Description

Immediate dispatch from Somerset. Nice book in great condition. Pages in excellent condition. Hardcover. English. See images for condition.

About the book >.>.> The growing storm surrounding the French revolution was to both disrupt Breguet’s life in Paris but at the same time herald the period of his greatest achievement. Initially a Jacobin he was unable to escape the consequences of his association with the aristocracy. His son Antoine-Louis sent to England to study watchmaking under John Arnold wrote home in August 1792 expressing his fears for his father’s safety and strongly urging him to “leave those damned Jacobins.” In fact Abraham-Louis left Paris in August 1793 travelling to Geneva on a safe conduct pass apparently arranged by his close friend Marat. According to family tradition Breguet had saved Marat’s ed Marat’s life on a previous occasion dressing him up as an old woman to escape from a house besieged by an angry crowd screaming abuse; that the two men were certainly friends is sure for his sister Albertine made watch hands for Breguet. Although the business in Paris suffered drastically from the master’s absence – the premises and tools being confiscated – his enforced exile in Switzerland was not unproductive. Breguet used his time to strengthen his contacts with watchmakers throughout his native country and to develop at least in his mind a vast range of ideas that were to re-launch the firm upon his return to Paris in 1795. A flurry of activity accompanied his arrival and many of his important inventions and most exceptional creations can be dated to the years immediately following. Although certain of his former clients amongst the aristocracy had been dispossessed or executed they were quickly replaced by the Generals politicians and families raised to prominence under Napoleon. (OS)