$6,900
De Belle à Paris, No. 4435. Produced circa 1800. Fine, astronomic, silver calendar watch. Two-body,“Directoire”, polished. White enamel, small central Roman hour chapter with minute divisions and 5-minute red Arabic markers, six subsidiary dials for the days of the week with governing planets, seconds, age of the moon and moon phases, date, months with the corresponding number of days and day division. Gold pierced hands. 52 mm (23’’’), frosted gilt, full-plate with cylindrical pillars, fusée and chain, verge escapement, brass balance with flat balance spring, continental cck.Movement signed.Diam. 64 mm. Notes After the French Revolution a new digital system was adopted. It affected weights and measures as well as time. The entire system for time measurement was changed. The 24-hour day was divided into ten hours, each having 100 minutes, each minute being subdivided into 100 seconds. Thus, for example, 12:30 PM was 5:20:83.3 in decimal time. The decimalization of time was introduced on November 24, 1793. Whereas the new standards for weights and measures were relatively easy to implement, the new division of time proved impossible to enforce because the traditional system was too deeply ingrained in people’s minds. Therefore the provision for decimal hours was suspended on April 7, 1795, leaving the mandatory Revolutionary calendar.
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2004-05-26
