46,000 CHF
Julien Le Roy à Paris, No. 2934, circa 1750. Very fine, important and rare, small silver Grande Sonnerie quarter-repeating coach watch with alarm. Two-body, "Louis XV", engraved in a basketwork pattern. White enamel with Roman numerals and outer Arabic minute ring with five-minute Arabic markers, center silver alarm-setting disc. Gilt brass "Louis XV" hands. Hinged gilt brass full plate with turned conical pillars, fusee with chain, verge escapement, plain steel three-arm balance, flat balance-spring, florally pierced and engraved balance cock with polished steel end-piece. Grande Sonnerie quarter-striking with fixed barrel, alarm and pull-cord quarter-repeating on a bell. Signed on the back plate. Diam.75 mm. Notes Julien Le Roy (1686-1759). Is one of the clockmakers who have contributed most to the progress and the reputation of French watch- and clock-making. Born in Tours on August 6, 1686, he came to Paris in 1699 and was received master in 1713. The following year he married Jeanne Lafons and established himself in the rue du Harlay. First member, then Director of the Société des Arts, he improved almost all branches of clockmaking, and many important inventions in the realm of time-measurement are owed to him. In 1717, Julien Le Roy presented an equation clock to the Royal Academy of Sciences which showed the true time, the place of the sun and its declination. Appointed Clockmaker to the King in 1739, he had his private quarters in the Louvre. His inventions
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2002-10-19
