Breguet carriage clock commissioned by Ettore Bugatti, £170,000 at Bonhams.
Following competitive phone bidding, it sold towards the top end of expectations at £170,000 (£216,000 including premium).
Like many engineering aficionados, Bugatti had a love for horology and he chose an equally driven firm of clockmakers, Breguet of Paris, to purchase his personal 50th birthday gift in 1931
Breguet hump-backed carriage clocks were some of the most complex domestic timepieces of the period. This example, No 759, took three years to complete, and its remarkable movement, housed in a silver case with a secret opening mechanism, has a perpetual calendar that accounts for leap days every four years.
It retains the original velvet-lined travel case and keys along with its certificate, No 3278.
James Stratton, Bonhams specialist said: “The clock would have been a constant companion to Bugatti as he steered the company over the following years, producing some of the most powerful and beautiful cars of the 20th century.
“This really was a once-in-a lifetime opportunity to acquire an object steeped in both automotive and horological history.”
The sale took place on November 29.
