French Silver Pocket Watch by Brequet, Paris #53168

• Brequet - Abraham Louis Breguet (1747-1823) was a French watch and clock-maker who brought new techniques, such as newly invented escapements, to a peak of perfection and was credited with the invention of the self-winding watch. He was famous throughout Europe, even providing watches to Turkey in the Eastern style, and even throughout the Napoleonic Wars continued to supply the English market. His English agents tried in vain to persuade him to settle in England, though Breguet made several visits. In 1802 Breguet received a gold medal at an exhibition of French industrial products for a 'new, constant-force, free escapement'. Breguet also made fine and complicated carriage clocks. He eschewed mass production methods and numbered his creations.
• Fusee - The fusee movement was used in clocks and pocket watches from the mid 17th century. The fusee is a cone shaped drum within the works that is linked to the barrel of the spring, usually by a length of chain.
  
  As the mainspring loses its tension over time, the cone shaped barrel compensates for this by increasing the tension, by pulling the mainspring tighter, thus ensuring the time remains constant.
  
  Use of the fusee in clocks was superseded by the "going barrel" in the mid 19th century and for pocket watches at the beginning of the 19th century.
  
  The fusee continued to be used in marine chronometers until the 1970s.

This item has been included into following indexes:

• pocket watches, case type
  • open face, silver case 553
  • silver case 865
  • silver, open face 200
• pocket watches, features - repeater / repeating 101