November 2022 (updated September 2023)
über-draft—not ready for publication
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) apologizes 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.
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
la mort—prix—vénération—fête
Messieurs
Un grand artiste, un homme de bien, d'un caractére modeste et vrai en tout, M. Louis Breguet, a occupé clans cette
Acad´mie une des places réservées aux talents supérieurs qui, par des découvertes du premier ordre, perfectionnent les
applications des sciences. Jamais cette distinction ne fut plus justement accordée; toute sa carrière est une longue suite
d'inventions ingénieuses et utiles. Il a porté à un degré extraordinaire l'art le plus difficile peut-être, et sans doute l'un
des plus importants que l'industrie humaine ait produits, celui de mesurer le temps avec précision.
The September 19, 1823 Journal des débats politiques et littéraires noted the September 17, 1823 passing of Abraham-Louis Breguet…
The September 20, 1823 Paris Le Constitutionnel published an article Les funérailles de Breguet opening with the paragraph…
The honor and virtues of industry. M. Breguet. Is there anything more beautiful than genius devoting its efforts and its perseverance to discovering means which can push back the limits of our knowledge, which can increase the empire of the human species over all nature, and contribute to the well-being, to the pleasure of men by useful works? Yes, undoubtedly, it is something more beautiful than this sublime use of a high intelligence. Had I what even more precious gift can God himself give to humanity? it is virtue. Talent without virtue is nothing, while virtue without talent still has the right to our admiration, and commands all our respects; but when a friendly providence fills a gap as one of these presents which are embellished by one another, it offers to our look at the most admirable spectacle that is given to us of contemplation cry on the earth.
— 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 (1784–1873) of the l'Académie Royale des Sciences closes the rememberance…
Farewell, for the last time, friend who will be forever missed by all those you were known to. Live at least in our memory and in our speeches, you, who bequeath to science and industry, to honor and virtue, one more example to cite for the hope and emulation of French youth…it makes one love the peaceful glory of useful works.
Abraham Louis Breguet's final resting place is Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris (11ème 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…
Nous rendons hommage, enpassant, aux manes de Breguet, plus encore pou la douceur de son caractère et le charme de son commerce, que pour le génie qu'il deploya dans l'art de suivre avec exactitude la marche du temps, exactitude dòntm nos montres sont là pour faire encore foi sur sa tombe.
Père Lachaise Cemetery Tomb of Breguet (watercolor by Aristide-Michel Perrot, 1793–1879 for the city of Paris)
Père Lachaise Cemetery: 1903 map by Wagner & Debes, map given to Aurelius Dumbledore by Gellert Grindelwald
Père François de la Chaise (1624–1709)—father confessor of King Louis XIV of France
Lassalle et Rousseau — Les principaux monuments funéraires
de Père-Lachaise, de Montmartre, du Mont-Parnasse
et autres cimetières de Paris (1839, series of 86 Planches)
Père-Lachaise Cemetery: Pinel, Talma, David, Bellini, Andrieux, Saulx-Tavannes & Désaugiers
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
Ellie Decazes (1789–1860) and Duc de la Rochefoucauld (1747–1827)
In 1819 the 5th Des Expositions Des Produits—organized by Ellie Decazes and presided over by Duc de la Rochefoucauld—was held from August 25th–September 23rd at the Louvre by the order of Louis XVIII…Breguet displayed 21 timepieces at the 1819 Exposition des produits de l'industrie française.
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…
MM. Breguet, pére et fils , quai de l'Horloge, no. 79. La réputation de M. Breguet est au-dessus de tout éloge: c'est lui qui a porté l'horlogerie fine à l'usage civil et l'horlogerie astronomique au point de perfection auquel elle est parvenue…devant lesquelles le public s'arrêtait avec admiration.
Etienne de Jouy's (1746–1846) 1821 report on the 5th 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 renown in his own lifetime.
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…
Le Nom Des Fabricans, Exposition Publique De L'Industie Française, Année 1819 (list of Breguet timepieces, page 75)
Etienne de Jouy's 1821 l'exposition de ses produits (pages 112–113 referencing Breguet)
Description Des Expositions Des Produits 1819, Tome Quatrième, Paris, 1924: Breguet section page 123
Exposition de 1819 Plan du 1st Étage du Palais du Louvre (Breguet salon No. 5 center behind the east facade of the Louvre)
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) occasioned the unveiling of Breguet's tourbillon and earned Breguet the Medailles d'Or.
Bréguet reçoit la méaille d'or à 1806 l'Exposition des produits de l'indistrie présenté Napoléon
Les Grandes Ouviers Français (Camille Desfontaines) — illustration Georges Henri Ballot (1866–1942)—Gedalge, Paris 1890
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].
Drawing of Breguet by Georges Henri Ballot—Les Grandes Ouviers Français, 1890
Exposition de 1806. Rapport du jury sur les produits de l'industrie française, presenté à S.E.M. de Champagny (title page & pages 145–147)
Breguet's toubillon patent registered 7 Messidor year IX (June 26, 1801) — Allegory of Messidor by Louis Lafitte (1179–1828)
1802 (l'an X) Exposition Publique Des Produits de L'industrie Française (title page & page 39)— Breguet awarded médaille d'or
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…
« 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. »
Les Romains avaient des patriciens, des chevaliers, des citoyens et des esclaves. Ils avaient pour chaque chose des costumes divers, des mœurs différentes. Ils décernaient en récompense toutes sortes de distinctions, des noms qui rappelaient des services, des couronnes murales, le triomphe! Je défie qu'on me montre une république ancienne ou moderne dans laquelle il n'y ait pas eu de distinctions. On appelle cela des hochets! Eh bien! c'est avec des hochets que l'on mène les hommes.
—Napoleon Bonaparte, Declaration to the Council of State, May 8, 1802
Honneur et Patrie—Napolean Bonaparte created the Ordre royal de la Légion d'honneur in 1802 for recognition of merit open to men of all ranks and careers. Abraham Breguet's mentor Ferdinand Berthoud was one of the first recipients of the chevalier de l'Ordre royal de la Legion-d' Honneur awarded by Napolean in July 1804.
Journal des débats politiques et littéraires September 12, 1819 announcing Breguet's chevalier de l'Ordre royal de la Legion-d' Honneur
Institution of the Legion of Honor - France, 1802—lithograph from Historical sketches of Europe Part 1 (1860) by Jos de Buelow
Napoleon distributing the stars of the Legion of Honour to the Invalides 26 messidor an XII. Engraving by Charles Monnet (1732–1808)
Naploean Bonaparte wearing the Star of the Légion d'Honneur; The star is in the Royal Collection Trust (London)
Ferdinand Berthoud (1727–1807)—Horologist-Mechanic by appointment to the King and the Navy, member of Institut de France
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
François de Neufchâteau (1750–1828)—organizer of the 1798 Exposition publique des produits de l'industrie française
The 1798 exposition grounds Champs-de-Mars, with the Temple of Industry in the foreground
Etienne Gaspard Robert's (1763–1837) flight of fancy: the Minerva Balloon
François de Neufchâteau on September 19, 1798 inaugurated the 1st 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 No. 46 Sympathique (1798) — see Norbert Tieger, Grandi orologi. Dal Rinascimento all'art deco
Breguet Metronome Clock (1798) — Royal Collection Trust
A.-L. Breguet introduced his flight of fancy—the Sympathique clock (No. 46)—at the 1798 Exposition publique des produits de l'industrie française—Breguet was distinguished by the exposition jury for the Sympathique clock with constant force escapement…
—1798 Catalogue des produits industrielles: Noms, départemens et demcures des Artistes (page 5–6)
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
—1798 Catalogue des produits industrielles: Noms des douze Citoyens qui ont été distingués par le Jury
Above: Breguet circa 1798 (page 63) and Breguet circa 1793 (page 83) — A.-L. Breguet Pendant la revolution, Alfred Chapuis, Neuchatel, 1953
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
Iconographie de l'Institut Royal de France: Académie des sciences (Mécannique)
BREGUET (Abraham Louis)
Member de las Légion d'honneurs & du Bureau des Longitudes
Né à Neufchatel en Suisee, le 10 Janvier 1747, élu en 1816
— from Julien-Léopold Boilly (1796–1874) series of lithographs of French Academy members
The March 27, 1816 Journal des débats politiques et littéraires reports the election of Abraham Breguet to the Académie des sciences in 1816 by Ordonnance Du Roi concerning the rétablissement des anciennes Académies.
Au Château des Tuileries, le 21 mars 1816.
Louis, par la grâce de Dieu, Roi de France et de Navarre, â tous ceux qui ces présentes verront, salut.
La protection que les Rois nos aïeux ont constamment accordée aux sciences et aux lettres, nous a toujours fait considérer avec un intérêt particulier
les divers établissemens qu'ils ont fondés pour honorer ceux qui les cultivent : aussi n'avons-nous pu voir sans douleur la chûte de ces académies, qui avaient
si puissamment contribué à la prospérité des lettres, et dont la fondation a été un titre de gloire pour nos augustes prédécesseurs.
Depuis l'époque où elles ont
été rétablies sous une dénomination nouvelle, nous avons vu, avec une vive satisfaction, la considération et la renommée que l'Institut a méritées en Europe.
Première section. Géométrie. MM. Le comte Laplace, le chevalier Legendre, Lacroix, Biot, Poinsot, Ampère.
Deuxième section. Mécanique. MM. Périer, de Prony, le baron Sané, Molard, Cauchy, Bréguet.
— March 27, 1816 Journal des débats politiques et littéraires
Engraving of Abraham Breguet by Charles Samuel Girardet (1780–1863), Swiss engraver and lithographer
Julien-Léopold Boilly (1796–1874): Iconographie de l'Institut Royal de France
Vincent Antoine Arnault (1766–1834) playwright & Breguet biographer —
Dominique François-Jean Arago (1786—1853) Astronomer
André-Marie-Constant Duméril (1774–1860) zoologist —
Jean-Baptiste Joseph Fourier (1768–1830) mathematician —
Luigi Cherubini (1760–1842) composer
Jacques-Julien Houtou de Labillardière (1755–1834) biologist —
Jean-Auguste-Victor Yvart (1763–1831) agriculturalist —
Jean-Louis Laya (1761–1833) playwright
Note: Julien-Léopold Boilly (1796–1874) lithograph of Abraham Breguet is from the “Iconography de l'Institute Royal de France ou Collection des Portraits des Membres composant les quatre Académies (depuis 1814 jusqu'en 1825)”—41 portraits for the series of members of the French Academy, 39 for the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres, 70 for the Academy of Sciences and 42 for the Academy of Fine Arts.
Jean-Antoine Claude, comte Chaptal de Chanteloup (1756–1832): Société d'Encouragement president (1801–1832)
Joseph Marie, baron de Gérando (1772–1842): French philosopher, Société d'Encouragement & de l'Institut Royal de France
The Société d'Encouragement pour l'Industrie Nationale was created on 9 Brumaire of Year X (October 31, 1801) in Paris at the behest of Napolean; Breguet was a Société d'Encouragement member (1802) and served on its board of directors (1808)—a guiding principle of the Société d'Encouragement stated by baron de Gérando is to enlighten artists…by putting them in contact…with scientists.
Liste des Membres de la Société, admis depuis le 8 thermidor an X. — Bréguet, horloger, quai de l'Horloge, à Paris,
Noms des Membres qui composent le Conseil d'Administration de la Société, à l'époque du 17 Février 1808 [comité des arts mécaniques].
— Bréguet, horloger, quai de l'Horloge, no. 79.
Bulletin de la Société d'Encouragement pour l'Industrie Nationale: Premiére Année (No I.) Vendémiatre An XI (page 236)
Bulletin de la Société d'Encouragement pour l'Industrie Nationale: Septiéme Anné 1808 (page 45)
The January 1824 Bulletin de la Société d'Encouragement pour l'Industrie Nationale (pages 309–312) paid tribute (Joseph Marie, baron de Gérando) to Breguet following Breguet's death months earlier…
Messieurs, la Société d'Encouragement voit disparaître, chaque année , quelques-uns de ceux qui assistèrent agrave; sa naissance et coopérèrent agrave; ses premiers travaux; la liste sera bientôt épuisée. En donnant de justes regrets agrave; d'excellens citoyens qui nous ont été enlevés, nous trouvons aussi, dans la suite de ces noms honorables qui nous appartiennent, un ensemble de souvenirs qui compose en quelque sorte l'histoire de l'industrie française. Dès son origine, la Société d'Encouragement servit de rendez-vous aux hommes les plus distingués dans la carrière des arts industriels, aux savans qui ont dirigé vers ce genre d'application les découvertes des sciences positives, en même temps qu'aux hommes zélés pour le bien public. A ces trois titres, notre collègue, M. Bréguet, devait être et fut en effet un des premiers à en, faire partie…
Le nom de M. Bréguet marque déjagrave;, avec celui de Berthoud, dans l'histoire de l'art, la période qui s'est écoulée sous nos yeux ; elle signale cette époque non-seulement aux yeux de la France elle-même , mais au jugement du public éclairé de l'Europe entière; car le nom de Bréguet a été par-tout connu et son mérite par-tout apprécié…
Bréguet était si modeste, que ses plus intimes amis ne lui ont jamais entendu dire un seul mot de ses propres travaux et de ses découvertes; mais il était plein de chaleur quand il s'agissait de faire rendre justice aux autres ou de leur être utile, d'encourager les talens et soulager le malheur…
Nous ne craignons pas, Messieurs , en acquittant ici ce tribut d'éloges envers son caractère si beau, si pur, d'être égarès par l'amitié qui nous unissait à lui; nous pouvons en appeler à vos propres témoignages: vous l'avez connu, et en lui vous ne regrettez pas moins l'homme de bien, l'excellent citoyen, que le grand artiste…
The January 10, 1815 le Moniteur universel announced the election of Abraham Breguet to the Bureau of Longitude:
Pour la construction de la division des instrumens, MM. Lenoir, Fortin. Richer et Bellet; Pour les montres marines et les horloges astronomiques , MM Breguet et Lepaute; Pour les grandes lunettes achromatiques, MM. Le Rebours et Cauchois. MM. Le Noir, Breguet et Le Rebours ont obtenu la majorité des suffrages, et S. M. a daigné approuver ces trois élections.
Le Moniteur Universel: French newspaper founded in Paris on November 24, 1789 under the title Gazette Nationale ou Le Moniteur Universel
Charles-Joseph Panckoucke (1736–1798)—founder and publisher of the Gazette Nationale ou Le Moniteur Universel
The Bureau of Longitude minutes of November & December, 1814 note Abraham Breguet's election to the Bureau of Longitude and the King's approval of Breguet's election…
Séance du 21 décembre 1814: On lit une lettre de S. E. le ministre de l'Intérieur qui transmet l'approbation donnée par le Roi à l'élection de MM. Lenoir, Bréguet et Le Rebours.
French Bureau of Longitude minutes: November 30, 1814 & December 21, 1814: Président de la séance Legendre, Adrien-Marie (1752–1833)
French Interior Minister (1814–1815): François-xavier Marc-Antoine de Montesquiou-Fézensac (1757–1832)
The Bureau of Longitude met on Wednesday, September 17th, 1823 (the day of Breguet's death)—the meeting minutes (Procès-verbal) mention the passing of Abraham Breguet…
Meeting of September 17, 1823: [François Arago notes] A member informed the Bureau of the great loss he had just suffered in the person of Mr. Breguet, who died suddenly at his home during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday.
French Bureau of Longitude minutes: September 17, 1823: Président de la séance Rossel, Elisabeth-Paul-Edouard de (1765–1829)
François Arago (1786–1853): French mathematician, physicist, astronomer & member of French Academy of Sciences
spacious as to have friends
at a distance; they make the
latitudes and longitudes.
— Henry David Thoreau
take your latitude and longitude frequently,
and without loss of time.
— Captain James Cook
Frontispiece— Edouard Foucaud Les artisans illustres, Paris, 1841
Abraham Breguet's reknown beyond a mere watchmaker ranked Breguet with the most eminent artisans and scientists of France as witnessed by Breguet's appearance in such 19th century books as Edouard Foucaud's Les artisans illustres (1841) and Le livre des mécaniciens illustres (1845), François Valentin's Les Artisans Célèbres (1843) and Camille Desfontaines' Les Grandes Ouviers Français (1890). From Le livre des mécaniciens illustres, a quote from the mathematician Charles Dupin (1784–1873)…
Je suis heureux, ajoute Dupin, de pouvoir affirmer que Breguet a commencé comme simple ouvrier; et, même lorsqu'il devint éminent, a toujours été un ami fidèle des jeunes hommes de son propre métier, et a pu aider beaucoup d'entre eux grâce au profond intérêt qu'il pris en charge leur bien-être. Ses montres étaient remarquables par leur précision, même lorsque réduit à la plus petite dimension, selon la méthode de Lépine. Il utilisé, au lieu de fusées, un jeu de ressorts dont la puissance modérée et continuelle la force agit sans complication et avec moins de friction. « Il fallait un grand talent pour inventer la fusée », dit un savant géomètre, bon juge en la matière, « mais plus grand pour sa suppression. »
Edouard Foucaud—Les artisans illustres, Paris, 1841 [Breguet section page 160–175]
Edouard Foucaud—Le livre des mécaniciens illustres, 1845 [Breguet section page 70–73]
wheels, etc. like a poet among the letters of the alphabet,
considering them as the exhibition of his thoughts; in which a new
arrangement transmits a new idea to the world.
— Robert Fulton (1765–1815)
Portrait en médaillon Breguet, Musée d'art et d'histoire, Neuchâtel
Baron Alfred Auguste Ernouf (1816–1889) in the 1867 book Histoire de trois Ouvriers Français, Richard-Lenoir, A. L. Bréguet, M. Brézin prefaces 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…
Place yourself at the forefront of a difficult and necessary profession, invent and perfect, guide navigators, give the sciences new instruments; create your fortune by basing it on public utility; to enjoy friendship, to ignore ingratitude, to escape envy, it is a happy and honorable destiny. May the arts always reserve such worthy rewards for those who cultivate them!
Baron Ernouf introduces the chapter on Breguet with the following…
L'aspiration a une mesure exacte du temps est un des caracteres et des besoins les plus essentiels des societes humaines. Les civilisations antiques etaient, sur ce point, fort en arriere de la notre. Jusqu'au neuvieme ou dixieme siecle de notre ere, on ne connut d'autres appareils chronometriques que les gnomons ou cadrans solaires, les sabliers et les clepsydres ou horloges d'eau.
The ultimate words of Fourier's eulogy are as follows…
M. Breguet a conservé jusque dans l'âge le plus avancé, un caractère calme, facile et doux. Les changements de sa fortune n'ont point altére la simplicité de ses moeurs: il était aussi modeste sur la fin de sa carrière, que lorsqu'il était disciple de l'abbé Marie. Sa mort fut aussi paisible que sa vie. A la suite d'un entretien tranquille et gai, oú, selon sa coutume, il se louait de toutes les personnes qu'il avait rencontrées dans la journée, il se reposa, s'endormit, et quelques instants après, saisi d'un mal subit, il expira, le 26 septembre 1823, sur la fin de sa soixante-seizième annee. II Iaisse à sa famille et à l'amitié de tendres souvenirs; à ses successcurs, d'utiles leçons et de grands modèles; à cette Académie, un nom célèbre et une mémoire justement honorée.
inspired, but one who inspires
others.
— Salvator Dali
Part 1 b
TO-DAY'S GOSSIP Aug. 9, 1923
News and Views About Men, Women and Affairs in General
Clockmakers' Pilgrimage: Clockmakers from all over Europe, my correspondent tells me, are going to Paris for the centenary of Abraham Breguet, a great French clockmaker and scientist, who died on September 17, 1823. They are going to hold a congress in Breguet's honour at the Paris University…
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…
Voici le programme des fêtes qui auront lieu à Paris du 22 au 27 octobre:
Jeudi 25 octobre, à 14 h. 30.—Inauguration de l'exposition des œuvres d'A.-L. Breguet, au Musée Galliéra, par M. le Préfet de la Seine (exposition
qui restera ouverte jusqu'au samedi 25 novembre).
The Musée Galliera (known today as The Palais Galliera) was given to the city of Paris by Marie Brignole-Sale, Duchesse de Galliera (1811–1888)
Centenaire de A.L. Breguet events were held at Paris locations: Mercredi 24 octobre: l'Hôtel-de-Ville,
Samedi 27 octobre: la Sorbonne and Lundi 22 octobre: l'Observatoire de Paris
Musée Galliera (25 October–25 November, 1923)
Alfred Chapuis in the Journal Suisse d'Horlogerie et de Bijouterie (February 1921) puts forth the proposal to celebrate the centenary of Abraham Breguet…
The Journal Suisse d'Horlogerie et de Bijouterie (April 1923) published the Comité parisien du Centenaire de Breguet…
The October 26, 1923 Excelsior newspaper notes the opening of the Breguet centenary at the Musé Galliera and the October 28, 1923 Excelsior newspaper notes the Breguet centenary ceremony at the Sorbonne…
Excelsior, Vendredi 26 october 1923 & Excelsior, Dimanche 28 october 1923
The Petit Parisien newspaper published tidbit regarding the the Paris Breguet centenary throughout october and November 1923…
Le Petit Parisien: October 25, 1923 (Paris fête les maîtres de l'heure)—October 26, 1923 (On inaugure au musée Galliera l'exposition d'horlogerie)
Le Petit Parisien November 6, 1923 (Aujourd'hui Visite du président de la République il l'exposition Bréguet, il musée Galliera)
Inauguaration de l'exposition dédiée à A.-L. Breguet, Musée Galliera (Louis & Jacques Breguet and Président de la République Millerand)
The October 1, 1923 Revue Internationale de l'Horologerie featured four sections on the occasion of the Breget centenary under the article: Les enseignements du Centenaire de Breguet—Le Concours International de Chronométrie, Biographie d' Abram-Louis Breguet, Aperçu de l'œuvre technique d' Abram-Louis Breguet and Deux montres de Breguet se retrouvent pour son Centenaire.
Le Concours International de Chronométrie begins…
Ce qui frappe dans l'oeuvre de Breguet, dont le travail fut la loi quoitidienne c'est la diversité de la production et la réunion de ces qualités : imagination, beauté, précision—sa probité professionnelle, sa bonté, sa générosité.
Montre dite Marie-Antoinette—Revue Internationale de l'Horologerie, October 1,1923 (page 297)
Aperçu de l'œuvre technique d' Abram-Louis Breguet begins…
The 1923 Musée Galliera Centenaire de A.L. Breguet expo appeared 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 etc. 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. 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…
In short, Abraham-Louis Breguet appears to us in the world of Chronometry as a singular and phenomenal character, taking pleasure in the difficulty where his skill made any competition impossible. In the firmament of art, it shines like the prodigious meteor which furrows the sky with a trail of sparkling light and makes the modest stars around it to which we are accustomed to twinkle.
The picture of Abraham Breguet appeared in the September 17, 1923 Feuille d'Avis de Neuchâtel newspaper article Le centenaire de Breguet.
September 22, 1923 L'Illustration (pages 259–262): Un Maitre de l'horlogerie by Léopold Reverchon
La Fédération horlogère suisse: September 29, October 3, October 6, October 10, October 13, October 17, October 20
has the shadows of a god.
— Rembrandt
The October 27, 1923 Le Figaro Supplément littéraire features a long article on the Centenaire Breguet by the Musée Galliera curator Gaston Derys (1875–1945)…
Gaston Derys ends the Le Figaro. Supplément littéraire article: 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:
Quand près de vous je dois venir,
A la première, je regarde,
A l'autre, quand je dois sortir…
— Stanislas de Boufflers
The December 1923 La Renaissance de l'art Français article L'oeuvre d'horlogerie d'Abram-Louis Breguet à Galliera reminds the modern reader that Abraham Breguet was thought as more than a tinkerer in his workshop rather Breguet was lauded as a veritable artist and virtuoso craftsman…
Mais les amateurs d'art et de souvenirs historiques ont eu part à la fête. A cette époque du Premier Empire et de la Restauration, qui ne brille pas toujours par le goût, Breguet a donné à ses montres une sobriété élégante, une convenance de décor, qui, même en dehors de leurs prodigieux mouvements, leur méritent le titre d'objets d'art.
But lovers of art and historical souvenirs had a share in the celebration. At this time of the First Empire and the Restoration, which did not always shine for taste, Breguet gave his watches an elegant sobriety, a decoration suitability, which, even apart from their prodigious movements, earned them the title of art objects.
things, but you actually have to
change them yourself.
— Andy Warhol
A snippet from the October 1923 Floreal magazine article (John Grand-Carteret 1850–1927) A Propos du Cententaire Bréguet: Quelques notes sur les montres…Mais, au commencement du dix-neuvième siècle, la montre, l'ognon, était considéré comme un objet de luxe. Combien, parmi les hommes, se réglaient encore sur le cadran solaire, ce vulgaire, et naïf indicateur des heures de jour. Un poète anonyme ne l'a-t-il pas constaté aux approches de 1820:
Mais le cadran est un ami vulgaire…Dès que le soleil fuit, il ne me dit plus rien.
— poète anonyme
John Grand-Carteret concludes the Floreal magazine article…“ Pour moi, je ne saurais mieux rendre hommage ´ l'homme excellent que fut Abraham-Louis Bréguet, qu'on reproduisant ici les vers bien oubliés, mais très actuels, publiés lors de la mort du célèbre horloger-mécanicien, par Népomucène Lemercier, dont il était l'ami”…
Par un coup de sa faux cruelle. / Triomphe encor de lui, monte encor sur son aile,
Dans les sphères des cieux lui prescrire sa loi; / Et vers le déficit, sous l'horloge éternelle,
De borner en nos cœurs, de ta perte abattus, / Le durable regret des paisibles vertus
Qu'exprimait ton âme immortelle.
— Louis Jean Népomucène Lemercier (1771–1840)
The November 29, 1923 Civil and Military Gazette expresses a provincial pose—decidedly English—on the Centenaire Breguet.
Apropos of John Arnold and Abraham Breguet—Urban Jürgensen's (1776–1830) autobiography recounts Arnold's estimation of Breguet upon Jürgensens visit (1778–1779) to England…
The October 17, 1923 La Fédération horlogère suisse advertised a bronze medal (Fr. 7.50) celebrating the Breguet centenary: produced by Hugeunin Medailleurs Le Locle the obverse featured Abraham Breguet by the artist E. Rothinberger and the reverse…
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 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.
José Moselli
— François Valentin (1796–1849): Les Artisans Célèbres (1843)
The Musée Galliera Breguet expo was unprecedented in the early 20th 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 officially 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…
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 marvelous workmanship or their artistic merit deserves the greatest tribute of praise.
— 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 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…
Dieser Mann gewährt uns das Bild eines Lebenslaufes, der von der untersten Staffel der gesellschaftlichen Stufenleiter ausgehend, zu Ansehen, Ruhm und Reichthum emporstieg, das Beispiel eines Wackern , der dabei dem bloßen Glücke nichts, vielmehr sich selbst Alles verdankte, denn seine Erfolge waren nur der Lohn seiner ausdauernden, sein ganzes Leben erfüllenden, von hoher Intelligenz geleiteten Arbeit, seines unablässigen Vorwärtsstrebens, seiner Begeisterung für das Fach, dem er alle seine Kräfte gewidmet. Breguet war mit einem Wort ein ganzer Meister, der seine Kunst in allen ihren Zweigen übersah, hob und förderte, und dabei einer der liebenswürdigsten Menschen, dessen Freund, Schüler oder Gehülfe gewesen zu sein einem Jeden fü'r sein Leben eine freudige und erhabene Erinnerung blieb. — Ehre dem Andenken solcher Meister der Industrie!
This man [Breguet] also gives us the picture of a life that, starting from the lowest rung of the social ladder, rose to respect, fame and
wealth, the example of a brave one who did not care for mere happiness, Rather, he owed everything to himself, for his successes were only the reward of his persevering, life-fulfilling work,
directed by high intelligence, his ceaseless striving, his enthusiasm for the subject to which he devoted all his energies.
In a word, Breguet was a complete master, who surveyed, raised and promoted his art in all its branches, and at the same time one of the most amiable people, to have been his friend, pupil or
assistant a joyful and sublime memory for everyone's life stayed. — Honor to the memory of such masters of industry!
— The Book of Famous Merchants—The Watch Industry and its Masters (1869)
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 Nos. 398, 786, 1481, 1817, 3073, 4095, 4548 & 4946. Please note as well: Louis Desoutter sold Breguet No. 20-148 (Duc de Praslin) to David Salomons in 1920 & Breguet No. 160 (Marie-Antoinette) to Salomons in 1917 (Desoutter bought No. 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 No. 2568 The Moltshanoff (tourbillon), Breguet certificate No. 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 No. 153. Louis Desoutter sold Breguet No. 1806 (The Caroline Bonaparte) to David Salomons in 1920—the watch appeared in the Musée Galliera expo as catalog No. 142. Breguet No. 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 No. 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 No. 757 appeared in the 1923 Paris Breguet expo as No. 79.
79. Pendule « Sympathique », échappement à force constante et
à tourbillon, spiral en or 2 barillets. No 757.
avec la montre no 528. Fr. 8.000.
PICTURED BELOW: Breguet No. 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 No. 60, 1796, Breguet No. 217, 1800 (The Havas) and Breguet No. 164, 1796 (The Legras). Breguet No. 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 No. 4905 (1829) formerly Louis Desoutter appearing in the 1923 expo as catalog entry no. 207 (David Salomons collection). Breguet No. 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
Hôtel de Ville (Paris City Hall)
On October 24, 1923 (the day before the opening of the Musée Galliera Breguet exhibit) a reception was held at the Hôtel de Ville (Paris City Hall) for the members of the Committee of the Breguet Centenary—speeches were given by: Georges Lalou (Président du Conseil municipal), M. H. Juillard (Préfet de la Seine), Louis Breguet (Président du Comité exècutif du centenaire Breguet), M. Dunant (Ministre de Suisse à Paris) and Camille Guillaume Bigourdan (Président du Congrès de chronométrie)…
Ces Congressistes ont, voulu, eux aussi, fèter le glorieux centenaire d'Abraham-Louis Breguet qui, par son excmple a montré à tous que, dans notre doux pays de France, le travail et le tallent permettent à chacun de s'élever de l'atelier le plus modeste aux places les plus enviées. Il leur a donc semblé qu'un moyen digne à la fois de lui et d'eux-mêmes serait de travailler aux progrès de l'art et de la science auxquels Breguet a consacré sa vie—Camille Guillaume Bigourdan (1851–1932) French astronomer
November 30, 1923 Supplément au Bulletin Municipal Officiel de la Ville de Paris
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 No. 1615)) and organizations (e.g. École d'Horlogerie de Paris (12 Breguets) & École d'Horlogerie de Genéve (Breguet No. 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…
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.
Sketch of A.-L. Breguet: Edouard Foucaud — Abraham-Louis Breguet, Les artisans illustres, Paris, 1841
and it is they alone who are masters.
— Paul Gauguin
Prior to the 1923 Musée Galliera Breguet expo an announcement was published notifying owners of montres ou pendules BREGUET Ancienne of the upcoming Breguet expo—the author assumes to solicit donations to the exhibit…
HORLOGERIE
2, Rue Édouard VII
Sketch of Abraham Breguet from the Chocolat Guérin-Boutron advertisement series Bienfaiteurs de l'Humanité (1889)
Headpiece and tailpiece of Major Paul Chamberlain's book: It's About Time (1941)—drawn by Olivia Chamberlain
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…
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.
Appréciation à Raxevis Arcofin pour avoir partagé le film Breguet avec l'auteur
The Swiss newspaper Feuille d'avis de Neuchâtel (March 17, 1924) announced a film L'œuvre d'Abraham Louis Breguet, le célèbre horloger du XVIIIe siècle of the 1923 Musée Galliera Breguet exhibition to be presented at the Cinéma Palace along with a discussion entitled “Abram-Louis Breguet, horloger neuchâtelois à Paris”—L.-G. Du Pasquier (Professeur à l'Université de Neuchâtel) reports in the November 15th, 1923 Revue internationale de l'horlogerie the film was screened at the grand amphitheater of the Sorbonne on October 27th, 1923…
…à 15 heures une séance solennelle au grand amphithéâtre de la Sorbonne, sous la présidence de M. Raiberti, ministre de la marine. Avec les discours, au nombre desquels celui de M. Arthur Piaget, très applaudi, les morceaux de musique, les films cinématog;raphiques montrant d'une part la perfection cies oeuvres d'Abram-Louis Breguet, d'autre part les principaux faits qui ont marqué la semaine du congrès de chronométrie, la séance dura jusqu'apres 18 heures; et à 19 h. 30, nous étions de nouveau invités, par le Comité du Centenaire Breguet et par ses délégués français, à un dîner somptueux dans un des grands hôtels de Paris.
Les Chefs-d'Oeuvre de Breguet, envoyés par les collectionneurs du Monde entier furent temporairement rassemblés ou Musée Galliera Octob. 1923
Musée Galliera (still pictures) from the 1923 SIDF film L'œuvre d'Abraham Louis Breguet, le célèbre horloger du XVIIIe siècle
Breguet No. 453, Musée Galliera No. 1 lent by Baronne Gustave d'Adelsward & Breguet No. 3583, Musée Galliera No. 5 lent by Jacques Breguet
Musée Galliera (still pictures) from the 1923 SIDF film L'œuvre d'Abraham Louis Breguet, le célèbre horloger du XVIIIe siècle
Breguet Nos. 2788 or 2794, 2784, 3863, 92 Duc de Praslin, 2568, 2623 & 1670—lent by Sir David Salomons (Breguet No. 3863 lent by Sir Otto Beit)
Breguet watches (still pictures) from the 1923 SIDF film L'œuvre d'Abraham Louis Breguet, le célèbre horloger du XVIIIe siècle
Metronome clock (Conservatoire National de Arts et Métiers) & Pendule Sympathique by Rabi, élève de Breguet (montre No. 722)
Musée Galliera (still pictures) from the 1923 SIDF film L'œuvre d'Abraham Louis Breguet, le célèbre horloger du XVIIIe siècle
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.
Sixteen planches featuring 23 watches appearing in the 1923 Musée Galliera Breguet expo catalog
Picture of Breguet by Jean Jacques Lagrenee the Younger (Constance de Salm Liber amicorum, the Louvre)
Note: the ≈100 Breguet clocks & watches noted represent less than one-half of the Breguet timepieces displayed at the 1923 Paris expo.
Breguets in the Musée Galliera expo and their collectionneurs I:
No. 4095 (Louis Desoutter),
No. 24 (Baron Hottinguer),
No. 1615 (Baron de Rothschild),
No. 2441 (École d'Horlogerie de Paris),
No. 2664 (Henry Brown),
No. 2954 (Prince Orloff) &
No. 3863 (Sir Otto Beit),
No. 4514 (G. da Graça).
No. 453 (Baronne Gustave d'Adelsward)—1923 expo catalog No. 1
Breguets in the Musée Galliera expo and their collectionneurs II:
No. 3583 (Jacques Breguet),
No. 1481 (Louis Desoutter),
No. 4435 (Prince Orloff),
No. 4420 (E.-D. Bryce),
No. 4699 (Duc de Sotomayor),
No. 12 (Colonel J.-B. Forbes),
No. 4215 (Vicomtesse de Broves),
No. 513 (E. Gelis) &
No. 4039 (Mac Coll)
NB: regarding Jacques Breguet's Trois-roues clock Breguet No. 3583, Georges Anquetin states in the December 1891 Journal Suisse de l'horlogerie « It is perhaps Breguet's most perfect work »…
Dans ce chef-d'œevre, quelle perfection de travail! que d'élégance de formes et quelle simplicité de moyens! Aucune complication méticuleuse et peu utile; tout va au but par les procédés les plus simples, et cependant tout est complet. C'est peut-être l'œuvre la plus parfaite, selon lui-même, de toutes celles enfantées par son cerveau, ]'expression la plus élevée du génie, et peut-être aussi du cœur du grand roi de l'horlogerie.
Breguets in the Musée Galliera expo and their collectionneurs III:
No. 3448 (Carl Carlsson),
No. 1545 (Henry Brown),
No. 246 (Amiral de Saint-Pair),
No. 3306 (Henry Brown),
No. 4287 (Edgar de Spiegl),
No. 2910 (Madame Lamy),
No. 2292 (Mackenzie) and
No. 4548 (Louis Desoutter),
Breguet No. 611 (Madame Frédéric Le Comte): médaillon à tact watch with diamonds sold to Mme Bonaparte in 1800.
Breguets in the Musée Galliera expo and their collectionneurs IV:
No. 3432 (E.-D. Bryce),
No. 3552 (A.-M. Scott Esq.),
No. 602 (Daguin),
No. 2732 (Madame Henry Brown),
No. 3964 (F. Lammot-Belin),
No. 3907 (Henry Brown),
No. 2489 (Henry Brown),
No. 2193 (Olivier) &
No. 48 (catalog # 233) (Château de la Malmaison), faisant partie de la pendule Sympathique No. 20 (catalog # 64)
Musée Galliera expo catalog number 87: Louis Leroy (lender) Breguet No. 1553 sold to General Junot 1805. The watch was later acquired by David Salomons
as the watch appears in the Christie's 1964 Celebrated Collection of Watches by Breguet formed by Sir David Salomons (Part I, lot 15).
Breguet No. 4518 (Lionel Cabany) Sold to Daniel Doumerc 1828; Montre d'argent simple, cadran émail « an 1828 »
Breguet No. 2444 (Henry Brown) Sold to Prince Camillo Borghese Aldobrandini 1810, resold to General Davidoff and engraved with Davidoff coat-of-arms.
Breguets in the Musée Galliera expo and their collectionneurs Clocks:
No. 4464 (Musée des Arts Décoratifs),
No. 2516 (Madame Dumien),
No. 4712 (Comte Albert de Pourtalès),
No. 3243 (Lionet),
No. 448 (Baron Hottinguer),
Sympathique No. 757 (Fabriques Invicta): watch No. 528 lost and replacement made by Louis Desoutter (clock is in the British Museum)
Breguets in the Musée Galliera expo and their collectionneurs—lent by Charles Piaget (catalog Nos 257 & 258):
No. 2812 (Répétition d'or 3e classe, échappement à cylindre de rubi, vendue à l'Imératrice Joséphine le juillet 1813)
No. 3440 (Montre « Souscription » en platine, échappement à cylindre de rubis, venue à Georges Berreim, le janvier 1820)
Breguet Nos 2812 & 3440 appeared in the Revue Internationale de l'Horlogerie (October 1, 1923) article:
Deux montres Breguet se retrouvent pour son Centenaire [Abraham Breguet] by Dr. Henri Buhler
Breguet No. 1195 (Ternaux-Compans), exhibition catalog No. 225, sold to William-Louis Ternaux 1804
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Drawing of Breguet by Ferdinand Raffin—Les Grandes Ouviers Français, 1923
The 1923 Breguet Musée Galliera expo featured a score of watches listed as Chronomètre de Marine, Horloge Marine or Montre Marine: Breguet Nos. 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.
Journal des Debats (November 8, 1815, page 2) announcing Breguet's title of d'Horloger de la Marine Royal
François Joseph de Gratet (1749–1821): Minister of the Navy at the time of Breguet's appointment as Chronometer maker to the Navy
Musée Galliera expo #s 206, 69, 68 & 60; respectively Breguet Nos. 4821, 5108, 3218 and 4654
Sniffing out a régulateur astronomique: the 1923 Centenaire de A.L. Breguet expo catalog No. 266 lent by Service Hydrographique reads:
Vendue au Ministère de la Marine pour une Expédition au Pôle, le 21 mai 1838. Fr. 1.620.
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 No. 4367 has been in vain—the only reference to Breguet No. 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 No 4367 Breguet.
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 No. 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 No. 2472 (1824), Thomire patinated bronze, 770 francs & Breguet No. 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 No. 449 (1827) & No. 452 (1805) with small-seconds and mercury compensated pendulum—both clocks with classical figures & lions and No. 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 No. 661 (1817) Pendule Pyramidale with Turkish dial and ormulu lyres.
Pictured above: Breguet (sans number) Metronome clock (Conservatoire National de Arts et Métiers), Breguet No. 1651 (1804) (Comte de Lareinty-Thoozan), Breguet No. 825 Pendule Pyramidale, Patience and Prudence bronzes de Thomire (Bureau des Longitudes). Breguet No. 5 (1822) Pendule Sympathique by Rabi, élève de Breguet (montre No. 722) (David Salomons). Breguet No. 3135 (1819) Grande & petite sonnerie (David Salomons). Breguet No. 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 No. 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 No. 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 » (no 241), sur laquelle nous n'avons pas d'autres renseignements.” is the L'Impartial clock catalog No. 241?
Part 2 b
Tourbillions:
Breguet No. 2569 (1812) 1923 expo catalog No. 153,
Breguet No. 2568 (1818) 1923 expo catalog No. 154 &
Breguet No. 2520 (1818) 1923 expo catalog No. 150
David Salomons collection, all three tourbillons appear in Reinhard Meis: “Das Tourbillon”
Picture: David Salomons age 19 (Portraits of Celebrities at Different Ages: The Strand Magazine, March 1897)
Of the 100+ Breguets lent to the 1923 Paris expo by Sir David Salomons only a handful of watches and a clock (Breguet No. 2793) are pictured in the 1923 expo catalog but noteworthy are three watches: Planche VII Breguet No. 160 “Marie Antoinette (1755–1793)”, Planche X Breguet No. 92 “Duc de Praslin (1756–1808)” and Planche VIII Breguet No. 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.
Breguet has left behind him a truly marvellous life's work, the principal parts of which will be exhibited at the Musee Galliera from October 25th to November 24th next. The chief attraction at this exhibition will be the unrivalled collection of Sir David Salomons, the true promoter of the celebration of the centenary of the illustrious artist—Léopold Reverchon, General Secretary of the Commtitee for the Celebration of the Centenary of A. L. Breguet (Horological Journal, October 1923)
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.
Portrait of Sir David Salomons, circa 1880—Salomons Family Museum, Tunbridge Wells
Breguets in the Musée Galliera expo (David Salomons) I:
Breguet No. 160 “Marie Antoinette”,
Breguet No. 92 “Duc de Praslin” &
Breguet No. 2794 “le Roi Loius XVIII”
as pictured in the 1923 expo catalog
Breguet Nos. 4863, 3872, 194, 121, 2980, 3917, 3066, 1187, 4579, 4375, 83, 4274, 852, 4020, 2183, 2616, 4112 & 25 are listed in the 1923 expo catalog
All 21 watches Sir David Salomons collection & excepting No. 25 appear in David Salomons' 1921 Breguet monograph (English)
Breguets in the Musée Galliera expo (David Salomons) II:
No. 4627 (vendue au Prine Lieven, 1830),
No. 2890 (vendue à M. Doazon, 1817),
No. 3496 (vendue à Lord Gower, 1820),
No. 4238 (vendue à M. Spies, 1826),
No. 4578 (vendue au Comte Maluszewiz, 1831),
No. 1860 (vendue Queen of Spain, 1808),
No. 179 (vendue Marie-Antoinette, 1792) &
No. 3012 (vendue à M. Blanfort, 1818)
All eight watches Sir David Salomons collection & appear in David Salomons' 1921 Breguet monograph (English)
Breguets in the Musée Galliera expo (David Salomons) III:
No. 4047 (vendue Général Baron Koller, 1824),
No. 219 (vendue M. Dumerque, 1810),
No. 2623 (vendue Prince Antoine, 1814),
No. 4214 (vendue Comte Yarmouth, 1827),
No. 647 (vendue M. Julliot, 1802),
No. 6 (vendue M. Rougemont, 1797),
No. 2187 (vendue M. Recordon, 1811),
No. 2781 (vendue Prince Gagarin, 1814)
All eight watches David Salomons collection & excepting No. 219 appear in David Salomons' 1921 Breguet monograph (English)
Breguets in the Musée Galliera expo (David Salomons) IV:
No. 4270 (vendue M. Suzanne de Bréauté, 1825),
No. 1806 (vendue Princesse Murat, 1807),
No. 148 (vendue Duc de Praslin, 1792),
No. 3519 (vendue Général Davidoff),
No. 2176 (vendue Louis Recordon, 1820),
No. 3542 (vendue Duc de Malborough, 1820),
No. 2571 (vendue Mme la Princesse de Valançay, 1812),
No. 2998 (vendue Lord Beauchamp, 1819) &
No. 2788 (vendue Prince Regent, 1818)
All nine watches Sir David Salomons collection & appear in David Salomons' 1921 Breguet monograph (English)
David Salomons' regard of Breguet's mechanical wizardry and appreciation of Breguet's aesthetic 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, irresistible to the seemingly insatiable collector.
— Leonardo da Vinci
Breguets in the Musée Galliera expo (David Salomons) V:
Breguet Nos. 51, 1623, 124, 1410, 4642, 5047, 450/2600, 1740, 28, 574, 2784, 3625 & 4308
All 13 watches Sir David Salomons collection and appear in David Salomons' 1923 Breguet monograph (French).
Picture: David Salomons age 28 (Portraits of Celebrities at Different Ages: The Strand Magazine, March 1897)
Breguets in the Musée Galliera expo (David Salomons) VI:
No. 3721 (vendue Malicheff et livréee au Prince Nicolas Troubetzkoï, 1821),
No. 1670 (vendue M. le Colonel Cooke, 1814),
No. 3661 (vendue Lord Stewart, 1823),
No. 4905 (vendue à un inconnu, 1817),
No. 1088 (vendue M. Sommariva, 1803),
No. 4321 (vendue S.A.R. le Duc d'York, 1829) &
No. 2912 (vendue Mlle Dumergue, 1818),
All seven watches Sir David Salomons collection & excepting No. 3721 appear in David Salomons' 1923 Breguet monograph (English)
Breguets in the Musée Galliera expo (David Salomons) VII:
No. 2544 (vendue M. Havas, 1812),
No. 119 (vendue aux frères Chaudoir, 1798),
No. 2934 (vendue à un inconnu, 1817),
No. 4004 (vendue à M. le Comte de Demidoff, 1823),
No. 987 (vendue à un Prince Russe, 1803),
No. 2461 (vendue au Prince d'Espagne, 1811),
No. 722 (vendue un personne inconnue, 1822), watch belongs to Paris exhibit No 213 Pendule Sympathique by Louis Rabi,
No. 4099 (vendue à M. A. Demidoff, pour le Docteur J. Benoist Cros, 1830) &
No. 4850 (vendue M. Anatole Demidoff, 1830)
All nine watches Sir David Salomons collection & appear in David Salomons' 1923 Breguet monograph (French)
The May 10, 1924 L'œuvre Journal notes David Salomons' donation of Breguet No. 92 “Duc de Praslin” to the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers…Breguet No. 92 was collection No. 114 in the 1923 Paris expo.
des Arts et Métiers
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.
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 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.
The Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers exhibited Breguet No. 92 at the 1935 Exposition Universelle et International de Bruxelles—the watch appears on page 25 of the 1935 Catalogue des Objets Eposés along with a description of the watch that concludes with…
Cette montre a été donnée au Conservatoire National des Arts & Métiers
par Sir David Lionel Salomons, Bart., en février 1924.
Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers Catalogue des Objets Eposés Exposition Universelle et International de Bruxelles 1935
Display of Breguet No. 92 at the 1935 Exposition Universelle et International de Bruxelles
Pendule avec Calendrier de Rouque 1780 — Pendule Mystérieuse Époque Louis XV — Globe Terreste à Mouvement d'Horlogerie
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…
…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 No. 9 among the 39 figures in the drawing. 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.
Flowers: Watercolor, pen and brown ink, brown ink wash. Signed by Fanny Gumppenberg, née Countess of Salm.
Portrait of Constance Pipelet: Jean-Baptiste-François Desoria (French, 1758–1832)
Sketch of Constance de Salm Liber: Jean-Jacques Lagrenée the Younger
2. Mlle 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. Mme 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.
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".
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 Lagrenée 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: « Je m'y connais, la plus heureuse est près de vous »
Part 3
Sir David Lionel Goldsmid-Stern-Salomons (1851–1925)
Belle Époque Renaissance-man
Picture: David Salomons age 46 (Portraits of Celebrities at Different Ages: The Strand Magazine, March 1897)
Fleuron for La Fontaine, Contes et nouvelles, Paris, 1795 (engraving by Choffard) (Salomons collection)
Laura Salomons (1855–1935) & Vera Salomons (1888–1969) to whom the fate of David Salomons' Breguets was bequeathed
David Salomons, certainly a Breguet-spiritual avatar and the keystone if not the bedrock of the 1923 Musée Galliera Breguet expo, harbored 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' in-laws: 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”.
Sir David Salomons 1st Baronet (1797–1873): David Lionel Salomons uncle and benefactor; David Lionel Salomons' parents: Philip Salomons (1796–1867) & Emma Salomons (1832—1859); David Salomons with sisters Laura & Stella (1872); David Salomons & Stella Paget (sister) at the 1879 Fancy Dress Ball hosted by David Salomons (an account of the ball and guest list can be found in the Kent & Sussex Courier (Friday 25 April 1879); Leo ‘Walter’ Nunn: long-serving coachman and chauffeur, lived in the Salomons' Broomhill estate stables for 50 years, Nunn was a beneficiary in both David Salomons' and Laura Salomons' wills (respectively £800 & £1,500).
Broomhill main entrance (1890s)—the dining room (1890)—gardener's cottage (1880s)—household staff (1870s)—grand-hall and stairs
David Salomons inherited Broomhill in 1873 upon the death of his
uncle Sir David Salomons st Baronet.
Broomhill: the painting gallery (1895)—the sculpture room (1890)—the library room (1915)—the drawing room (1890)
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?”
Cars Illustrated, September, 1964: Sir David Salomons was a pipe smoker. Not just a pipe, but many pipes, which were left filled for him at strategic points around his gracious house, Broomhills, near Tunbridge Wells. It is popularly believed that pipe smoking is in keeping with quiet, possibly introverted, thoughtful and, sometimes, imaginative men. Sir David certainly possessed neither of the first two characteristics…The horseless carriage captured Salomons' interest as nothing had before. He reveled in the thoughts of freedom of movement that compact motorized vehicles promised.
Programme Horseless Carriage Exhibition, 1895: VIS-A-VIS built by Messrs. Peugeot of Paris, fitted with a Daimler Engine, supplied by Messrs. Panhard & Levassor, and shown by SIR DAVID SALOMONS…intended to run 180 to 200 miles without charging. The horsepower is 3¾; the speed on a hill…is about four miles per hour, and on the level fifteen miles per hour.
NY Times Automobile Section, February 1919—Cars Illustrated, September, 1964—1895 Horseless Carriage Exhibition Programme & exhibition photographs
David Salomons' Peugeot Type 9—sundry cars belonging to David Salomons—Broomhill horse-stables converted to motor-stables.
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.”
REPRESENTATIVE SUBJECTS OF THE KING.
An illustrated work in Two Volumes, recording the careers and achievements
of Notable Men of the period, with over 220 specially executed portraits.
Prepared by the Publishers of "Dod's Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage"
with the sanction of His Majesty.
LONDON: DOD'S PEERAGE PUBLISHERS 3, Warwick Lane, E.C. 1913
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…
Born 1851
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…
Three prints: Choffard, Gravelot & Eisen (David Salomons collection). David Salomons writes in the preface of Vera Salomons' Gravelot monograph:
“The Author is the daughter of the writer of this preface:
it is not therefore for him to say any words in favour of or against the book.
It is for the reader to appreciate, or the reverse, the effort made to assist the admirer of this special art…”
D. L. S. BROOMHILL, TUNBRIDGE WELLS.
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…
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)…
Choffard: Tail-pieces from “Contes et nouvelles en vers” by La Fontaine, 1762,
Tail-piece & Fleuron on the title-page of volume 1
of “Histoire de la maison de Bourbon,” by Désormeaux, 1779–1788.
Tail-piece from “Contes et nouvelles en vers,” by La Fontaine, 1762.
Eau-forte of the tail-piece from “Les métamorphoses d'Ovide,” 1767-1771
Ferdinand Berthoud Historie de la Mesure du Temps par les Horloges (1802)…title page fleuron by Pierre-Philippe Choffard
Apropos of Choffard…David Salomons' library (entry # 822, 4th edition of the library catalog) included Ferdinand Berthoud's chef d'œuvre Traité des horloges marines contenant la théorie, la construction, la main-d'œuvre de ces machines Etc. (Paris. 1773) which included 27 mechanical plates engraved by Choffard in addition to the title-page vignette by Choffard.
Ferdinand Berthoud (1727–1807)—three books featuring the work of Pierre-Philippe Choffard
Choffard: Traité des horloges marines contenant la théorie…title page vignette, planches XI & V engravings &
a vignette with a portrait of Louis XV above the dedication by Charles-Nicola Cochin (1715–1790), engraved by Choffard
Choffard: De la mesure du temps, ou supplément au traité des horloges marines, planche X engraving
Choffard: L'Art de Conduire et de Régler les Pendules et les Montres…planche IV engraving
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 1st Baronet; the catalog notes: “In bequeathing the pictures to his Nephew [2nd Baronet], he [1st Baronet] expressed the hope that he would not part with the possession of them.”
Catalog of Paintings Nos. 122, 38, 87, 153 & 97: S.A. Hart, R.A., Hop Picking at Burr's Wood Kent (1852), W.J. Grant, Mozart's Requiem (1854),
E.W. Cooke, R.A., On the Lagunes, Venice (1855),
C.W. Cope, RA, The Music lesson (1863) and T.S. Cooper, R.A., Cattle (1837)
Catalog of Engravings Nos. 41, 38, 37, 14 & 13 (Gustave Doré): Christ's entry into Jerusalem, Battle of Ascalon,
Soldiers of the Cross, Christ leaving the Praetorium and Dream of Pilate's Wife
— 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…
Broomhill Library Catalog (1916): No. 2839 La Borde, Choix de Chansons (Paris, 1773) and
No. 2866 La Fontaine, Contes et Nouvelles en Vers (Amsterdam, 1762)
It's just about everything.
— Gertrude Stein
The great “English Period for Illustrated Books being from 1810 to 1850”, David Salomons' 19th 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”.
Broomhill Library Catalog (1916): No. 4159 Italy, A Poem, Samuel Rogers (1763–1855) (Cadell, London, 1830);
illustrations by J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851) and Thomas Stothard (1755–1834)
Broomhill Library Catalog (1916): No. 4588 L. Sterne, Tristram Shandy (Roscoe's Novelists Library, London, 1832);
illustrations by George Cruikshank (1792–1878)
Leo Aryeh (L.A.) Mayer (1895–1959): Israeli scholar of Islamic art
Vera Francis Salomons (1888—1969): founder L.A. Mayer Museum of Islamic Art in Jerusalem
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 2nd Baronet (WA: 17-70, 20-70, 21-70, 22-70 & 24-70). WA-14-70 engraved with the coat-of-arms of David Salomons 1st Baronet is inscribed: Return to Sir David [Lionel] Salomons Broomhill Tunbridge Wells; WA-15-70 is similarly inscribed.
WA-21-70: Leroy & Cie No. 69999 (case) circa 1890, engraved with David Salomons 2nd Baronet coat-of-arms (minute-repreater, grande sonnerie)
WA-14-70: Bennett (London) No. 19118 circa 1851, engraved with coat-of-arms of David Salomons 1st Baronet;
WA-17-70: Leroy & Son No. 2395, minute-repeater, grande & petite sonnerie, engraved with coat-of-arms of David Salomons 1st Baronet
WA-15-70: William French quarter-repeater circa 1850 No. 5683, inscribed: Return to Sir David Salomons, Broomhill, Tunbridge Wells
WA-20-70: Leroy & Cie, minute-repeating, split-second chronograph;
WA-22-70: Leroy & Cie, quarter-repeater, perpetual calendar;
WA-24-70: Leroy & Cie, Paris, circa 1900
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…
WA-36-70: Du Bois et Fils, Paris, quarter-repeating clock watch, circa 1800;
WA-39-70: Piquet et Meylan quarter-repeating watch with enameled bouquet of flowers, c. 1820
WA-25-70: Victor Kullberg, London No. 2993;
WA-29-70: Edward John Dent quarter-repeating watch;
EW-05-70: Courvoissier & Cie, c. 1850, portrait of Abdul Majid
WA-11-70: Achille-Hubert Benoît No. 1252, circa 1840, split-seconds chronograph (watch was lot 216, Sotheby's October 28, 2020 sale but was withdrawn).
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…
Horological Journal September 1924: Clockmakers' Company. As an addition to their Museum at the Guildhall, Sir David Salomons, Bt., has presented the undermentioned watches and chronometers to the Company—(1) Gold watch with gold movement, chronometer escapement. Hall-mark 1818. (2) Pair case gold watch, with gold dial, by Dan Quare. (3) Gold chronometer watch, by Reid and Co. Hall-mark 1807. (4) Gold chronometer watch, by J . Arnold and Son. Hall-mark 1796. (5) Gold chronometer watch, by Ellicott and Taylor. Hall-mark 1815. (6) Gold repeater watch, by Lepante, Paris. (7) Gold repeater watch, by Barwise, London. Hall-mark 1799. (8) Silver “Tourbillon” watch, by Breguet [No. 2571, sold to the Princess de Valançay in 1812, Musée Galliera expo catalog number 155].
Clockmakers No. 249: Daniel de St. Leu No. 3861, hallmarked 1797;
Clockmakers No. 126: Daniel Quare London No. 3720 (circa 1728);
Clockmakers No. 432: John Arnold & Son London Invt. et Fect. 513/814;
Clockmakers No. 469: Breguet Regulateur à Tourbillon No. 2571;
Clockmakers No. 443: Ellicott & Taylor No. 9462 (c. 1815);
Clockmakers No. 438: Reid & Co. London No. 1808;
Clockmakers No. 527: Le Paute fils No. 4904;
Clockmakers No. 401: Maker Unknown, hallmarked 1818 &
Clockmakers No. 433: John Barwise No. 158, circa 1799, Valentine Walker casemaker
— The Pilgrims Progress: John Bunyan
— 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 No. 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.
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 renowned) 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…
Electric Light Installations and the Management of Accumulators: A Practical Handbook (David Salomons, Whittaker & Co., London, 1891)
Science: March 14, 1890, Vol. XV, Issue 371 — Review of Electric Light Installations & Management of Accumulators by Sir David Salomons.
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…
Description from Salomons' library catalog of 1916 (no. 891): BLAKE (W.) Illustrations of the Book of Job. W. Blake, London. 1825. Brown morocco extra, gilt top, Folio, I vol. Uncolored India paper proofs.
Bibliothèque Carlo De Poortere, lot 96: Duclos, Charles Pinot. Acajou and Zirphile, tale. A Minutie [Paris, Prault], 1744. Frontispiece and 9 figures by Boucher, a title fleuron and a vignette by Cochin, and a cul-de-lampe engraved by Duflos (Cohen 331). These figures, executed by Boucher for a novel of which only two copies were printed, preceded the writing of Acajou , which was designed to use the master's figures (Epître). Provenance: David Lionel Salomons.
Description from Salomons' library catalog of 1916 (no. 1859): DUCLOS. Acajou et Zirphile. Conte. A Minutie. 1744. Red morroco, gilt top, 4to. I vol. Illustrated by Boucher etc. Proofs before letters. Large paper. These plates are the same as in the Comte de Tessin's "Faunillane."
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…
Vera Salomons: Gravelot (J & E Bumpus, London, 1911) and Charles Eisen (J & E Bumpus, London, 1914/1921);
illustrations from the collection of Sir David Salomons
…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 (8th 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…
—Thomas Engel: Warum Taschenuhren
† Salomons' 1921 book (volume [250 pages] and supplement [50 pages]) was limited to 1,000 copies in light-blue wrappers; photographs 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 contemporary 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.
Portrait of Jean-Antoine Houdon (Louis Périn-Salbreux, Louvre, Paris),
Diana the Huntress (terracotta, Frick Museum, New York City),
Bust of Napolean (terracotta, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon),
Sundry subjects of Houdon's portrait sculptures
— 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…
Sample of watches appearing in the 1923 French book but not the 1921 English book…
Breguet No. 574 (1807),
Breguet No. 28 (1791),
Breguet No. 64 (1791),
Breguet No. 1623 (1806) &
Breguet No. 2784 (1807)
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 No. 4775 (1828) and Breguet No. 2568 (1818). Both watches appeared in Christie's “The Celebrated Collection of Watches by Breguet formed by the Late Sir David Salomons”…
Breguet No. 4775 (December 1964 Christies' sale Part I) — appears in Abraham-Louis Breguet The English Connection (Andrew Crisford, 2023)
Breguet No. 2568 (November 1965 Christie's sale Part III) — appears in A. L. Breguet Watchmaker Maker to Kings (Thomas Engel, 1994)
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”…
Sir David Salomons' book on Breguet's watches is not, I think, yet in this library. For an expensive book I am very much disappointed in it. It describes his collection of about 80 watches, all evidently of great money value. The photographs of the watches are produced with rather a coarse grain so that they cannot be examined with a magnifying glass. Those of the movements are very tantalising. They should have been taken out of their cases and would have been much better if they had been enlarged at least three diameters.
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.
— 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…
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…
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.
— 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.
[Salomons' book]…is not in fact a catalogue. In the catalogue, the owner of a collection aims above all to promote himself…The work of Sir David Salomons is on the
contrary a tribute to the virtuosity of the genius which seduced him.
—L. Reverchon
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
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.
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 learn 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.
the reader of his own self.
— Marcel Proust
The January 18th, 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 possession of connoisseurs, and the study of 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 18th century French illustrated books.
3658 OVIDE. Les METMORPHOSES D'OVIDE. SUITE COMPLETE DES FIGURES POUR LES METAMORPHOSES
D'0VIDE. Edité par l'Abbé Banier. Paris. Hochereau et Autres. 1767–1771.
Red morocco extra (by Mercier), in red half bound morocco cover and case, gilt edges. 4to. 1 Vol.
The plates are by Eisen, Moreau, Boucher, Gravelot, Monnet, etc.
Also added the Title and the final "fleuron" by Choffard. Plates in proof state before letters, mostly artists' proofs before receiving their final touches. Many before signature, and others with
"Signature à la pointe."
The five plates in "Découverte" state are in this suite.
The plate No. 45 (Echo changé en Voix), generally found "before letters" by being printed with a "Cache," is here in true artist proof state.
A few plates in various states added since purchase. Also two by Eisen for some other edition.
Margins unequal.
The proof and eau-forte of the dedication varies from the final plate chiefly in the Arms.
(12.A.2.) 400£.
2839 LA BORDE (De) CHOIX DE CHANSONS MISES EN MUSIQUE. (Par M. de la Borde.) Paris. Lormel. 1773.
Red morocco extra, tooled sides, doublee blue morocco tooled and silk ends, in brown morocco cases by Lortic Père, gilt edges. Royal 8vo . 4 vols.
One volume similarly bound in case. Royal 8vo. Containing many of ther plates added to the work. In all, 5 vols.
Illustrated with 4 frontispieces, fleuron on title, 25 plates by Moreau and 75 by Le Barbier, Le Bouteux and Saint Quentin.
VOLUME I.
1. Portrait of De La Borde "à la Lyre," engraved by Masquelier after Denon in four states, viz.: Eau-forte, unfinished proof, finished proof before "date" and finished proof after "date." Also a portrait of Morcau.
2. "Fleuron" on Title-page by Moreau.
3. Dedication by Moreau. Also the Eau-forte.
4. The 25 plates by Moreau, before and after letters. The former are Most rare.
5. The "unframed" plate of plate 2 in proof and artist proof of the same plate. Also the Eau-forte
…further descriptions of all 4 volumes follows…
One of the finest copies known. Purchased from the Librarie Demascène Morgaud, Paris 1907.
(11.A.3.) 1,286 £.
For a reader of Salomons' Breguet (1747–1823) to truly 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 (4th edition, 1916) and page through, however cursory, the catalog itself—thus armed the Breguet book will reveal more of its author.
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.
Breguet lithograph by Pierre Langlumé (1790–1830) based on Antoine Chazal drawing
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.
Breguet (1747–1823), Sir David Lionel Salomons. London, printed for the author, 1921 (1923); Breguet-Watchmakers since 1775, Emmanuel Breguet. Alain de Gourcuff, Paris, 1997; The Art of Breguet, George Daniels. Sotheby Parke Bernet 1984; A.L. Breguet: Watchmaker to Kings, Thoughts on Time, Thomas Engel, Sticher Konzepte 1994
Final Words
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, evinced talent writ small on mechanical marvels and finessed friendship across Europe (craftsman and king alike)…it is unlikely the modern world will produce a Beethoven, Rembrandt, Shakespeare or Shelley—the modern 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…
I would call attention to a remarkable fact, which appears to have been entirely overlooked. Breguet died in 1823, about 100 years ago, having revolutionized watch making during his life. Let us ask this question:—What progress has been made in the art since his time, and do modern watches keep better time, or are modern watches better made than those produced by Breguet?
The answer is in the negative!
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
