Lot 96

Ligeron, Horloger de la Marine de l'Etat / LIP (Lipmann)

Viper

An extremely rare Parisian lever chronometer with split seconds chronograph and 60 min. counter. Formerly with "Bulletin de Marche" 1 ère Classe de L'Observatoire National in Besancon

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The punch mark in the form of a viper's head is set by the Observatory of Besancon on watches successful at the contest and awarded the Bulletin de Premiere Classe.

René Claude Ligeron was born on 10 August 1855 in Lormes (Nièvre, Burgundy), the son of jeweller Jean Ligeron (1832-1919) and Jeanne Claudine Chapuis (1829-1915). He relocated to Paris in 1886 and established the Tempo-Ligeron jewellery and watch shop. In 1900, the company was awarded the title "Horloger de la Marine". In 1911, René Claude Ligeron was granted a patent for a device for transferring the time to hour dials. René Claude Ligeron died on 21 January 1946 at the age of 90 in Gravon, Seine-et-Marne. His jewellery and watch business continued until 2018.
Source: watch-wiki.org
According to the chronometer extract, this watch was presented by Mr Lipmann to the Besançon Observatory for chronometer testing on 9 February 1914. It can therefore be assumed that the watch comes from the Lipmann family, the founders of the LIP brand. The LIP company was founded by Emmanuel Lipmann in Besançon in the 1860s.