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This close-up of the balance shows the ‘parachute’, a shock-absorbing
device invented by Breguet
and consisting of a springy steel arm bent
round in a right-angle, one limb being fixed to the side
of the balance-
cock while the other extends over the top of the cock to carry the
endstone and
locate the balance-pivot. The idea is that, if the watch is
dropped on its edge or jarred sideways,
the arm will give slightly and so
deaden the impact. The near-circular loop at the angle gives extra
resilience.
Note the early compensated balance with very small timing screws.
The seeming expansion-gap
in the rim visible at far left is a fake — a
mere notch cut in the brass rim without passing right
through it.
The escapement is of the same pattern as that of the Humbert watch
made some
twenty years later.
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