Lot 168

Lépine à Paris, Case No. 792, 59 mm, 105 g, circa 1810
A gentleman's very fine and large pocket watch with cylinder escapement and visible balance, made by the famous "Horloger du Roi" Jean-Antoine Lépine
Case: 18k rose gold, case maker's punch mark "IHP". Dial: silver, gilt, eccentric enamel hour chapter dial, five-arm ring balance. Movm.: bridge movement, going barrel.
Jean-Antonine Lépine (1720-1814)
Lépine 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.

Sold