Beschreibung:

Breguet et Fils. A very fine enameled gold pair case quarter repeating ruby cylinder watch for the Turkish market Date: Circa 1810 Movement: Gilt bridge pattern, standing barrel with visible stop work, key wound, escapement with gold three arm balance, bi metallic compensation curb, parachute suspension, repeating with two hammers on two gongs by twist and push piston in pendant Dial: White enamel, Turkish chapters and minute numerals, blued Breguet hands Case: Outer: scalloped, finely painted harbor scene over sunburst guilloché ground within a champlevé border of a flowering vine; scalloped, with a similarly painted scene of a ship passing a lighthouse, the cuvette champlevé enameled with a bouquet of flowers, numbered 1360 / B and 2942, casemaker's lozenge punch, JLJ for Jean-Louis Joly and three pseudo hallmarks Signed: Dial, numbered on inner and outer cases and cuvette Size: 57mm diam. of outer case Fußnoten Watches made for the Turkish market appear distinctly different from Breguet's typically restrained neo classical designs. A.- L. Breguet developed the market for his watches in the Ottoman Empire partly in response to the disruption of European trade due to the Napoleonic Wars. His sales to England all but ceased in the opening decade of the 1800's. He was aided in this venture by his friendship with Esseid Ali Effendi who had served as the Ottoman ambassador to Paris 1797-1802. The two corresponded after his return to Constantinople. Ali Effendi advised Breguet on the appearance of watches to appeal to Turkish taste. The result were watches such as the present example, richly decorated with red enamel and scenic panels produced in Geneva. His watches were well received and, in 1804, Ali Effendi commissioned an elaborate watch for the Ottoman emperor. For an account of trade with the Ottoman Empire, see: Emmanuel Breguet. Breguet, Watchmakers Since 1775. Paris (1997) pp 229-235