{"product_id":"18ct-gold-lepine-with-a-hand-engraved-cipher-back-c-1895","title":"N° 2961, 18ct Gold Lépine with a Hand-Engraved Cipher Back, c.1895","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eA solid 18ct gold Breguet Lépine from the maison's Paris workshop. Pristine white enamel dial, blued pomme hands, and a hand-engraved cipher back.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn open-face Lépine of 49.2mm in solid 18ct gold, made for Breguet's Paris workshop at the close of the nineteenth century, and kept the way watches almost never are. The white enamel dial is entirely without hairlines, chips or spotting, signed Breguet 2961 beneath twelve, with painted Roman hours, an outer Arabic minute track, sub-seconds at six and the maison's own hollow-tipped pomme hands in flame-blued steel.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe back is where a previous owner made the watch his own. On a ground of tightly cut guilloché, a scrolling foliate cartouche frames a large entwined cipher, cut by hand in relief. Engraving like this only exists on watches that were carried, and carried proudly; it is the opposite of an anonymous case, and it has worn barely at all.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOpen the covers and the quality announces itself quietly: the front lid, back cover and inner cuvette all close with the crisp, positive click of a case never forced or repaired. The movement behind them is a gilt-frosted keyless lever finished to the standard the house set for itself, with fifteen ruby jewels visible in the train and mirror-polished bridge work. It winds smoothly on the original reeded gold crown, sets cleanly and runs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLate-nineteenth-century Breguets rarely come to market at all, and when they do it is usually with time's compromises: a repaired case, a chipped dial, a movement waiting on a service. This one arrives without them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe marks, the movement and the condition are set out piece by piece in the drawers below; the matching numbers are set out in The Record.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Breguet","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54467858301267,"sku":"PW-0115","price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1080\/3121\/3907\/files\/breguet-18ct-gold-pocket-watch-27_hero.jpg?v=1785680042","url":"https:\/\/estatecollection.nl\/products\/18ct-gold-lepine-with-a-hand-engraved-cipher-back-c-1895","provider":"The Estate Collection","version":"1.0","type":"link"}