Pocket watch · Paris

Lépine-style subscription watch, circa 1820

Verified

Both the silver caseband and back are engine-turned. The bezel, the rim on the back and the pendant bow are all gold.

Technical facts

Inventory number: MIH I-357
Object type: Pocket watch
Place of production: Paris
Dating: c. 1820
Materials and techniques (catalogue wording): Laiton, Émail, Or, Argent
Dimensions (catalogue): poids: 146.500 g; dimensions d'exposition: 82.5 x 61.5 x 15.2 mm
Inscriptions (catalogue): Tête de femme grecque et lettre P (Fond du boîtier); Tête de Socrate (Fond du boîtier); JLJ; masque facial (Pendant); BREGUET ET FILS (Cadran); N° 3492 Breguet (Cadran); LUCARD (Contre-émail); Breguet N° 3492 (Mouvement)

Both the silver caseband and back are engine-turned. The bezel, the rim on the back and the pendant bow are all gold.
The white enamel dial, which is affixed with a screw, has black painted Arabic numerals for the hours. The exterior circle is divided into five-minute, half-quarter and quarter-hour graduations, each marked by a thicker stroke. The single blued steel hand, whose tapered tip makes it easy to read the time to the nearest minute, rotates once every twelve hours.
The movement only has one plate, which supports the barrel placed at the centre. It comprises a ruby cylinder escapement with a ruby pallet, a simple three-armed balance, a flat blued steel balance spring, and a bimetallic temperature-compensation regulator. The pivots of the balance are protected by Breguet’s own “parachute” system.
The movement is wound by a key, either at the centre of the hand on the dial side, or at the centre of the barrel on the movement side. The time is set by turning the hand, which is adjusted to a friction fit on a tube attached to the barrel.

Musée international d'horlogerie, online collection record, inv. I-357: https://collection.mih.ch/fr/collection/item/35528/

Where sources disagree, the disagreement is stated rather than resolved silently.