons in 1920 & Breguet N^o. 160 (Marie-Antoinette) to Salomons in 1917 (Desoutter bought N^o. 160 from a Dutch art collector in 1904).

…[Louis] Desoutter was…the representative for the House of Breguet in [the UK] from 1900–1930. Most of the Breguet watches sold in England passed through his hands, many being restored and even rebuilt in his workshops. thommas engel: a.-l. breguet watchmaker to kings (sticher konzepte 1994)

PICTURED BELOW: Louis Desoutter rescued, restored and repaired dozens, if not scores, of Breguet watches, e.g. Breguet N^o. 2568 The Moltshanoff (tourbillon), Breguet certificate N^o. 2387 has a handwritten note by David Salomons: Bought through an advertisement in the “Times” for 35£ plus 5£s examining and cleaning by M. Desoutter—the watch appeared in the Musée Galliera expo as catalog N^o. 153. Louis Desoutter sold Breguet N^o. 1806 (The Caroline Bonaparte) to David Salomons in 1920—the watch appeared in the Musée Galliera expo as catalog N^o. 142. Breguet N^o. 2330 (1811) was sold to Francis William Payne (1864–1933) by Louis Desoutter for 55£ in 1928; the watch was originally sold to Breguet's agent Leroy in Constantinople. Watch by Louis Desoutter in the Breguet-style: minute-repeater, moonphase and date, 51mm.

Breguet Sympathique N^o. 757 in the British Museum was rebuilt by Louis Desoutter. Desoutter purchased the clock c. 1925 from the Watchmaking School at Le Locle sans case and missing its watch. Desoutter made the case, increased the clock's duration from 30 hours to eight days, redid the setting-winding work and made the watch that now sits atop the clock though the watch is not wound by the clock. The clock was sold to Courtenay Adrian Ilbert and later sold as part of the Ilbert Collection to the British Museum. Breguet Sympathique N^o. 757 appeared in the 1923 Paris Breguet expo as N^o. 79.

Fabriques Invicta
79. Pendule « Sympathique », échappement à force constante et
à tourbillon, spiral en or 2 barillets. N^o 757.

Vendue par Moreau [Lazare] à la Maison de Russie, le 31 dé 1810.
avec la montre n^o 528. Fr. 8.000.

PICTURED BELOW: Breguet N^o. 3661 (Lord Stewart) sold to Sir David Salomons by Louis Desoutter & appearing in the 1923 Breguet expo as catalog entry no. 181. Highlighting the eminence of Louis Desoutter in the Belle Époque world of Breguet three important watches passed through his hands: Breguet N^o. 60, 1796, Breguet N^o. 217, 1800 (The Havas) and Breguet N^o. 164, 1796 (The Legras). Breguet N^o. 4321 retailed by Louis Desoutter & appearing in the 1923 Breguet expo as catalog entry no. 196 (Salomons collection)—sold 1825 to Prince Frederick Augustus, Duke of York and Albany (1763–1827) for 200£. Breguet N^o. 4905 (1829) formerly Louis Desoutter appearing in the 1923 expo as catalog entry no. 207 (David Salomons collection). Breguet N^o. 3721 (1821) sold to Prince Nicolas Troubetzkoï—David Salomons purchased the watch from Louis Desoutter in 1922.

…But to Mr. Desoutter, of London, who has made a life-long study of Breguet's work, I owe special gratitude… sir david salomons: breguet (1747–1823) english edition, 1921 (note by the author, pg. ix)

Part 2 a

The 1923 Musée Galliera Breguet expo displayed watches and clocks lent by 80+ persons (e.g. Henry Bown (18 Breguets) & Baron Robert de Rothschild (Breguet N^o. 1615)) and organizations (e.g. École d'Horlogerie de Paris (12 Breguets) & École d'Horlogerie de Genéve (Breguet N^o. 1499))—the lion's share or more apropos elephant's share of the Breguet watches (100+) were lent to the expo by Sir David Salomons and are listed as expo numbers 109–213 in the 1923 expo catalog.

Daniel Halévy (1872–1962) writes in the introduction to the 1923 Musée Galliera Breguet expo catalog…

Aux environs de 1770, les horlogers avaient mis à point la technique des horloges et pendules. La technique de la montre ne faisait que de naître: les gros oignons qu'on voit encore dans les collections gonflaient les poches et marchaient mal.
Abram-Louis Breguet y appliqua toute sa capacité, et la montre devint entre ses mains un instrument merveilleux dont la perfection n'a pas été dépassée et même a cessé d'etre atteinte.

Around 1770, watchmakers had perfected the technique of clocks and pendulums. The technique of the watch was only just being born: the big onions which one still sees in the collections swelled the pockets and worked badly. Abram-Louis Breguet applied all his ability to it, and the watch became in his hands a marvelous instrument whose perfection has not been surpassed and has even ceased to be achieved.

In art, all who have done something other than their predecessors have merited the epithet of revolutionary;
and it is they alone who are masters.
— Paul Gauguin

Prior to the 1923 Musée Galliera Breguet expo an announcement was published notifiying owners of montres ou pendules BREGUET Ancienne of the upcoming Breguet expo—the author assumes to solicit donations to the exhibit…

La Maison BREGUET
HORLOGERIE
2, Rue Édouard VII

Serait reconnaissante aux personnes ayant en leur Possession de montres ou pendules BREGUET Ancienne (époques 1783-1840) de vouloir bien le lui signaler en vue I'Exposition du Cenentaire de BREGUET qui aura lieu au Musée Galliera Dans le courant de l'année 1923.

Horological sage Major Paul M. Chamberlain in a letter to the editor (Jewelers' Circular, Janaury 1924) dateline: Paris, Dec. 26, 1923 lists all 80+ lenders to the 1923 expo and concludes…

 It was my good fortune to be here for the last week and to have the rare privilege of examining in my hand many of the rare pieces brought together from the collections of the following: Baronne Gustave d'Adelsward, H. Aberg, Sir Otto Beit, Vicomtesse Bordes, Jacques Breguet, Louis Breguet, Vicomtesse de Braves, Henry Brown, Madame Henry Brown, Col. E.-D. Bryce, Lionel Cabany, Sir Vincent Caillard, Carl Carlson, S. E. Cherif Pacha, Docteur Octave Gaude, Daguin, Louis Desoutter, Drzewiecki, Madame Dumien, Ecole d'Horlogerie de Geneve, Ecole d'Horlogerie de Paris, Frodsham Ltd., Garde-Meuble National, E. Gelis, Glinel, G. da Graça, Comte Emmanuel de Guitaut, Baron Gabrirel de Gunzburg, Hatot, Baron Hottinguer, Fabriques Invicta, Jameson, F. Lammot-Belin, Madame Lamy, Comtesse de la Panouse, Madame de la Rinière, Paul Lefébure, Louis Leroy, Lionet, Mackenzie, Comte de Monceau, Harold Haydn Morris, Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Olivier, Prince Orloff, Comte Albert de Pourtales, Comtesse Pozzo di Borgo, Comte de Ribes, Comte de Roseberry, Baron Robert de Rothschild, Sir David Salomons, A. M. Scott, Esq., Laurent Seguin, Edgar de Spiegl, Duc de Sotomayer, Dimitri de Sverbiew, Ternanx-Compans, Whitechurch, Zolotnitzki, Mademoiselle Barrachin, Paul Boyer, Bureau des Longitudes, Château de la Malmaison, Madame Comte, F. Astley Cooper, Col. J.-B. Forbes, Madame Fournier-Tampe, Comte de Larenty-Tholozan, Madame Frédéric Le Comte, Mac Coll, Comte G. de Montebello, Madame de Noblens, Charles Piaget. Archibald Propert, the Honorable Lady Reid, Madame Ed. des Robert, Amiral de Saint-Pair, Marquise de Sassenay, Service Hydrographique, Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, Miss Jasmine Eva Bourke, and the writer.
 This list of over 80 names I have deliberately enumerated to convey in some measure the great esteem in which this master's work is held.

 More than 267 [Breguet] pieces were shown and no two quite alike, but all beautiful in proportions and exquisite in workmanship. Of the many complicated watches so well designed and executed it only needs to be observed how they have retained their functions for more than a hundred years to proclaim their perfection.

NB. given the 1923 Breguet expo catalog's dearth of pictures (23 timepieces are pictured in the catalog [16 planches] & the scant pictures are B&W), the reader is invited to imagine the breadth & belle of the Paris expo from a sample of ≈100 watches lent to the expo by Breguet collectionneurs noting collectionneurs I, II, III & IV exclude watches from the David Salomons' collection (see Part 2 b). Sundry watches pictured with their Georgian & Romantic owners.

Note: the ≈100 Breguet clocks & watches noted represent less than one-half of the Breguet timepieces displayed at the 1923 Paris expo.

Sammler sind glückliche Menschen.
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The 1923 Breguet Musée Galliera expo featured a score of watches listed as Chronomètre de Marine, Horloge Marine or Montre Marine: Breguet N^os. 273, 346, 1499, 1797, 2441, 3033, 3073, 3124, 3125, 3218, 3297, 4128, 4535, 4654, 4807, 4815, 4847, 4841, 4871 & 5108—11 of which were lent by École d'Horlogerie de Paris. Abraham Breguet was presented the title of d'Horloger de la Marine Royal in October, 1815—the November 8 Journal des Debats notes the event…

— Le Roi, par une ordonnance en date du 25 [27] octobre a conferé le titre d'horloger de la marine à M. Bréguet, membre adjoint du Bureau des Longitudes.

Sniffing out a régulateur astronomique: the 1923 Centenaire de A.L. Breguet expo catalog N^o. 266 lent by Service Hydrographique reads:

The “expedition” was the last voyage of French explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville (1790–1842) aboard the Astrolabe in 1838 and according to Montres Breguet SA “[Breguet 4367] became the very first time measurement instrument to reach Antarctica in January, 1840.” The Adélie penguin was named after Dumont d'Urville's wife Adèle. The author's dogged search for a picture of Breguet N^o. 4367 has been in vain—the only reference to Breguet N^o. 4367 located was the January, 1853 Annales hydrographiques: Recherches sur les variations de la marche des pendules et des chronomètres (page 189), namely a table of observations entitled: Pendule du Dépot N^o 4367 Breguet.

When I do count the clock that tells the time,
And see the brave day sunk in hideous night;
When I behold the violet past prime,
And sable curls, all silvered o'er with white;
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
And nothing 'gainst Time's scythe can make defence
Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence.
Sonnet 12

Pictured below: Louis Breguet lent a clock to the 1923 expo: catalog N^o. 7 Pendule bronze. Amour soutenant cadran.—sans further description the author assumes the clock is a Breguet Putti clock (pendule à l'enfant), examples: Breguet N^o. 2472 (1824), Thomire patinated bronze, 770 francs & Breguet N^o. 2425 (1809), Thomire gilt bronze, 1,400 francs. Pierre-Philippe Thomire (1751–1843) was one of the finest bronziers of the French First Empire—Thomire's work can be seen in other Breguet clocks such as the Pendule Pyramidale clocks N^o. 449 (1827) & N^o. 452 (1805) with small-seconds and mercury compensated pendulum—both clocks with classical figures & lions and N^o. 454 (1819), Thomire bronzes Génie et Prudence. Pierre-Victor Ledure (1783–1870) a contemporary French bronzier of Thomire also did bronze work for Breguet clocks such as N^o. 661 (1817) Pendule Pyramidale with Turkish dial and ormulu lyres.

Pictured above: Breguet (sans number) Metronome clock (Conservatoire National de Arts et Métiers), Breguet N^o. 1651 (1804) (Comte de Lareinty-Thoozan), Breguet N^o. 825 Pendule Pyramidale, Patience and Prudence bronzes de Thomire (Bureau des Longitudes). Breguet N^o. 5 (1822) Pendule Sympathique by Rabi, élève de Breguet (montre N^o. 722) (David Salomons). Breguet N^o. 3135 (1819) Grande & petite sonnerie (David Salomons). Breguet N^o. 20 (1834) Pendule Sympathique (Garde-Meuble National). All six clocks appeared in the 1923 Breguet expo.

A Mystery: The Swiss newspaper L'Impartial dated October 27, 1923 features a clock with a Breguet statuette in an article Encore Abram-Louis Breguet—A propos d'un drame regarding the premier of the 1923 Breguet Paris expo—such a clock is listed (sans picture) in the 1923 Musée Galliera expo catalog as N^o. 241 lent by Etablissements Breguet: “Pendule marbe et bronze, avec buste d'Abram-Louis Breguet. Bernard Roobaert in Les mentions historiques de Breguet (pg. 23) notes N^o. 117-Pendule. Buste de Bréguet⁶⁷ appearing in Catalogue des modèles de bronzes (fabrique de M. L. Jeannest) (Paris, 1837). Bernard Roobaert's footnote 67: “Lors de l'Exposition de 1923 au Musée Galliéra, la Maison Breguet a exposé une « pendule marbre et bronze, avec buste d'Abram-Louis Breguet » (n^o 241), sur laquelle nous n'avons pas d'autres renseignements.” is the L'Impartial clock catalog N^o. 241?

Part 2 b

Of the 100+ Breguets lent to the 1923 Paris expo by Sir David Salomons only a handful of watches and a clock (Breguet N^o. 2793) are pictured in the 1923 expo catalog but noteworthy are three watches: Planche VII Breguet N^o. 160 “Marie Antoinette (1755–1793)”, Planche X Breguet N^o. 92 “Duc de Praslin (1756–1808)” and Planche VIII Breguet N^o. 2794 “le Roi Loius XVIII (1755–1824)”. It's an understatement to say David Salomons' watches were a cornerstone of the Musée Galliera Paris expo rather it was akin to Atlas holding up the world.

Louis Charles Breguet (1880–1955) (Président du Comité exècutif du centenaire Breguet) in his October 25, 1923 speech at the Inauguration au Musée Galliera de l'Exposition Breguet singles out David Salomons (nb David Salomons was vice-president of the Breguet centenary committee)…

En tout premier lieu, je citerai Sir David Salomons, dont le château de Broom Hill constitue un musée magique, où il a rassemblé les pièces lés plus rares dues à l'ingéniosité humaine.
En effet, sans la magnifique collection de Sir David Salomons, notre exposition aurait été privée de nombre de ses principaux joyaux; qu'il me suffise de vous apprendre qu'à lui seul il possède plus de cent spécimens des œuvres de mon grand ancêtre et que parmi ceux-ci se trouvent ses principaux chefs-d'œuvre, tels la montre de Marie-Antoinette et celle du duc de Praslin.

Sir David Salomons, en connaisseur averti, séduit par la perfection des œuvres du grand horloger que nous célébrons, les a, depuis de longues années, non seulement patiemment recherchées, mais les a étudiées et a rédigé et fait éditer à leur sujet un livre remarquable et unique où il en explique les particularités et les beautés.

November 30, 1923 Supplément au Bulletin Municipal Officiel de la Ville de Paris

First and foremost, I will mention Sir David Salomons, whose Broom Hill Castle is a magical museum, where he has collected the rarest pieces of human ingenuity. Indeed, without the magnificent collection of Sir David Salomons, our exhibition would have been deprived of many of its principal gems; let it suffice to inform you that he alone possesses more than a hundred specimens of the works of my great ancestor and that among these are his principal masterpieces, such as the watch of Marie-Antoinette and that of the Duke of Praslin. Sir David Salomons, as a well-informed connoisseur, seduced by the perfection of the works of the great watchmaker that we celebrate, has not only patiently researched them for many years, but has studied them and written and published a remarkable and unique book about them where he explains its peculiarities and beauties—Louis Breguet

David Salomons' regard of Breguet's mechanical wizardry and appreciation of Breguet's aethestic flair kindled by Sir David's long pursuit of science and fervid fealty to beauty made a Breguet watch, like a flame beckoning a moth, irresistable to the seemingly insatiable collector.

Per sviluppare una mente completa studia la scienza dell'arte, studia l'arte della scienza. Sviluppa i tuoi sensi, impara soprattutto a vedere. Comprendi che tutto è connesso.
— Leonardo da Vinci

The May 10, 1924 L'œuvre Journal notes David Salomons' donation of Breguet N^o. 92 “Duc de Praslin” to the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers…Breguet N^o. 92 was collection N^o. 114 in the 1923 Paris expo.

Un don au Conservatoire National
des Arts et Métiers

Le grand amateur d'art, sir David Lionel Salomons, avait prêté, l'année dernière, sa merveilleuse collection de montres pour la faire figurer à l'exposition organisée au musée Galliera à l'occasion du centenaire d'Abraham-Louis Breguet.
Sir David Salomons, qui est de longue date un ami de la France, a tenu à donner une nouvelle preuve des sentiments qui raniment à l'égard de notre pays entaisant, don au Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, d'une des pièces les plus remarquables de sa collection.
Il s'agit d'une montre due à Bréguet, datant de 1783, et qui fut vendue, au duc de Praslin, le 11 thermidor an 13; elle comporte une double face, boîte d'or gravée; d'un côté, cadran émail blanc, avec calendrier perpétuel, équation et secondes indépendantes; de l'autre côté, grand cadran en or très finement ciselé, comportant les phases de la lune.

Cette œuvre de Bréguet figurera en bonne place auprès de celles que possède déjà, le Musée du Conservatoire.

A donation to the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts: The great art lover, Sir David Lionel Salomons, had lent his marvelous collection of watches last year to be included in the exhibition organized at the Galliera museum on the occasion of the centenary of Abraham-Louis Breguet. Sir David Salomons, who has long been a friend of France, wanted to give further proof of the feelings that rekindle our country's feelings, by donating to the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, one of the most most remarkable in his collection. It is a watch due to Breguet, dating from 1783, and which was sold to the Duke of Praslin on 11 Thermidor, Year 13; it features a double-sided, engraved gold box; on one side, white enamel dial, with perpetual calendar, equation and independent seconds; on the other side, a large, very finely chiseled gold dial, showing the phases of the moon. This work by Breguet will feature prominently alongside those already owned by the Musée du Conservatoire.

To acknowledge the gift of Breguet N^o. 92 the Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers presented a commemorative plaque to David Salomons—the plaque is mentioned in the 1968 David Salomons House: Collection of Mementos inventoried by M. D. Brown.

Henri-Auguste Patey (1855–1930)

244 Plaque: Silvered bronze. 6-8 X 4-9 cm. Obverse legend: "Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers', with an aerial view of the Conservatoire, and below: "Sir David Lionel Salomons 1924.' Reverse legend: "Principia—Invenit—Describit—Machinas—Artes—Demonstrat—Docet—Omnes', with an allegorical group, signed: A. Patey. Salomons loaned his collection of Breguet watches and clocks to the Musee Galliera, Paris, for the Breguet centenary exhibition held in October 1923. The following May he presented to the Conservatoire a Breguet watch 1783.

Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers
commemorative plaque

A.-L. Breguet and his Milieu

Princess (Salm-Reifferscheid-Dyck) Constance de Salm, née Constance de Théis (1767–1845): French poet and woman of letters

Readers will remember an engraving from Emmanual Breguet's Breguet Watchmakers Since 1775 (pg. 184–185) with the caption…

‘A soirée at the home of Princess Constance de Salm in 1806’: in this eclectic Parisian salon under the Empire, Breguet met many of the great artists and thinkers of his time, including Girodet, Houdon and Talma.

…the engraving is Une soiree chez la Princesse Constance de Salm en 1806 by Ambroise Tardieu (1778–1841) after a drawing by Antoine Chazal (1793–1854)—the drawing features the principal guests of the Salon de Constance: Breguet is N^o. 9 among the 39 figures in the drawing; a † in the displayed legend indicates the person appears in the larger collage. The Salon de Constance is symbolic of the company of literati, painters, sculptors, poets, mathematicians, astronomers, politicos etc. that Breguet kept and emphasizing Breguet was a scientist and artist in his own right.

1. M^me la Psse de Salm †
2. M^lle sa fille
3. Le Pce de Salm
4. Vigée †
5. Martini
6. Mentelle
7. Pinkerton †
8. Langlois †
9. Breguet †
10. Prony †
11. La Lande
12. Thurot
13. Clavier †
14. Gohier †
15. Andrieux †
16. Lemontey †
17. Courrier †
18. La Chabeaussière
19. Lantier
20. Ginguené †
21. M^me Dufresnoy †
22. Raboteau
23. Gudin †
24. Millin †
25. Talma †
26. Houdon †
27. Girodet †
28. Say †
29. Naigeon
30. Guérin †
31. Laya †
32. Pajou
33. Vernet †
34. H. Duval
35. Ale Duval †
36. Amaury Duval †
37. De Humboldt †
38. de Candolle †
39. de Jussieu †

Princesse Constance de Salm kept a liber amicorum from 1809–1841—Constance de Salm in a dedication poem begs her many friends to contribute to the “List of Friends”. Abraham Breguet's dedication appears in the album amicorum on page 272—Dédicaces et une montre Breguet—and further appears on page 166 in a drawing by Jean Jacques Lagrenee the Younger (1739–1821). The Liber Amicorum of the Princess of Salm resides in the collection of the Louvre.

Note: the Constance de Salm Liber amicorum was offered as lot 163 in the October 2021 Sotheby's sale: Autour de la Princesse de Salm, Arts et littérature and was acquired by the Louvre in 2021 (Mode d'acquisition: achat). The Book of Friends was last owned by doctor and historian Jean-François Lemaire (1930–2021)—the doctor's possesssion of the Book of Friends was two-steps removed from the family of Constance de Salm.

I count myself in nothing else so happy
As in a soul rememb'ring my good friends
— Richard II, 2.3.46-47

RAVISSANT ALBUM AMICORUM DE CONSTANCE DE SALM DÉDIÈ À SES AMIS ET
"À TOUS CEUX QUI AIMENT OU CULTIVENT LES LETTRES, LES SCIENCES OU LES ARTS".

"Venés amis, je vous appelle! Sur mon album inscrivés vous!
d'une gloire toujours nouvelle, qu'il devienne un titre pour vous!
dans un excès de modestie, gardés vous bien, je vous en prie,
de m'affliger par un refus; Car ce livre qui nous rassemble
Va nous faire rester ensemble, Même quand nous ne serons plus […]


Ah! puissent des feuilles légères, Résister à la faulx du temps,
Et de nos heures passagères, fixer quelques heureux instants […]"

Constance de Salm Liber amicorum (page 166): portrait of Breguet by Jean Jacques Lagrenee the Younger
Constance de Salm Liber amicorum (page 2): Poème dédicatoire de Constance de Salm
Constance de Salm Liber amicorum (page 272): Breguet's dedication in the form of a watch

Part 3

Sir David Lionel Goldsmid-Stern-Salomons (1851–1925)
Belle Époque Renaissance-man

David Salomons, certainly a Breguet-spiritual avatar and the keystone if not the bedrock of the 1923 Musée Galliera Breguet expo, harboured a cultural profundity and civic sagacity relegating Salomons' Breguets to just so many old watches (so-to-speak)—science, politics, motor-cars, philanthropy, the gamut of art: paintings, sculpture, engravings & etchings and books…many, many books—it is hoped the tidbits regarding the Victorian polymath gathered by the author will spark further curiosity about Sir David Salomons.

NB. Royal warrant (May 13, 1899) permitted David Salomons to use the surnames Goldsmid and Stern in addition to and before that of Salomons—Salomons added the surnames to honor Salomons' inlaws: Hermann Jacon Stern (1815–1887) & Julia (nee Goldsmid) Stern (1823–1899). Hermann de Stern was one of the richest men in England—according to the February 3, 1888 Aberdeen Evening Express Baron Hermann de Stern's “net personal property in England is stated to amount to £3,541,366 19s 11d”.

David Salomons was in the forefront of promoting the early automobile in England—first president of the Royal Automobile Club David Salomons organized the first horseless carriage (automobile) exhibition in England (1895) in Tunbridge Wells near Broomhill. The Kent & Sussex Courier (18 October 1895) headline regarding the horseless carriage exhibition: “CARRIAGES WITHOUT HORSES AT TUNBRIDGE WELLS. Will horses of the future be fed open petroleum instead of oats?”

David Salomons appears in the 1913 Representative Subjects of the King (“Dod's Peerage”)—the profile lists Sir David as a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, The Chemical Society, the Geological Society and the Physical Society of London, an Associate-Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers and past Vice-President of the Institution of Electrical Engineers. Also stated in the profile: “[Sir David] takes special pride in his fine library, which contains many of the most beautiful books extant, especially Eighteenth Century French illustrated books, early English illustrated books…his clubs are the Athenaeum, the Carlton, the City of London, the Kent…and the Royal Societies.”

Man, a mere inhabitant of the earth,
cannot overstep its boundaries!
But though he is confined to its crust,
he may penetrate into all its secrets.
— Jules Verne

David Salomons was profiled in the March 1897 issue of The Stand Magazine in the regular Strand Magazine feature: Portraits of Celebrities at Different Ages…

SIR DAVID SALOMONS
Born 1851

SIR DAVID L SALOMONS, as is well known, has devoted the greater part of his life to the pursuits of science. From University College, London, he proceeded to Caius College, Cambridge, where he graduated in the Natural Science Tripos, his tastes tending rather towards physical science than pure mathematics, A thorough theoretical knowledge did not satisfy him, and consequently he visited workshops worked with the men, and thus gained a deep insight into the practical part of his profession.* Moreover, his uncle, the late Sir David Salomons, Bart, the first Jewish Lord Mayor of London, provided him with a laboratory where he could study the subjects in which he was so deeply interested. Sir David is, perhaps, as well-remembered for his distinctive attitude on the “Woman's Rights” question by his “Address to the Ladies of England,” which was the means of opening several new fields for female employment, as for his scientific achievements and his many successful inventions. He is the author of many scientific papers, which he has read before scientific assemblies. Sir David has worked hard as a county magistrate, being a J.P. for Kent, Sussex, Middlesex, Westminster, and London; has been several times elected Mayor of Tunbridge Wells; is an Associate of the Institute of Civil Engineers; Manager of the Royal Institution of Great Britain; and is, of course, highly connected with many other prominent scientific societies and institutions. Sir David has recently taken great interest in what may now be called the great motor-car movement.

A succinct albeit detailed biography of David Salomons appears in the April 24, 1925 Kent & Sussex Courier full-page article: “Death of Sir David Salomons”—the section regarding Breguet…

His latest interest collector was in connection with the recent Centenary of Breguet, the French watchmaker, in which Sir David revived his youthful enthusiasm in watchmaking very practical form. Sir David wrote the only standard work on the life of Breguet, and this was published few years ago, and republished in a French edition for the Centenary celebration. It was remarked in various Parisian journals at the time that it was singular fact that it should left an Englishman to be the biographer of a great Frenchman. In England Sir David's important contribution to horology was recognised by his election member the Court of Clockmakers' Company. Sir David has perhaps the largest collection extant of the wonderful watches made by Breguet a century ago, and those who have had the privilege visiting the Broomhill library will remember the encyclopaedic knowledge with which Sir David would discuss the “brains” in the mechanism of a Breguet watch or the artistic beauty of workmanship hidden in an etching by eighteenth century French engraver. Sir David was an authority on the work of Choffard [Pierre-Philipp, 1730–1809], Gravelot [Hubert-François, 1699–1773] and Eisen [Charles-Dominique-Joseph, 1720–1778] (on which three great artists his daughter, Vera, published monologues, illustrated with brilliant examples from her father's collection), and an hour in the Broomhill library, if one had the good fortune to find Sir David among the great French illustrators, was in itself a liberal education.

The Will of Sir David Salomons was published in the June 26, 1925 Kent & Sussex Courier—the reader is directed to the disposition of Salomons' Breguet watches and clocks…

WILL OF SIR DAVID SALOMONS

To the Bibliotheque Nationale de France, “in memory of the kindness and courtesy I have always received in that country” his collection of engravings, drawings, water-colours, etchings, lithographs…

His collection of Breguet watches and clocks to his wife for life (with the power to dispose of any of them during her life if should see fit), with remainder his daughter, Vera Bryce, and his other trinkets and articles virtu to his wife for life, and then his other clocks to his daughter, Vera Bryce, and the balance of these articles between his daughters, Dame Maud Blunt and Vera Bryce…

£1,000 to his gardener, James Roberts; £800 to his head coachman, Walter Nunn [nb. Mr. Nunn also received £1,500 upon Mrs. Salomons' death in 1935]…£100 and an annuity of £52 to Henry Fenner, carpenter of Southborough…

£50 “my oldest friend,” Henry Merton; £250 to Edmond Thomas Simmonds. He stated that these legacies were made not with view of giving petuniary benefit to the recipient, “but simply that they should know that I feel gratitude for any services they may have rendered me, or for friendship and their pleasant company in times gone by.”…

He further directed that no useless expense be incurred for a ceremony, which does good to no one, living or dead.

The Will is dated August, 1924 (with one codicil) executors being Dame Laura Julia Goldsmid-Stern Salomons and Colonel Edward Bryce.

Amongst the prints bequeathed to Bibliotheque Nationale de France were Salomons' Choffard engravings & etchings for which Salomons had a particular fondness as witnessed by David Salomons' forward to Vera Salomons' monograph: Choffard (1888)…

Catalogue of the Collection of Pictures, Engravings, Etchings and Sculpture at Broomhill, Kent (1881): David Salomons' art collection as listed in the 1881 inventory consisted of ≈200 paintings & watercolors, 60+ engravings & etchings and a baker's dozen of sculptures—a large slice of the paintings & watercolors came from Sir David Salomons 1^st Baronet; the catalog notes: “In bequeathing the pictures to his Nephew [2^nd Baronet], he [1^st Baronet] expressed the hope that he would not part with the possession of them.”

Domus sine libris est corpus sine anima.
— Marcus Tullius Cicero

Catalogue of the Library at Broomhill, Tunbridge Wells MCMXVI: David Salomons collection of books eclipsed the Breguets, paintings, engravings etc. by manyfold; the 1916 library catalog contains 5,000+ entries representing ≈10,000 books—the “most important” part of the collection being the finest available Illustrated Books made in England and France.

David Salomons' most beloved books were French illustrated books of the Great Period 1740–1790, taking pride of place: Les Métamorphose d'Ovide (Banier edition), Choix de Chansons (La Borde), Les Baisers (Dorat) & Contes et Nouvelles en Vers (La Fontaine). Regarding French illustrated books David Salomons comments in the 1916 library catalog introduction—many say the same regarding A.-L. Breguet's œuvre…

The great “English Period for Illustrated Books being from 1810 to 1850”, David Salomons' 19^th century English illustrated books numbered almost all the works by George Cruickshanks and a large selection of books illustrated by “Alken, Leech, Bewisk and Turner”.

Vera Salomons bequeathed three-score of her father's Breguet timepieces to the L.A. Memorial Mayer Institute for Islamic Art (now the Museum for Islamic Art): along with the Breguets were seven personalized watches of her father as witnessed by sundry engravings and inscriptions. Five Leroy & Cie watches were engraved with the coat-of-arms of David Salomons 2^nd Baronet (WA: 17-70, 20-70, 21-70, 22-70 & 24-70). WA-14-70 engraved with the coat-of-arms of David Salomons 1^st Baronet is inscribed: Return to Sir David [Lionel] Salomons Broomhill Tunbridge Wells; WA-15-70 is similarly inscribed.

Note: watches WA-21-70, WA-14-70, WA-17-70 & WA-15-70 (lots 242, 241, 240 & 222) were to appear in the Sotheby's London October 28, 2020 Auctions of Islamic Art and Watches & Vertu to benefit the L.A. Mayer Museum For Islamic Art; the four lots were withdrawn.

In addition to the almost 60 Breguet timepieces from the David Salomons collection ≈ 130 assorted timepieces from the Salomons collection were donated to the L.A. Mayer Museum for Islamic Art by Vera Salomons (please see Watches & Clocks in the Sir David Salomons Collection, George Daniels & Ohannes Markarian, 1980). A sample of the non-Breguet watches donated to the museum…

In 1921 David Salomons was admitted (by redemption) to the Freedom & Livery of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers (Horological Journal, November, 1921) and in 1924 elected to the Court of the City Company of Clockmakers (Kent & Sussex Courier, January 18, 1924). The Horological Journal (February, 1922) notes a donation of a clock-watch and the September, 1924 Horological Journal notes a set of eight watches donated to the Clockmakers Company by Sir David Salomons…

They presently saw a town before them, and the name of that town is Vanity; and at the town there is kept a fair, called Vanity Fair; it is kept all the year long; it beareth the name of Vanity Fair, because the town where it is kept is lighter than vanity; and also because all that is there sold, or that cometh thither, is vanity.
— The Pilgrims Progress: John Bunyan

All is vanity, nothing is fair
— William Makepeace Thackeray

Readers may be familiar with the 1908 Vanity Fair portrait of David Salomons by Spy (Sir Leslie Ward)—Leslie Ward (1851–1922) drew 1,000+ caricatures for Vanity Fair over forty years. The original watercolor for the Vanity Fair portrait is listed in the 1968 David Salomons House: Collection of Mementos (M. D. Brown). Only three items in the Collection of Mementos regard Breguet: items # 483 & # 485 (the 1921 and 1923 editions of Salomons' Breguet book) and item # 244 related to Breguet N^o. 92 “Duc de Praslin”. From the preface to David Salomons House Catalogue of Mementos…

Entry 225 regarding the Vanity Fair portrait from David Salomons House Catalogue of Mementos…the drawing of Spy by Jean de Paleologu (PAL) appeared in Vanity Fair, 23 November 1889.

225 Sir D. L. Salomons, Bt. PLATE VII

The original water-colour of Spy's cartoon published in Vanity Fair, 17th June 1908. Autograph signatures of Spy (Sir Leslie Ward) and Sir D. L. Salomons.

Students of electrical matters remember Sir David Lionel Goldsmid-Stern-Salomons chiefly as the unkind author of three appallingly solid volumes on electrical installations. Eleven editions of this unappetising stuff have been assimilated by the youthful aspirants of our Technical Colleges, and a similar fate seems to be in store for further editions and future students. But his home at Tunbridge Wells is a modern magician's cave, with electricity to play the part of the good genie, and his science theatre, though usually patronised by venerably musty savants, would send a child into raptures…

The horologically-minded reader associates David Salomons with Breguet but David Salomons came to Breguet in the last decade of his life—for most of Salomons' life Sir David was known (or reknowned) for his scientific pursuits, notably electricity and it was Electricity that was the caption beneath the Vanity Fair portrait. A review of Electric Light Installations and the Management of Accumulators: A Practical Handbook in Science (March 1890) notes…

La curiosité est le fruit des premières connaissances.

La langue du coeur est universelle: il ne faut que de la sensibilit´ pour l'entendre et pour la parler.

— Acajou et Zirphile (1744) de Charles Pinot Duclos

From time-to-time illustrated books with the David Lionel Salomons provenance appear in auction; two examples from Sotheby's: 2019 (William Blake) and 2014 (Charles Duclos, François Boucher illustrator)…the Sotheby's auction descriptions along with David Salomons' 1916 library catalog entries…

AUTHOR'S NOTE: David Salomons' regard of Illustrated Books of the great periods—French (1740–1790) & English (1810–1850)—may help explain Salomons' appreciation of the great period of Breguet watches—a score of years before and after 1800—in the introduction to the 1916 Library Catalog regarding the French Illustrators David Salomons writes…

…foremost David Salomons considered Breguet an artist sui generis and the singular beauty of Breguet's œuvre peerless—unrivaled before, and unlikely to be matched after, the Golden Period of Breguet; aside from the rare comet, centuries hence A.-L. Breguet's star has yet to be outshone.

Abraham Breguet makes an appearance in Otto Spamer's 1886 Das Buch der Erfindungen, Gewerbe und Industrien from “Our German Land and People”—the frontispiece of volume IV (8^th edition) is a woodcut (after Ludwig Burger) featuring Johann Friedrich von Boettger (discoverer of porcelain), Peter Vischer (sculptor), A.-L. Breguet (watchmaker) & Johann Friedrich August Borsig (Borsig-Werke factory). The frontispiece is in the manner of many of Ludwig Burger's collages of historical persons (e.g. the European Kings and the Caesars).

Ludwig Burger (b. Krakow, 1825–1884): German historical illustrator and wood engraver

The decidedly Swiss/French A.-L. Breguet's inclusion with the decidedly German von Boettger, Vischer and Borsig in Ludwig Burger's illustration in a book entitled Unser Deutsches Land und Volk seems a quirk but during most of Breguet's lifetime Neuchâtel was under Prussian auspices (Neuchâtel become a canton of Switzerland in 1848)—at least in the case of Unser Deutsches Land und Volk Germany adopted Breguet as their own.

Frederick I of Prussia (1657–1713)
Frederick William I of Prussia (1688–1740): prince of Neuchâtel (1713–1740)
Frederick the Great, King of Prussia (1712–1786): prince of Neuchâtel (1740–1786)
Frederick William II of Prussia (1744–1797): sovereign prince of the Canton of Neuchâtel (1786–1797)
Louis-Alexandre Berthier (1753–1815): prince of Neuchâtel (1806–1814) under Napoleon
Frederick William III of Prussia (1770–1840): sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel (1797–1806 and 1813–1840)

Part 4

Breguet (1747–1823) by Sir David Salomons
Translated by Louis Desoutter
Pot-pourri

A lasting relic of the 1923 Breguet centenary and the Musée Galliera Breguet expo is the 1923 French edition of David Salomons's 1921^† tour-de-force Breguet (1747–1823)—the 1923 book was ad hoc translated (Louis Desoutter) and printed in conjunction with Breguet's centenary; the book limited to 550 copies was sold in Paris through Mm. Breguet (2, Rue Edouard VII). As with the 1921 English edition the book was privately printed nearby Broomhill by the “Kent and Sussex Courier” company.

If the reader needs proof of the book's grandness: the book fanned the watch-flame of Thomas Engel (1927–2015), watchmaker in his own right, notable Breguet collector (20+ Salomons Breguets) and author of the lush A.-L. Breguet: Watchmaker to Kings…QED…

† Salomons' 1921 book (volume [250 pages] and supplement [50 pages]) was limited to 1,000 copies in light-blue wrappers; photographes of the watches were taken by Louis Desoutter.

‡ The bronze portrait sculpture of Abraham Breguet appearing as the frontispiece in Breguet (1747–1823) was created by Breguet's comtemporary Jean Antoine Houdon (1741–1828)—Houdon was the foremost portrait sculptor of the French Enlightenment. The original model of Houdon's Breguet sculpture is in the Bibliothèque de l'Observatoire de Paris.

For books are not absolutely dead things, but do contain a potency of life in them to be as active as that soul was whose progeny they are; nay, they do preserve as in a vial the purest efficacy and extraction of that living intellect that bred them.
— Areopagitica: John Milton

The 1923 French Breguet book differs from the English version—aside from being written in a more romantic language—mainly regarding the addition of a baker's dozen of watches not appearing in the 1921 edition. The French version also contains David Salomons' heartfelt praise of the book's translater: Louis Desoutter…

Note: there were 5–6 Breguet watches in the David Salomons' collection appearing in neither the English nor French Breguet (1747–1823)—two of which are Breguet N^o. 4775 (1828) and Breguet N^o. 2568 (1818). Both watches appeared in Christie's “The Celebrated Collection of Watches by Breguet formed by the Late Sir David Salomons”…

The first print advertisement for Breguet (1747–1823) the author could locate is in the August, 1921 Horological Journal—the book and its supplement cost 63 shillings; Henry Willock Ravenshaw seems to take umbrage at the expense in the April, 1923 Horological Journal article entitled “Some Notes on the Preparation of a Lecture on Old Watches”…

BREGUET,

(1747–1823)
BY
Sir David Lionel Salomons, Bt.

A history of his life, with description of many examples of his work—fully illustrated in photographic plates.

A volume of particular interest and supreme importance to collectors, BREGUET having been the greatest artificer in the world of Horology, and the maker of the most superb and scientific watches of the period.

This volume is, and must remain, the one authority on the subject of which it treats.

J. & E. BUMPUS Ltd.,
350, Oxford Street,
London, W.

La lecture nous apporte des amis inconnus.
— Honoré de Balzac

Lt.-Commander Rupert T. Gould (1890–1948; author of the magisterial The Marine Chronometer and its History and Development, 1923) reviews David Salomon's book Breguet (1747–1823) in the August, 1921 Horological Journal…commencing & concluding…

Almost a century after his death, there has at last appeared a worthy memorial of the life and work of one of the greatest of our old masters. All lovers of horology will owe a deep debt of gratitude to Sir David Salomons for this fascinating monograph. Although Breguet's culture and all-round ability would have fitted him admirably to be the Saunier or Beckett of his epoch as well as its foremost craftsman, yet during the whole of a long life (1747–1823) devoted solely to his art, he published nothing, and his fame has rested entirely upon the examples of his work which have come down to us…[Breguet] was the the Stradivarius of watchmaking, and Sir David puts the state of the account between Breguet and posterity very finely when he remarks, “To carry a fine Breguet watch is to feel that you have the brains of a genius in your pocket.”

NB. Gould's tone is less laudatory in the marginalia of The Marine Chronometer: “Those wishing to learn more about one of the greatest horological artists who ever lived should consult Sir David Salomons' beautiful monograph ‘Breguet’” though Gould notes in unpublished (at the time) marginalia: “Salomons' book is, I suppose, the standard one (because the only one) on Breguet—but it is only of real value as a catalogue raisonnée of the Salomons' collection. So far as it goes futher afield—especially on mechanical points—it // is of little value. (// indicates 2 loud bomb explosions.)“ [Humphrey Quill Annotated copy A]

The April 1922 La Nature in an article Le Centenaire de Breguet Léopold Reverchon mentions David Salomons' Breguet (1747–1823); the La Nature article was translated in the November, 1922 Jewelers Circular Horological Review…

Justqu à ce jour on ne possédait pas d'ouvrage relatif à l'œuvre de Breguet…Il vient de paraitre un volume simplement intitulé Breguet (1747–1823), dans lequel l'auteur donne 115 planches de reproductions d'œuvres du maître, avec des notices techniques, des indications permettant d'identifier les pièces et résumé de ce qu'on sait sur Breguet. Cette publication est due à un Anglais, grand ami de l'horlogerie, admirateur de Breguet dont il a réuni la plus remarquable collection de productions qui existe, Sir David Salomons…L'hommage qu'il vient de rendre à Breguet nous est d'autant plus précieux que, en France, personne n'y avait songé! (Léopold Reverchon)

Until now we have no publication relating to the work of Breguet…There will however, shortly be published a work entitled simply “Breguet (1747–1823),” in which the author gives 115 plates of reproductions of the master's work with technical notices, indications by which the pieces can be identified and a summary of what is known of Breguet. This publication we owe to an Englishman, a great friend of horology, an admirer of Breguet, who has gathered the most remarkable collections of his productions in existence, Sir David Salomons…The homage he [Salomons] is about to tender to Breguet is, moreover, more elaborate than any one in France has any idea of.

Un livre est un jardin, un verger, un entrepôt, une fête, une compagnie d'ailleurs, un conseiller, une multitude de conseillers.
— Charles Pierre Baudelaire

Léopold Reverchon (1869–1943) pens a touching review of David Salomons' Breguet book in the September 1922 Journal suisse d'horlogerie et de bijouterie entitled “Abraham-Louis Breguet. Le livere de Sir David Salomons.

Familiarisé avec l'œuvre, les procédés et la technique de l'illustre artiste [Breguet], Sir David Salomons en est devenu tout naturellement, d'abord le plus averti et le plus riche collectionneur, ensuite le plus affectueux des historiographes. Le livre qu'il a écrit sous le simple titre de Breguet (1747–1823), et dans lequel il donne la description et la figure d'une centaine des plus belles productions du maître, n'est pas en effet un catalogue. Dans le catalogue, le propriétaire d'une collection a surtout pour but de se faire valoir. On sent cette préoccupation. L'œuvre de Sir David Salomons est au contraire un hommage à la virtuosité du génie qui l'a séduit.

Il faudrait citer L'ouvrage de Sir David tout entier, si l'on voulait faire défiler devant les yeux du lecteur toutes les curiosités, toutes les originalités que nous permettent d'admirer les cent planches du volume et de son supplément. Notre intention étant seulement de signaler l'importance de cette splendide publication, nous n'en dirons pas plus long aujourd'hui. D'ailleurs, ii est probable que l'an prochain les admirateurs de Breguet et les amateurs de belle horlogerie pourront contempler à Paris, à l'occasion de la manifestation du centenaire, les pièces de la collection présentée dans Breguet (1747–1823).

Pour terminer ces notes, il me sera permis de remercier ici Sir David Salomons, véritablement l'animateur de cette glorification d'un homme qui fut, dans toute l'acception de la définition de

Berthoud, un architecte mèchaniste! Sir David ressemble par plus d'un point d'ailleurs à son héros. Ne nous dit-il pas au commencement de son livre: I was born a mechanic! J'étais né mécanicien. Nul n'était mieux que lui en état de comprendre Breguet. Il nous l'a fait bien voir.

Edward Verall (E. V.) Lucas (1868–1938) in “Breguet” from Giving & Receiving: Essays & Fantasies (1922) mentions Salomons' Breguet book in an essay about falling in love with Breguet watches…please note only sundry snippets from the essay are noted…the reader is coaxed to seek the essay in its fullness.

REFLECTIVE writers have remarked upon the curious circumstance that having met with a new word one then hears it continually. Not only is it true of words, but also of ideas and people. It was so with me and Breguet. I had lived for many years on this perplexing globe, not uninterested in a variety of things, before the name of the distinguished Frenchman ever fell upon my ear…

My neighbor placed in my hand a delicate neutral-tinted time-piece, slender and shy, with a small dial within the large one: a symphony in grey, silver and old gold. It made all the modern horological achievements which we others possessed look either very common or very assertive. “What a lovely thing!” I said. “It's a Breguet,” said he.

By this time I was an enthusiast, while a deep distaste for my own watch gradually possessed me. And then I heard of a Breguet for sale…

Meanwhile, although I did not know it, the printers of an English provincial paper were hard at work on a limited edition of a monograph on the great watch-maker by Sir David Salomons, who has been amassing examples of Breguet's skill for years, and a copy of this book—with the simple title Breguet—is now at my side, packed with photographs of every type of Breguet watch and telling of their creator all there is to know…

Surely at this day those few who are privileged to leam how late it is with the assistance of one of these silver-faced monitors, under a velvety glass, may be said to constitute a separate order of aristocracy? At least, we think so.

In reality, every reader is, while reading,
the reader of his own self.
— Marcel Proust

The January 18^th, 1924 Kent & Sussex Courier reports Sir David Salomons being elected to the Court of the City Company of Clockmakers in acknowledgement of David Salomons' benefaction to the “literature of horology”—namely the French translation of Breguet (1747–1823)…

Sir David Salomons, Bart., has been elected to the Court of the City Company of Clockmakers in recognition of his important contribution to the literature of horology in his “Life Breguet” the great French watchmaker of a century ago.

A French translation of this important work of over 300 pages, including many illustrations, has just been published in connection with the celebration of Breguet's centenary, and it is a remarkable fact that it has become the privilege of Englishman to give the French nation its standard work on the life and achievements of this eminent Frenchman, whose watches are still regarded as marvels of skilled craftsmanship, which is not being reproduced in the present day.

A Breguet watch is now the coveted possesion of connoiseurs, and the study their workmanship by Sir David Salomons constitutes a volume of great scientific interest and value.

The depth and breadth of David Salomons' Breguet (1747–1823) owe a debt of gratitude to Salomons' Catalog of the Library at Broomhill which contains 5,000+ entries inventorying 10,000+ books in David Salomons' library—compared to the Library Catalog the Breguet catalog seems children's play. An example of the detail found within the Library catalog are entry 3658, the 1768 Banier Ovid which Salomons considers the greatest French illustrated book of the Eighteenth Century and entry 2839, the 1773 La Borde's Choix de Chansons—maybe in Sir David's esteem the Marie Antoinette and Duc de Praslin of 18^th century French illustrated books.

For a reader of Salomons' Breguet (1747–1823) to truely appreciate the mindset of David Salomons regarding building a collection and cataloging said collection it is suggested the reader peruse the introduction of the Catalog of the Library at Broomhill (4^th edition, 1916) and page through, however cursory, the catalog itself—thus armed the Breguet book will reveal more of its author.

How doth the little busy bee
Improve each shining hour,
And gather honey all the day
From every opening flower!
— Divine and Moral Songs for Children
Isaac Watts (1715)

The author of the interminable, maundering morass in which the reader is now bogged down always thought David Salomons' Brequet book must have taken forever-and-a-day to write not to mention the photography of ≈100 watches—au contraire. David Salomons purchased his first Breguet in 1916 at age 65 and over the next 3–4 years obtained another 20 watches (a guess). According to Sir David in 1920 two uninjured Breguet collections of 16 and 52 watches were purchased, thus let us say in 1920 the Salomons' Breguet collection numbered ≈88 watches of which 68 watches were newcomers to the group (five Breguet clocks were also in the collection).

The English version of the book was published no later than April, 1921 (the preface is dated January, 1921)—therefore the writing, compiling, editing, photography, etc. (& printing) by David Salomons and Louis Desoutter had to be completed in less than one year noting the Supplement to the book proper was too published in 1921—busy bees indeed.

David Salomons' Breguet (1747–1823) was the forefather of the Breguet Fantastic Four of books, the remaining Super Heros being: Emmanual Breguet's Breguet, Watchmakers since 1775, George Daniels' The Art of Breguet and Thomas Engel's A. L. Breguet: Watchmaker to Kings—reading the quartet from stem-to-stern is a Breguet apprenticeship and an immeasurable delight—the books are best enjoyed on a winter's evening with a cup of tea and listening to Bach's Orgelbüchlein; it is neither folly nor fancy to hallow Breguet as the Bach of horology.

Final Words

Time, as he passes us, has a dove's wing,
Unsoil'd, and swift, and of a silken sound.
— The Winter Evening: William Cowper (1785)

Ten-score years since the passing of A.-L. Breguet neither contender nor pretender to Breguet's throne has emerged, a throne to be claimed nevermore…Abraham Louis Breguet painted beauty on the canvas of small silver discs, scribed poetry on golden cocoons, envinced talent writ small on mechanical marvels and finessed friendship across Europe (craftsman and prince alike)…it is unlikely the modern world will produce a Beethoven, Rembrandt, Shakesphere or Shelley—the world deserves none—equally unlikely modern horology will produce a Breguet; modern horology doesn't deserve one.

For the dogged reader, or the simply crazy reader, who labored, if not suffered, to the article's bitter end the author hopes the journey was pleasant and not unfruitful. The reader is left with Sir David Salomons' words at the end of Notes and Remarks from Salomons' 1921 Breguet…

Dear Reader: ≈100 Breguet timepieces appear (or are mentioned) in the article—the author has made every practical effort to correctly attribute dates of production, dates of sale, owners, retailers and collectors for the watches even in the face of conflicting documents but errors are bound to occur and for such mistakes the author apologizes. Please note in rare cases the author has expressed opinions that differ from dogma where the author has been convinced otherwise.

über-draft—not ready for publication

Addendum

Why did David Salomons include Breguet Pendule Sympathique N^o. 430 in his Breguet (1747–1823) book?

The game's afoot.

A wonderful clock appearing in David Salomons' 1921 (& 1923) Breguet (1747–1823) but not appearing in the 1923 Musée Galliera Paris expo is Breguet Pendule Sympathique N^o. 430 (montre N^o. 2787)—the 3^rd most expensive A.-L. Breguet ever sold—the clock does not appear to have belonged to David Salomons per se despite being assigned a Salomons' collection number (N^o. 104 [1921 book] & N^o. 2 [1923 book]) as Salomons notes in the clock's description: “The clock is the property of the Grand Duke of Leuchtenberg”. In the AUTHOR'S NOTE of the 1921 Supplement in which the clock appears David Salomons writes…

It always happens, when a book is published on a special subject, that many ideas and facts wake up which had long remained asleep. This little volume has proved no exception to the rule. Many watches and an interesting clock came to my notice, also several facts, all of which might have remained dormant for ever…but for this book.

…the “interesting clock” must be the Sympathique as it's the only clock appearing in the Supplement—Breguet Pendule Sympathique N^o. 430 as described in the 1923 Breguet (1747–1823)…

Anatole Demidoff, Prince de San-Donato (circa 1829) &
Breguet Sympathique N^o. 430

No. 2
Certificat No. 1816.   Pendule No. 430.   Montre No. 2787.
Vendu au Prince A. Demidoff, le 2 Novembre, 1830.
Prix 24,160 francs.

“PENDULE SYMPATHIQUE,” boite en bronze, style empire, ciselée et dorée verres sur le devant, les côtes et le fond. Paysages peints sur porcelaine sur les quatre faces de la base; celui de devant représente Constantinople. Échappement à tourbillon et à force constante. Deux spiraux hélicoïdaux en or, balancier compensateur, frottements en rubis. Mouvement à deux barillets et marchant deux jours. Avec cette pendule, la montre sympathique No. 2787, a répétition, boîte d'or guillochée, cadran d'argent, échappement à ancre, balancier compensateur, frottements en rubis. La montre est mise à l'heure et réglée (avance et retard) par la pendule, mais non remontée comme dans la pièce de Rabi; il faut done la remonter tous les jours.

REMARQUE—Cette pendule appartient au grand-duc de Leuchtenberg.

David Landes in a footnote (Masterpieces from the Asprey Collection, Volume One Abraham-Louis Breguet) writes of “Prince” Demidoff…

16. The title ‘Prince’ is not Russian. Anatole Demidoff purchased it along with the estate of San Donato near Florence…For his friends and the house of Breguet, Anatole became a prince. For the princes of the world, he was some kind of Russian nobleman whose title had no exact equivalent in Western European languages.

Breguet Sympathique N^o. 430 as shown in Breguet (1747–1823), Supplement page 29
Anatoly Demidov (1813–1870) & Mathilde Bonaparte (Princess of San Donato) — Pavel Pavlovich Demidov (1839–1885)
Nicholas Nikolaevich Duke of Leuchtenberg (reign 1890–1928) & Coat-of-Arms (morganatic)
Alexander Georgievich Duke of Leuchtenberg (reign 1912–1942) & Coat-of-Arms

The author is flummoxed by the Russian nobility and there seems a spate of Leuchtenberg dukes but it is guessed the Duke of Leuchtenberg—Cette pendule appartient au grand-duc de Leuchtenberg—mentioned in Salomons' Breguet book is Nicholas Nikolaevich of Leuchtenberg (1868–1928). Nicholas Nikolaevich after the Russian Revolution lived in exile at Château du Ruth in Sainte-Cécile-les-Vignes near Avignon, France until his death in 1928. Another guess is Alexander Georgievich (1881–1942) who too seems to have been the Duke of Leuchtenberg overlapping Nicholas Nikolaevich's reign—Alexander Georgievich died in exile on 26 September 1942 in Salies-de-Béarn, France. When and by what circumstances the Duke of Leuchtenberg (Nicholas Nikolaevich or Alexander Georgievich) obtained Breguet Pendule Sympathique N^o. 430 are unknown to the author as is the reason the clock appeared in Salomons' book.

The answer is never the answer.
What's really interesting is the mystery.
— Ken Kesey

Palais San Donato Sale 1880 Illustrated Catalogue:
Introdution pages to the catalog, L'Automne, superbe groupe en terre cuite, par Clodion (Lot # 1535, page 336–361),
Van Dyck, Portrait Du Comte De Stafford (Lot # 1081, page 217), Coello (Alfonzo Sanchez), Portrait D'une Infante (Lot # 1052, page 213) &
PENDULE SYMPATHIQUE DE BREGUET (lot # 1087, page 227)—sans picture

David Salomons notes (but does not identify) a sale catalog regarding the clock—the catalog noted is the March 1880 Palais de San Donato Catalogue des Objects d'Art in which Breguet N^o. 430 was sold (4,000 francs) by Paul Demidoff (Pavel Pavlovich Demidov, 1839–1885)…buried beneath the Rembrandts & a Vermeer, Clodion terracottas, Girardon bronzes and Japanese & Chinese porcelain the reader will find, sans picture, lot # 1087: Breguet Sympathique N^o. 430…described in the sale catalog as…

1087—PENDULE SYMPATHIQUE DE BREGUET.

Ce chronomètre est un véritable chef-dœuvre de Breguet.
Il a la forme d'une pendule à cage, avec quatre colonnes cannelées et ciselées, en bronze doré, et quatre émaux rectangulaires à la base; ils représentent des paysages. Le nom de sympathique a été donné à cette très remarquable pièce d'horlogerie, parce qu'elle porte au sommet une demi-lune dans laquelle se place la répétition qui, au moyen d'une détente, fait partir la sympathie de midi tous les jours à ladite heure, et l'heure de la montre à répétition est immédiatement réglée à midi juste. On peut se servir de cette montre comme d'une montre ordinaire.

Haut., o m. 26 cent.; larg., o m. 19 cent.

Palais San Donato Sale 1880 Illustrated Catalogue:
Rembrandt: (lot #s 1035, 1114, 1120, 1139 & 1146) & Vermeer (lot # 1124, The Geographer)

Palais San Donato Sale 1880 Illustrated Catalogue:
Japon Porcelaine (lot # 1167), Chine Porcelaine (lot # 1169), Clodion (Claude Michel) Teracottas (lot # 1439), François Girardon bronzes (Lot # 321 & 323)

Palais San Donato Sale 1880 Illustrated Catalogue:
Villa Demidoff, Plan du Rez-De-Chaussée, Plan du Premier Étage), Parri Spinelli (Lot # 368), François-Hubert Drouis (Lot # 1439)

It's notable that among the thousands of objects d'arte in the 1880 sale resided one of Breguet's magna opus and maybe the chef-d'œuvre of Breguet's clocks. According to the 1880 sale catalog which noted each items's location in the Villa Demidoff Breguet N^o. 430 was located in the Grande Galerie Flamande et Hollandiase on the first floor of the Palais de San Donato. The catalog included maps of the palace to guide visitors to items of interest: Nous avons suivi clans ce Catalogue l'ordre indique par la disposition meme des lieux, de maniere it faciliter it chacun la visite de cet immense palais le Catalogue a la main.

Frustra fit per plura quod potest fieri per pauciora.
— William of Occam

David Salomons Breguet (1747–1823) notes a M. Scherviez purchased Breguet Pendule Sympathique N^o. 430 (4,000 francs) from the San Donato sale (M. Scherviez is an enigma). William Bentinck Lethem Hawkins (1802–1894) British uber-Breguet collector (100+ Breguets at the time the Hawkins collection was auctioned in 1895) expressed a desire for a Sympathique as witnessed by a letter addressed to the Reverend from Edward Brown (Breguet)—making Rev. Hawkins aware of a pending chance to obtain a Sympathique.

Paris, le 2 Mars, 1880

Au Révérend W. B. Hawkins.

Mon Révérend,

Ci-inclus, veuillez trouver, etc… Je ne possède, pour l'instant, ni vieilles montres ni vieilles pendules Breguet, qui soient dignes de votre attention.
Quant à une pendule « sympathique », je crois qu'il serait fort difficile d'en trouver une à acheter, à moins que le prince Paul Demidoff, de San Donato, Florence, qui vend ce mois-ci son palais ainsi que toute sa collection, n'ait décidé de joindre la sienne à la vente. Cette pendule avait été vendue à son oncle le Prince Anatole Demidoff, en 1830, pour 24,160 francs, et elle est toujours en parfait état.
Edward Brown
(Successeur de Breguet)

The mysterious M. Scherviez — Pendule N^o. 2 Breguet (1747—1843), Pages 91–92
Christie, Manson & Woods: Catalogue of Objects of Art of Rev. W. Bentinck L. Hawkins (July, 1895) — Breguet Watches (lots 116–146)
Christie's Catalogue of the Valuable Collection of Objects of Art of Rev. W. Bentinck L. Hawkins (February, 1895) featured ≈ 100 Breguet watches
Rev. Hawkins Collection sundry Breguets: N^os. 155, 1580, 2959, 3746, 3833, 3871 & 4039

Note: the following Breguet watches in the David Salomons' collection appeared in the 1895 Rev. Hawkins sale: Breguet N^os. 179, 194, 574, 695, 1187, 1860, 1990, 2461, 2520, 2544, 2569, 2788, 2794, 3542, 4099, 4112, 4551, 4578, 4579 & 4863.

When you have eliminated all which is impossible then
whatever remains, however improbable,
must be the truth.
— Sherlock Holmes

As to how Breguet Pendule Sympathique N^o. 430 arrived in David Salomons' book it there may be a simple explanation: M. Schervies as a proxy or agent of Rev. Hawkins purchased the clock from the San Donato sale and the clock entered the Reverend's collection. By all accounts the clock appears neither in the February, 1895 or July, 1895 Christie, Mason & Woods Rev. Hawkins sale. Most likely the clock's appearance in Salomons' book was facilitated by Louis Desoutter—London nexus of all things Breguet—Louis Desoutter may have purchased the clock in a private-treaty outside the Hawkins' sale and at some point sold the clock to the Duke of Leuchtenberg. Note: a score of Breguets from the Reverend Hawkins collection arrived at the David Salomons collection via Louis Desoutter.

Note: a pencilled note in the Breguet Livre de Vente for No. 430 says 'Collection Hawkins' but the clock does not appear in Christie's catalogue of the VALUABLE COLLECTION OF OBJECTS OF ART, ETC., OF THE REV. W. BENTINCK L. HAWKINS, London, 1895. (Masterpieces from the Asprey Collection, Volume One Abraham-Louis Breguet)

Claude Breguet in the petite book A. L. Breguet Horologer (1962) writes: “The Sympathique clock, on which Breguet placed so many hopes, although they were dissappointed, was more a fancy than real progress.” C. Breguet attributes seven Sympathique clocks as having been made by Breguet, namely Brgeuet Sympathique N^os. 423, 757, 666, 430, 758, 257 & 128. Breguet in a June, 1795 letter to Antoine-Louis Breguet (1776–1858) writes of the Sympathique…

I have great pleasure my friend, in telling you that I have made a very important invention…I have invented a means of setting a watch to time, and regulating it, without anyone having to do it…This is how it works: you have a second clock or a marine arranged to receive the watch…every night on going to bed, you put the watch into the clock. In the morning, or one hour later, it will be exactly to time with the clock. It is not even necessary to open the watch…I expect from this the greatest promotion of our fame and fortune.

Some might think that the creativity,
imagination, and flights of fancy that
give my life meaning are insanity.
— Vladimir Nabokov

And whereas the mind of a man, when he gives the spur and
bridle to his thoughts, does never stop, but naturally sallies out
into both extremes, of high and low, of good and evil; his first
flight of fancy, commonly transports him to ideas of what is
most perfect, finished, and exalted…
— Jonathan Swift

It's guessed a bakers-dozen (if including the Rabi clock) Breguet Sympathique clocks were created during the A.-L. Breguet era though only at most a handful were sold during Breguet's lifetime—many of the extant clocks have been restored, repaired etc. to sundry degrees and for some clocks the original partner watch is lost to history. Breguet Sympathique N^o. 247 is a mystery; the clock sold to the Spanish court (circa 1814) along with its watch N^o. 2867 but alas the author has failed to locate a picture of the clock.

Breguet Sympathique: the ne plus ultra of clocks—13 clocks and their owners…
Breguet Sympathique N^os. 430, 222, 20 (Mobilier National), 666 (Royal Collection Trust) & 758 (Topkapi Palace Museum)
The Spanish Clocks: Breguet Sympathique N^os. 247 (King of Spain, Royal Palace Madrid?) & 46 (Queen of Spain, private collection)
Breguet Sympathique N^os. 757 (British Museum), 421 (Beyer Museum), 423, 257, 128 & 5 (Rabi, Museum for Islamic Art, Jerusalem)

Note: Breguet Sympathique N^o, 757: watch N^o. 528 lost and replacement watch made by Louis Desoutter — Breguet Sympathique N^o. 423 divorced from its partner watch N^o. 533 — Breguet Sympathique N^o. 421: watch was replaced by a calendar — Breguet Sympathique N^o. 46: missing watch — Breguet Sympathique N^o. 247: watch N^o. 2867 location unknown.

The joy of soothing and pacifying,
the joy of concord and harmony.
— Walt Whitman: A Song of Joys

Ellie Decazes (1789–1860) and Duc de la Rochefoucauld (1747–1827)

Breguet displayed 21 timepieces at the 1819 Exposition des produits de l'industrie française (organized by Ellie Decazes and presided over by Duc de la Rochefoucauld)—Breguet's description of the exhibited Sympathique clock, the reference to the clock in the 1824 exhibition report and Breguet's list of clocks and watches in the 1819 exhibition catalog…

LETTRE M.
Pendule et Montre Sympathiques

Cette invention se compose cl'une horloge marine, qui régle montre et la met à l'heure. Ce régulateur, d'une construction singulière, forme une pendule richement décorée, qui sert en même temps de porte montre. Si l'on dérange le réglage de la montre, ou les aiguilles avancent ou retardent de quelques minutes, et même d'un quart heure il suffit de la poser avant midi ou avant minuit dans la place qui lui est destinée au dessus de la pendule, pour qu' elle soit réglée de nouveau et remise à l'heure exactement. Cette montre est à repétition.
— Breguet 1747–1823), page 108

5^o. une pendule et une montre sympathiques (on lui donne ce nom parce que la pendule met la montre à l'heure, pourvu que la différence ne soit pas grande)
— Description Des Expositions Des Produits 1819, Tome Quatrième, Paris, 1924

M. Breguet, quai de l'Horioge, n.^o 79: Une Pendule astronomique double; une Montre double, sur les principes des horloges marines; un nouveau Compteur astronomique; Horloge marine marchant huit jours; un autre marchant cinquante heures; les mouvemens seuls à decouvert. Une autre Horloge marine; un Garde-temps de poche, ordinaire; Montre simple à equation; Garde-temps, quantiè;me perpétuel; petite Montre établie pour S. A. R. le due de Cambridge; Montre établie pour S.M. l'Empereur de Russie; Horloge marine et Montre à longitude, exécutees pour M. le comte de Sommariva; Pendule et Montre sympathiques; Montre marine portative, d'une nouvelle disposition; Montre astronomique, nouvelle et portative; Montre à Iongitude, à tourbillon; Compteur-militaire; nouveau Thermométre méallique d'une sensibilité extraordinaire; Pendule de voyage à répétition, à grande sonnerie; Pendule de voyage plus petite et seulement à répétition.
— Catalogue Le Nom Des Fabricans (Paris 1819, page 75)

What Breguet Sympathique clock was displayed at the
1819 Exposition des produits de l'industrie française

François de Neufchâteau & 1798 Exposition publique des produits de l'industrie française

François de Neufchâteau (1750–1828) on September 19, 1798 inaugurated the 1^st Exposition publique des produits de l'industrie française among trumpets, tambourines and balloons…

« Citoyens,
» Ils ne sont plus ces temps malheureux où l'industrie enchaînée osait à peine produire le fruit de ses méditations et de scs recherches , où des réglemens désastreux, des corporations privilégiées, des entraves fiscales , étouffaient les germes précieux du génie; où les arts, devenus en même temps les instrumens et les victimes du despotisme, lui aidaient à appesantir son joug sur tous les citoyens, et ne parvenaient au succès que par la flatterie, la corruption, les humiliations d'une honteuse servitude.

» Le flambeau de la liberté a lui; la République s'est assise sur des bases inébranlables; aussitôt l'industrie s'est élevée d'un vol rapide…, »

Breguet presented for the first time the Sympathique clock at the 1798 Exposition publique des produits de l'industrie française—Breguet's entry in the 1798 Catalogue des produits industrielles (pages 5–6)…

ARCADE N.^o Breguet, horloger à Paris: Un nouvel échappement libré et à force constante, adapté à une pendule, qui met une montre a l'heure et qui la régle; Chronomètre musical.

1798 Exposition publique des produits de l'industrie française. Catalogue des produits industrielles (title page & pages 5–6)
1798 Exposition publique des produits de l'industrie française (pages 20–21): 12 citizens distinguished by the jury (1^st was Abraham Breguet)
Breguet's constant force escapement patent registration registered March, 1798

What Breguet Sympathique clock was displayed at the
1798 Exposition publique des produits de l'industrie française

Breguet Sympathique N^o. 46 as appearing in
Tieger Norbert, Grandi orologi. Dal Rinascimento all'Art Deco, Idealibri, 1990.

The author based on a patchwork of guesswork posits it's not fantastical to think Breguet Sympathique N^o. 46 was the Sympathique clock displayed at the 1798 Exposition publique des produits de l'industrie française. Page 20 of the Catalogue des produits industrielles lists 12 citizens distinguished by the jury led by Breguet with a description of Breguet's clock…

Un nouvel échappement libre et à force constante, également applicable au perfectionnement des horologes astronomiques et des horloges à longitude. cette horloge produit l'effet trés-singulier de remettre une montre a l'heure

A new free and constant force escapement, also applicable to the improvement of astronomical clocks and longitude clocks. this clock produces the very singular effect of setting a watch back to time

The medallion of Breguet clock No. 46 reads: Premier Modele d l'Echappement a force constante par Breguet thus it may not be fantasy to guess clock no. 46 was presented at the 1798 exhibition before being sent to the Queen of Spain in 1799. †

† The measure of time: Kings' clocks in the eighteenth-century Spanish court (Amelia Aranda Huete, Curator of clocks, Patrimonio Nacional, 2012, page 78).

Louis Philippe (1773–1850) — Place de la Concorde — Adolphe Thiers (1797–1877)

The French Industrial Exposition of 1834 was held at the Place de la Concode from May 1–June 13, 1834 and presided over by Adolphe Thiers (French Interior Minister). The Rappel Medaille d'Or was given to Breguet, Neveu et Cie. (Louis Clément Breguet and Jonas-Louis Lassieur) for the Sympathique clock (Breguet N^o. unknown to the author) referenced…

M. Bréguet neveu continue dignement les travaux d'horlogme qui fondèrent, à si juste titre; la célébrité de MM. Bréguet père et fils. Le jury central a fiée son attention sur une pendule sympathique, qui monte et remet à l'heure une montre, mise avec elle en communication. L'enumeration des ouvrages présentés par Bréguet neveu prouve qu'il est digne du rappel de la medaille d'or quatre fois obtenue par ses illustres oncles.
— Rapport du jury central sur les produits de l'industrie française exposés en 1834

Stéphane Mony-Flachat (1800–1884) notes in his book on the 1834 expo regarding Breguet: “…the new, to have real importance, must be superior to what has been done previously. The misfortune of our watchmakers is that they, latecomers, want to distinguish themselves through inventions where their predecessors left them nothing to invent.”

M. Bréguet, qui a la réputation de son père à soutenir, a exposé des montres qui n'ont rien de nouveau , et nous sommes loin de lui en faire un reproche; le nouveau, pour avoir une importance réelle, doit être supérieur à ce qui a été fait précédemment. Le malheur de nos horlogers est de vouloir, eux tard venus, se distinguer par des inventions là où leurs devanciers ne leur ont rien laissé à inventer.
— Exposition des produits de l'industrie française 1834 (Stéphane Flachat, Paris, France)

The brave (or the drunk) will declare with the conviction of the sun being hot that horology before and after Abraham Breguet dulls to a mere footnote to Breguet's luster, novelty, and talent—maybe not so brave after all, as the boast may be self-evident, akin to Bach being the Alpha and Omega of music: of which all the Planets concur.

Note: Breguet, Neveu & Cie in mid-century sold Sympathique clocks that wound and set the watch—Revue des notabilités de l'industrie (L'Illustration, Octobre 1847) makes special mention of the Sympathique…

Cette ancienne et aristocratique maison conserve honorablement la réputation europeenne de son illustre fondateur, et se maintient toujours au premier rang dans l'horlogerie parisienne…nous appellerons l'attention de nos lecteurs sur ses pendules sympathiques, qui nous semblent réservées à un grand succès.

Voici la description de la chose en langue vulgaire cette pendule de cabinet, de forme simple et de bon goût, est établie avec cette précision rigoureuse que MM. Bréguet apportent aux ouvrages de leur maison; elle a pour mission de remettre votre montre à l'heure avant de vous coucher, vous posez votre montre, en retard ou en avance, sur un porte-montre fixé sur la pendule; pendant la nuit, une pointe d'acier sort de la pendule, pénètre dans la montre et la remet à l'heure exacte de la pendule.

La pendule sympathique et la montre ne coûtent ensemble que la bagatelle de 600 francs.

Revue des notabilités de l'industrie (L'Illustration, Journal Universel, Octobre 1847)
Breguet, Neveu et Cie Sympathique N^o 60 (sans watch) circa 1860 (Chayette & Cheval June 24, 2022, lot 303)
Breguet, Neveu & Cie: Louis Clément François Breguet (1804–1883) — Jonas-Louis Lasseur (1785–1850)

Paul Chamberlain in the Jewelers' Circular Horological Review (June, 1926) writes about seeing Breguet Sympathique N^o. 430 in the summer of 1925—Major Chamberlain comments that David Salomons would have desired to have the clock in the Salomons' collection which implies the clock was never in the Salomons' collection…thus the question: why did the clock appear in Salomons' Breguet book(s)?

In the summer of 1925 I saw at Maison Breguet a clock and watch of such wonderful ingenuity that I requested and obtained photographs…and permission to search through their old records and to sketch some of the underlying devices used…The average man is content to have his watch set and regulated at rare intervals…but this clock was created for just this purpose and performs its task without complaint.

Had Sir David lived longer it is not unlikely he would eventually have gotten this clock in his wonderful Breguet collection… As little data is available…on these antique works of art I have copied and reproduced here the names of the artists who worked on the watch and clock together with the articles, dates…and charges.

It is interesting to note Benosit [sic] was paid $28 for the lever escapement, Hooker received $20 for eight jewels and Renevier had about $440 for finishing the movement. — Major Paul M. Chamberlain

Two-score+ crafstman worked on Breguet Sympathique N^o. 430 (avec montre 2787): Aerain, Arlin, Avit, Babeau, Balancier, Bauchet, Benoit, Bernanda Cadet, Bernandf, Bouchet, Bouveret, Campiche, Chateau, Cheed, Chevenon, Chicot, Clauriot, Courten, Courtin, Courtni, Devine, Duchosal, Froment, Gros, Guilderesitrake, Guldensbake, Hooker, Kessels, Lucas, Metra, Paris, Pavin, Pellet, Pernet, Renevier, Reymond Lancy, Robert, Roger, Rousset, Royer, Sandoz, Serein, Tardi, Tavernier. Thironot, Thivenon, Vachette, Veillault, Vincent & Vintel Frere—the platoon of crafstmen working on a single clock in harmony is a testament to the consummate management of Breguet's workshop.

In the 1869 book: Das Buch berühmter Kaufleute oder der Kaufmann zu allen Zeiten in the section Die Uhren-Induftrie und ihre Meifter (page 369) Breguet's Sympathique is mentioned as « eine Art Zauberkunststück » —a magical trick.

Vergessen, aber der Erwähnung werth sind Breguet's Sympathieuhren, eine Art Zauberkunststück. Wenn man auf eine Pendeluhr, die oben als Taschenuhrgehäuse geformt war, eine Repetiruhr sehte, die vor oder nachging, so waren beide Schlagwerke sogleich in Uebereinstimmung, sobald die Pendeluhr zwölf schlug. Das Gangwerk dieser lettern gewann aber über das kleinere, infolge des bloßen Nebeneinanderfeins einen folchen Einfluß, daß in wenig Tagen das leßere vollständig den Gang des ersteren angenommen hatte.

Forgotten but worth mentioning are Breguet's sympathy watches, a kind of magical feat. If you looked at a pendulum clock, which was shaped like a pocket watch case at the top, and saw a repeater clock that was going ahead or behind, both striking mechanisms were immediately in harmony as soon as the pendulum clock struck twelve. However, the movement of these letters was superior to the smaller ones, due to the sheer juxtaposition. Influence that in a few days the lesser had completely taken on the course of the former.

Anatole Demidoff's final resting place is in 19^ème Division, Père-Lachaise Cemetery with his mother Baroness Elizaveta Alexandrovna Demidova (1779–1818). As fate would have it Abraham Louis Breguet is buried at Père-Lachaise Cemetery Division 11 a mere 1,000 meters from the Davidoff mausoleum more-or-less across from each other across the Casimir Perier Roundabout. Elizaveta Alexandrovna Demidova's tomb is often called the most mystical tomb in Père-Lachaise Cemetery with legends of vampires etc.; the tomb is covered with gargoyles and wolves conjuring images of the occult. Le véritable conducteur aux Cimetières (1830) regarding Anatole Demidoff's mother's tomb…

Ici nous apercevons le plus riche mausolée que renferme le cimetière du Père Lachaise; c'est le tombeau de Mme Demidoff, née Strogonoff; le peuple reste en extase devant ce magnifique tombeau de marbre blanc; il admire ses dix superbes colonnes, ainsi que son élévation. Les amis des arts ssecouent la tête en y remarquant des défauts que l'on eût dû eviter dans unc si riche composition; et les hommes qui, comme nous, parcourent ces asiles de la mort pour y chercher de doux souvenirs ou des leçl;ons de morale, passent rapidement devant ce tombeau, quelque brillant qu'il soit; parce qu'il ne dit rien à l'âme, ni à la mémoire. Mme. Demidoff est décédée à Paris, le 8 avril 1818.

François de la Chaise (1624–1709) & Père Lachaise Cemetery — Demidoff Mausoleum
Le véritable conducteur aux Cimetières (1830)—Tombeau de la C. de Midoff (page 146)

Père Lachaise Cemetery 19^ème Division denizens accompanying Anatole Demidoff in the hereafter…
Ludwig Boerne (1786–1837), Pierre Le Pelley, comte Dumanoir (1770–1829), Francisque Joseph Duret (1804–1865), Etienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (1772–1844),
Émile Froment-Meurice (1837-1913), Henri (Léon Émile) Lavedan (1859–1940), Antonio de La Gandara (1861–1917) & Jacques (Charles François Marie) Froment-Meurice (1864–1947)

Harmony is pure love,
for love is complete agreement.
— Lope de Vega

Breguet Sympathique N^o. 430 takes pride-of-place in The Art of Breguet, gracing the back-cover of the book and displayed in full-color as Plate I in the book—George Daniels saying of the clock “perhaps the most spectacular of the sympathiques.” and of the watch N^o. 2787 “…includes every refinement so that setting and regulating are vitually unneccessary.”. The Art of Breguet further describes the clock: “…in 1830 Czar Nicolas I commissioned Prince Demidoff to purchase as a present for his daughter, the Grand Duchess Marie, the most beautiful clock…regardless of expense. It was natural that Demidoff should go to the house of Breguet. The sympathique had been finished in 1821, but remained in the firm until 1830 when Demidoff purchased [the clock] for 31,000 francs.”—unexplained is how the clock returned to Prince Demidoff (or his heirs) and thus appearing in the 1880 Palais de San Donato sale.

Les mentions historiques de Breguet (Bernard Roobaert, 2021, page 135) relates: “Dans une lettre envoyée de Rome le 5 février 1829 à la firme Breguet, Demidov indique”—it's quite within reach the letter was regarding Breguet Sympathique N^o. 430…

je voudrais aussi que vous m'envoyassiez le dessin avec explication d'une pendule plus compliquée et la plus belle que vous avez jamais faite, de telle manière qu'elle soit le plus beau, le plus étonnant chef-d'oeuvre d'horologie possible.

I would also like you to send me the drawing with explanation of a more complicated and most beautiful clock that you have ever made, so that it is the most beautiful, the most astonishing masterpiece of horology possible.

George Daniels, The Art of Breguet: Sympathique N^os. 430, 5, 757, 128 & 666 (pages: 93, 180, 183, 289 & 178)
Prince Anatole Demidoff (1813–1870) — Czar Nicholas I (1796–1855) — Grand Duchess Marie (1819–1876)

The Art of Breguet in the chapter Versatility and Evolution of Style introduces the reader to the Breguet Sympathique and the five Sympathique clocks displayed in the book (pages 88–91). In the chapter Mechanical Techniques George Daniels explains the Sympathique's mystery in the sections: Sympathique, Setting and Regulating the Watch, Sympathique, Winding and Setting the Watch Once Each Hour and Sympathique, Winding and Setting the Watch Once Each Day, respectively using for examples Breguet Sympathique N^os. 430, 5 & 128. George Daniels writes of Breguet & the Sympathique…

The Sympathique is an ingenious and amusing toy such as only Breguet could conceive…They can hardly be described as useful or necessary, but great artists are not always motivated by such considerations. Sometimes fine work is done just for its own sake, or because it contains a challenge undertaken and overcome, or perhaps simply because it is amusing and demonstrates a remarkable talent in full flight of fancy. The Sympathique is a jewel of misplaced ingenuity in a forest of scientific horological endeavors and their very existence is sufficient reason for their manufacture for they never cease to amaze and mystify.

Remember that the most beautiful things in the world
are the most useless;
peacocks and lilies for instance.
— John Ruskin

Breguet Sympathique N^o. 430 (pg. 172–173)—Sympathique, setting and regulating the watch (pg. 351–353, diagrams of N^o. 430)
Sympathique, winding and setting the watch once each hour (pg. 351–353, diagrams of N^o. 5 Rabi)

Étude académique d'un portrait de jeune femme. Dessin à la mine de plomb sur papier, signé « Mathilde », daté 1868.
Mathilde Laetitia Wilhelmine Bonaparte (1820–1904)
Vierge de La Sainte Famille dite La Perla, étude académique d'après Raphaël. Dessin à la mine de plomb sur papier, signé « Mathilde », daté 1868.

Mathilde Laetitia Wilhelmine Bonaparte, Princesse Française, Princess of San Donato married Anatole Demidoff in 1840 and the couple were separated in 1846 and remained so until Demidoff's death—Mathilde Bonaparte's parents were Jérôme Bonaparte & Catharina of Württemberg. The brief marriage brought Mathilde Bonaparte into possesion of two Breguet carriage clocks: Breguet N^o. 3778 (sold to Demidoff in 1842) and Breguet N^o. 290 (sold to Demidoff in 1844)—Mathilde Bonaparte kept the clocks until her death. The clocks appear in the 1904 “JOYAUX de S. A. I. Madame la Princesse MATHILDE” as lots 317 (Breguet N^o. 3778) and 318 (Breguet N^o. 290).

317 — PENDULE DE VOYAGE en bronze ciselé et doré, avec décor d'ornements Empire pris sur pièce, exécutée pour l'Empereur Napoléon Ier par Abraham Bréguet, en 18 1 o environ. Mouvement: l'échappement à ancre, garni de levées visibles, en rubis; balancier compensateur, spirale à courbe de Bréguet, parachute. Huit cadrans indiquant: le temps vrai et le temps moyen, (équations du temps). — les secondes, les phases de la lune, le calendrier perpétuel complet (jour, quantième, mois et année), — le développement du ressort, un thermomètre métallique et un réveil-matin. Grande sonnerie d'heures et quarts au passage, et répétition à volonté d'heures et quarts. Clef Bréguet. Boîte d'acajou, garnie de baguettes et de coins en cuivre, avec intérieur en velours vert Empire. Cette pièce d'horlogerie remarquable, en parfait état de conservation, est le « chef-d'a'uvre » de Bréguet, le père.

318 — PENDULE DE VOYAGE en jaspe sanguin, avec appliques d'ornements en argent ciselé et doré, poignée en jaspe et argent flingué, revêtu d'émail vert, exécutée par Bréguet neveu. Mouvement à échappement Duplex, spirale à courbe de Bréguet. balancier compensateur, cadran indiquant le temps moyen, avec un calendrier perpétuel complet (jour, quantième, mois et année). Grande sonnerie d'heures et quarts au passage et répétition à volonté d'heures et quarts. Réveil-matin. Socle de marbre et lapis, avec mosaïques de Florence. Pièce d'une exécution remarquable.

Jérôme Bonaparte (1784–1860) — Catharina of Württemberg (1783–1835)
Breguet N^o. 3788 — Mathilde Bonaparte (1820—1904) — Breguet N^o. 290
JOYAUX de S. A. I. Madame la Princesse MATHILDE (1904) — HORLOGES Lots 317 & 318 (page 31)

Princess Mathilde makes a brief appearance in Marcel Proust's À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs (In the Shadow of Young Girls In Flower)…

«Ah! voilà quelqu'un qui va vous intéresser», me dit Swann. La vieille dame, maintenant à trois pas de nous souriait avec une douceur caressante. Swann se découvrit, Mme Swann s'abaissa en une révérence et voulut baiser la main de la dame pareille à un portrait de Winterhalter qui la releva et l'embrassa. «Voyons, voulez-vous mettre votre chapeau, vous», dit-elle à Swann, d'une grosse voix un peu maussade, en amie familière. «Je vais vous présenter à Son Altesse Impériale», me dit Mme Swann. Swann m'attira un moment à l'écart pendant que Mme Swann causait du beau temps et des animaux nouvellement arrivés au Jardin d'Acclimatation, avec l'Altesse. »C'est la princesse Mathilde, me dit-il, vous savez, l'amie de Flaubert, de Sainte-Beuve, de Dumas. Songez, c'est la nièce de Napoléon 1er! Elle a été demandée en mariage par Napoléon III et par l'empereur de Russie. Ce n'est pas intéressant? Parlez-lui un peu…»
— À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs (deuxième tome de À la recherche du temps perdu)

The splendid book Masterpieces from the Asprey Collection, Volume One Abraham-Louis Breguet (Andrew Crisford, Quartet Books, 1994, 87 pages, 125 copies) pays special attention to Breguet Sympathique N^o. 430; the book's frontispiece features the clock and 15 pages are dedicated to the clock and its watch Breguet N^o. 2787—note the cover-page of a four-page advertisement & order form for the book featured Sympathique N^o. 430.

David Landes in the book's introduction writes of a Breguet watch: “Just to slide the metal (typically gold) and glass wafer…out of one's pocket is an excerise in tactile, sensuous pleasure;…to read the …elegant, immediately recognizable dial, turns the simple, banal act of reading the time into a magical delight”. Timothy Treffry (Horological Journal, November 1995) finishes his review of the book…

So what are we to make of this £800 book? Every physical aspect of the production is of the highest quality; the binding gold blocked ¾ calf, marbled endpapers, gold-edged paper, limited edition—a bibliophile's dream. For the horologist, it reveals items from a collection so private…that they can be seen in no other way. It is a book to spend time with…At a few pounds an illustration it's a snip.

Masterpieces from the Asprey Collection, Volume One Abraham-Louis Breguet — Frontispiece
Advertisement for Masterpieces from the Asprey Collection, Volume One Abraham-Louis Breguet
Breguet Sympathique N^o. 430 (description) — Breguet N^o. 2787 (description & picture)
Horological Journal (November 1995): Timothy Treffry review of Masterpieces from the Asprey Collection, Volume One Abraham-Louis Breguet

The current residence of Breguet Sympathique N^o. 430 (to the best of the author's knowledge) is the al-Alam Palace (Muscat, Oman). Qaboos bin Said Al Said (1940–2020); the Sultan of Oman (1970–2020) purchased the clock from Asprey London.

Horological Journal (March 1996) features Breguet Sympathique N^o. 430 — Miscellaneous pages from the Breguet Sympathique N^o. 430 section
Qaboos bin Said Al Said, Sultan of Oman (قابوس بن سعيد آل سعيد) — Breguet Sympathique N^o. 430 on display al-Alam Palace (circa 2011)

Why did David Salomons include Breguet Pendule Sympathique N^o. 430 in his Breguet (1747–1823) book?

It's elementary, my dear readers.

Though it may be a mystery how Breguet Sympathique N^o. 430 came to David Salomons' attention and appeared in Sir David's Breguet (1747–1823), the why may be guessed—Sir David would have felt the glaring gravity of the clock and given the book's raison d'être to safeguard Breguet's oeuvre and brilliance for future collectors and scholars it would have been sacrilege to have not included the clock in the book when the opportunity was ripe—such clocks do not fall from the sky into one's lap—lest the clock be shielded from sunlight by a reclusive collector for the next 100 years; as David Salomons writes in the Breguet (1747–1823) Supplement…

Many persons may think it is strange that anyone should desire to possess a book dealing largely with objects in collections unlikely to come into the market, and which are in the possession of others. In passing, it may be remarked that a time always arrives, though it may be far distant, when every private collection is sold…From these considerations alone an interest attaches to such a book…

It always happens, when a book is published on a special subject, that many ideas and facts wake up which had long remained asleep…an interesting clock came to my notice, also several facts, all of which might have remained dormant for ever…but for this book.

David Landes (Masterpieces from the Asprey Collection) writes “…And then he [Salomons] wrote the book, not to advertise his achievement—because it takes more than luck to assemble such a monument—but to give the fruits of his study of Breguet to a small but interested public.” Though alluding to the Asprey book but apropos David Salomons' book, David Landes writes “Hence the special merit of such books as this; they are a way of spreading the joy…”