113rd Auction
2025/11/8
Lot 168
L'EpineThe Cocker Spaniel
An ornamental Parisian gold enamel verge pocket watch with enamel miniature on the reverse
estimated
2.500—3.500 €
Price realized
-
specific features
Case
18 K gold, paste-set bezel, engraved band decoration, polychrome enamel medallion on the reverse depicting a cocker spaniel.
Dial
Enamel.
Movement
Full plate movement, chain/fusee, three-arm brass balance.
Case no.4222
Diam.37 mm
Circa1790
Ctry.France
Wt.37 g
Jean-Antonine Lépine (1720-1814) went to Paris in 1744 to work in the shop of André-Charles Caron. He later married Caron's daughter and obtained his master craftsman's certificate in 1756. Lépine became known in 1763 when he invented a new striking mechanism for pocket watches, which was made public in the "Mémoires de l'Académie des Sciences" in 1766. Lépine was appointed clockmaker to the king in 1765; he took over his father-in-law's workshop a year later. His idea of replacing the backplate with bridges and cocks made the service of the watches much easier and achieved his breakthrough in 1770. He formed a partnership with Claude-Pierre Raguet in 1792 and called himself "Horloger du Roi" from then on.