The Breguet Museum at Place Vendôme has acquired a historically important watch made in 1808 for a dignitary of the Ottoman Empire for CHF 650,000 (approx US$695,000), a record for a Turkish-style Breguet watch, and also a record for a pocket watch auctioned in mainland China.
This pocket watch was ordered in 1807 by His Excellency Esseid Ali Effendi, a former ambassador to Paris and personal friend of Abraham-Louis Breguet.
The Breguet N° 2090 Grande Complication watch is a quarter-repeater with independent grande and petite sonnerie functions in a double-case with a Turkish influenced enamel design and an Arabic numbered dial.
There is a rich history between Breguet and the Ottoman Empire. An exhibition at the Topkapi Palace Museum was held in 2010 of fifteen timepieces made for the Turkish market in the 19th century, featuring pieces from the collections of Breguet and the Topkapi, including the Sympathique clock made for Mahmud II and letters exchanged between Breguet and the Turkish ambassador Esseid Ali Effendi.
[AP]
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