Lot 395

Julien Le Roy à Paris, Movement No. 14584, 46 mm, 83 g, circa 1760
An ornamental gold enamel verge pocket watch, imitating Meissen porcelain
Case: 20k gold frame and enamel. Dial: enamel and chased floral gold plaque. Movm.: full plate movement, chain/fusee, three-arm steel balance.
The case of this charming, maritime-style pocket watch is made of white enamel. The back is decorated with a fine, translucent blue swirl on a fish scale engine-turned pattern. The spaces between the arms are filled with raised, matte gold flower garlands which have an almost relief-style appearance. The front bezel is similarly ornamented with delicate little seashells. The decor intended to imitate the Meissen porcelain, which was enormously popular at the time - with different motifs painted on a white background in the same style as the porcelain painting.
Julien Le Roy (1686 -1759) was one of the most outstanding clock- and watchmakers of his time and certainly played a decisive part in establishing the leading role French clockmaking had in the 18th century. He became a master in 1713, presented an equation clock to the Académie Royale des Sciences in 1717, and was appointed clockmaker to the king in 1739 (with his own rooms at the Louvre). Le Roy invented the adjustable bracket for the verge escapement wheel ("potence"), the repetition strike on springs instead of bells for pocket watches, and the "all-or-nothing" piece for repeating watches. His inventions and improvements were of such extreme importance that most watchmakers adopted them promptly for their own pieces. Later Le Roy was director of the Société des Arts; he and his son supplied the entries on watches and clocks in the encyclopaedia compiled by Diderot and d'Alembert.

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