Minute Repeater Perpetual Calendar Moon Phase and Leap Year Pocket Watch in Yellow Gold

In fact…

The present watch is an extremely fine example of a highly complicated timepiece made by Louis Audemars for his faithful client, Breguet in Paris. The case is stamped ‘LA’ and numbered 11’782, with casemakers initials ‘MF’ for Meylan Frères, the cuvette is signed Breguet No. 3701.

This watch has had a fascinating history, passing through the hands of at least two very illustrious owners from very different worlds. According to the Archives of Montres Breguet, watch No. 3701 was sold on 22nd September 1894 to Messrs Mir et Cottereau, their agent in Constantinople (Istanbul) for the amount of 2,650 Francs.

It was later sold back to Breguet by the Ottoman Diplomat, Cherif Pacha on 28 February 1927 and then resold on the same day to the American collector Louis Harrison Dulles (Jr.) of Cleveland, Ohio, for 8000 Francs.

The case is stamped with Louis Audemars’ shield-shaped hallmarks, one inscribed ‘Brassus’, one featuring a dog’s head and capital letters L.A. for Louis Audemars above the double cross of Lorraine, see: Louis-Benjamin Audemars – His Life and Work by Hartmut Zantke, pp. 182 – 187.