![BREGUET ET FILS [寶璣] | A VERY RARE GOLD OVAL RING THERMOMETER NO. 2119, SOLD 1 MAY 1810 BY MOREAU OF LA MAISON RUSSIE TO COMTE POTOCKI FOR 336 FRANCS [極罕有黃金橢圓形溫度計，編號2119，1810年5月1日以336法郎售予波托茨基伯爵]](https://dam.sothebys.com/dam/image/lot/bae0ff58-67ea-4e82-a10b-f6a6ddbf29cb/primary/extra_small)
Masterworks of Time: Abraham Louis Breguet, Horologist Extraordinaire 「時間傑作——阿伯拉罕・路易・寶璣：鐘錶鬼才」
Masterworks of Time: Abraham Louis Breguet, Horologist Extraordinaire 「時間傑作——阿伯拉罕・路易・寶璣：鐘錶鬼才」
![View full screen - View 1 of Lot 59. BREGUET ET FILS [寶璣] | A VERY RARE GOLD OVAL RING THERMOMETER NO. 2119, SOLD 1 MAY 1810 BY MOREAU OF LA MAISON RUSSIE TO COMTE POTOCKI FOR 336 FRANCS [極罕有黃金橢圓形溫度計，編號2119，1810年5月1日以336法郎售予波托茨基伯爵].](https://sothebys-md.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/ed14f0a/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1436x2000+0+0/resize/385x536!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsothebys-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fmedia-desk%2Fa1%2Ff4%2Ffd2e4fdb4f198b4723c43d0c104a%2F032n10397-9zxm6-1.jpg)
BREGUET ET FILS [寶璣] | A VERY RARE GOLD OVAL RING THERMOMETER NO. 2119, SOLD 1 MAY 1810 BY MOREAU OF LA MAISON RUSSIE TO COMTE POTOCKI FOR 336 FRANCS [極罕有黃金橢圓形溫度計，編號2119，1810年5月1日以336法郎售予波托茨基伯爵]
Lot Closed
June 16, 02:58 PM GMT
Estimate
15,000 - 25,000 CHF
Lot Details
Description
BREGUET ET FILS
[寶璣]
A VERY RARE GOLD OVAL RING THERMOMETER
NO. 2119, SOLD 1 MAY 1810 BY MOREAU OF LA MAISON RUSSIE TO COMTE POTOCKI FOR 336 FRANCS
[極罕有黃金橢圓形溫度計，編號2119，1810年5月1日以336法郎售予波托茨基伯爵]
• Mechanism: gilded, circular bi-metallic strip operating rack and pinion system
• Dial: gold with contrasting engine turning by Tavernier - radial to the outer edges and cross hatched to the centre, slim blued steel hand indicating to a satin finished ring, the cardinal points marked Chaleur, Fievre, Glace, Tempéré, banner to the base signed Breguet et fils
• Case: gold oval, polished bezels, decoratively engraved band, glazed back, milled shank
length 29mm, width 22mm
Accompanied by a Breguet certificate dated 29 January 2020.
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Comte Potocki
Antiquorum Geneva, The Art of Breguet, 14 April 1991, lot 43
Breguet, E. , Breguet, Paris 1997, pp. 263
The accompanying Breguet certificate notes that the present ring thermometer was sold for FF 336 by Moreau of La Maison Russie to Count Potocki to whom Moreau had been introduced by Count Ozarovsky.
Count Stanislas Kostka Potocki (1755-1821) was born in Lublin in Poland and married Princess Aleksandra Lubomirska (1760-1836), the daughter of Stanislaw Lubomirski, a Grand Marshall of the Crown, in 1776. Count Potocki held the Knighthood of the White Eagle and Saint Stanislaus Merits and was Great Master of the Polish Freemasons. He founded the University of Warsaw in 1816 and was elected President of the Senate in 1818. He devoted his fortune to promoting literature, sciences and the arts. He built up a beautiful collection of paintings, Etruscan vases and engravings in his Wilanów castle near Warsaw which he put on view to the public in a portion of the castle, making it one of Poland’s earliest museums. In addition to the present lot, Count Potocki also owned Breguet no. 1176, a four-minute tourbillon, which was purchased a year prior to this ring thermometer.
Breguet devoted considerable time to developing the thermometer. The present ring thermometer's indicating hand is attached to the arbor of a pinion which engages with two brass racks. A bi-metallic strip in the form of a double ring is connected to one of the brass racks. A rise in temperature causes the bi-metallic strip to curl inwards, with a fall in temperature the strip uncurls. This action moves the rack back and forth thereby causing the indication hand to move along the dial's scale. The second brass rack ensures that there is no backlash in the pinion teeth. A similar thermometer ring, numbered 2484, is illustrated in G. Daniels, The Art of Breguet, 1975, p.216, figs. 222a-c. For further information on Breguet's thermometers see op. cit. p.91 and E. Breguet, Breguet, p. 262.