Most watches of French manufacture used hanging barrel Lépine movements of different types. The atélier of Breguet continued to produce high quality watches. After the death of Abraham – Louis Breguet in 1823, his son Antoine – Louis managed to keep the high quality standarts of their products. While the English style went back to the use of enameled dials, the French stayed with the guiloched silver dials. Not much improved mechanically during the 19th century. The general tendency was to increase the precision and to decrease the production costs. One main development was the change of configuration of the Lépine hanging barrel system, towards multiple bridge systems and enhancing the jewelling on the pivots. The major development of the century was the introduction of more automatized production of ébauches, especially in Switzerland and in France. Towards the end of the 19th century metal dials got out of fashion and the enameled brass versions got reintroduced.
Napoléon Bonaparte (15.8.1769 – 5.5.1821)
Napoleon was born on the island of Corsica to a relatively modest family of noble Italian ancestry. With 15 years he attended a military school on mainland France, where he was a brilliant student especially in mathematics. Socially he was quite alone and had little friends, moreover he was mocked because of his corsican accent.
From 1789, Napoleon supported the Revolution and tried to spread its ideals to Corsica, but he was banished from the island in 1793. In 1795, he saved the French government from collapse by firing on the Parisian mobs with cannons (against an order given to him to end the revolt with no causalties), an event known as the ’13 Vendémiaire’ during which over 200 died. The Directory then appointed him as General of the Army of Italy at age 26. Napoleon changed the custom to wear the ‘bicorne’ hat normally oriented from front to back by putting it sideways, contributing to his recognisable style until present. After marrying Joséphine de Beauharnais in March 1796, he started the Italian military campaign and scored a series of decisive victories that made him famous throughout Europe. In 1798 he was sent for a military expedition to Egypt, conquering the Ottoman province with a critical victory at the Battle of the Pyramids and facilitating the rise of modern Egyptology. As Napoléon was growing in fame the Directory wanted him far from France, hence the call for Egypt. The victory against the Ottomans was spoiled by the defeat at sea in the Battle of Abukir, against the British fleet of Admiral Nelson.
The Directory collapsed when Napoleon and his supporters engineered a coup in November 1799. He was installed as First Consul of the Consulate and progressively extended his personal control over France. A victory over the Austrians at the Battle of Marengo in 1800 cemented his political power. The Consulate witnessed a number of achievements for Napoleon, such as the Concordat of 1801 with the Catholic church and the treaty of Amiens in 1802.
In 1804, the Senate declared him the Emperor of the French, setting the stage for the french Empire. Intractable differences with the British meant by 1805 the French were facing a Third Coalition. Napoleon shattered this coalition with decisive victories in the Ulm Campaign and a historic triumph at the Battle of Austerlitz. The Peace of Pressburg culminated in the elimination of the millennial Holy Roman Empire. In October 1805, however, a combined Franco-Spanish fleet was destroyed at the Battle of Trafalgar, allowing Britain to impose a naval blockade of the French coasts. In retaliation, Napoleon established the Continental System in 1806 to cut off European trade with Britain and the Fourth Coalition took up arms against him. The French initially focused their attack on the Prussians, crushing the latter at the battles of Jena and Auerstedt in October 1806. After knocking out Prussia, Napoleon turned his attention towards the Russians and eventually annihilated them in June 1807 at the Battle of Friedland. Friedland forced the Russians to accept the Treaty of Tilsit in July 1807, often regarded as the high watermark of the French Empire.
Napoleon tried to compel Portugal to follow the Continental System by sending an army into Iberia. In 1808, he declared his brother Joseph Bonaparte the King of Spain, which precipitated the outbreak of the Peninsular War, widely noted for its brutal guerrilla warfare. In 1809 the Austrians launched another attack against the French. Napoleon defeated them at the Battle of Wagram, dissolving the Fifth Coalition formed against France. After the Treaty of Schönbrunn in the fall of 1809, he divorced Josephine and married Austrian princess Marie Louise in 1810. By 1811, Napoleon ruled over 70 million people across an empire that had near-total domination in Europe, which had not witnessed this level of political consolidation since the days of the Roman Empire. He maintained his strategic status through a series of alliances and family appointments to royal households. Napoleon launched a new aristocracy in France while allowing for the return of nobles who had been forced into exile by the Revolution.
Escalating tensions over the existence of a Polish State and the Continental System led to renewed enmity with Russia. To enforce his blockade, Napoleon launched an Invasion of Russia in 1812 that ended in catastrophic failure for the French. In early 1813, Prussia and Russia joined forces to fight against France, with the Austrians also joining this Sixth Coalition later in the year. In October 1813, a large Allied army defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig. The next year, the Allies launched an invasion of France and captured Paris, forcing Napoleon to abdicate in April 1814. He was exiled to the island of Elba. The Bourbons were restored to power (Louis XVIII) and the French lost most territories they had conquered since the Revolution. However, Napoleon escaped from Elba in February 1815 and returned to lead the French government, only to find himself at war against another coalition. This new coalition decisively defeated him at the Battle of Waterloo in June. He attempted to flee to the United States, but the British blocked his escape route. He surrendered to British custody and spent the last six years of his life in confinement on the remote island of Saint Helena.
His death in 1821, at the age of 51, was received by shock and grief throughout Europe and the New World. In 1840, roughly one million people lined the streets of Paris to witness his remains turning to France, where they still reside at Les Invalides.
There are many collectors of memorabilia belonging or related to Napoleon. The easiest to find memorabilia would be letters signed by Napoleon. Rarely personal pieces from the Emperor are sold at auction.
All watches and clocks belonging to Napoleon are in public collections, most of them are now kept at the Louvre. His Breguet No. 178 mantel clock is at the Swiss National Museum in Zurich. One of the existing 19 bicorne hats worn by Napoleon sold at auction (Osenat Auctioneers, Fontainebleau, 15.11.2014) for 2.4 million $. The hat and other important pieces belonging to Napoleon were sold on behalf of the Prince’s Palace collection in Monaco.
Antiquarian Horology 
