19,550 CHF
Lépine Horloger du Roy, Paris, Invenit et Fecit, No. 5627, bearing the Paris hallmarks for 1787. Fine and rare 18 ct. gold, dumb quarter-repeating watch with wolf's tooth train. Double body, polished, by Guillaume Mermillod (master mark), with concealed hinge and fixed bezel. Gilt brass hinged cuvette. Notes The movement of this watch illustrates all the characteristics associated with Lepine's work and is identical to that chosen by Moinet to illustrate his book : Nouveau Traita d'Horlogerie, plate 10. There are however two notable differences: the first being a sophisticated blocking lever to ensure that the quarter rack is not released prematurely, the second being an attempt to prevent the balance from distorting or ovalising with temperature changes. The arms of the balance each have a semicircular kink and are reduced in thickness over a part of their length, and therefore in principal should absorb any expansion that might other Wise distort the rim. According to A. Chapiro, Jean Antoine Lepine Horloger, Editions de l'Amateur, Lepine made his first watches with wolf's-tooth trains in 1771, but it's mainly between 1787 and 1789 , that Lepine used the wolf's-tooth train for watches numbered between 5200 and 5711.
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
1993-11-14
