Quarter-repeating, self-winding watch with gold engine-turned case, by Abraham-Louis Breguet c.1783.

On the back of the case is a crowned ‘N’. The white enamel dial has Breguet's secret signature. Both dial and case are most likely later replacements by Breguet. Blued steel 'Breguet' hands. Cylinder escapement, with no compensation on the balance. Quarter repeating and self-winding. Signed ‘Breguet à Paris 810/83’.

This watch is a very early example of a 'perpetuelle' or self-winding watch. It is said to have been sold to the Grand Duke Nicholas of Russia (later Czar Nicholas I) although Nicholas, who was born in 1796, would not have been alive when the watch was first commissioned, and would have only been around four years old when it re-cased with a short pendant by Breguet c. 1800.

Clockmakers Museum' No. 347