Jolly a Limoge

Jolly a Limoge, circa 1780. Fine and very rare 18K gold watch with frictional-rest escapement. Double body, Louis XVI, polished. White enamel with Lepine type of Arabic numerals. Gold "sun" hands. Hinged gilt-brass full plate with cylindrical pillars, fusee with chain, Sully type frictional-rest escapement with single brass escape wheel and double pallets on the balance staff, plain brass three-arm balance, flat balance spring, gilt-brass continental cock with polished-steel end-piece. Signed on the back plate. Diam. 51 mm. Notes The escapement of this watch is drawn from that invented by Henry Sully in 1718 and used for his famous Horloge Marine, presentee] to the Academie Royale des Sciences in 1724. Only very few eminent makers, including Pierre Le Roy, the eminent son of Julien Le Roy, used this type of escapement during the 18th century. A variant of this escapement with a double escape wheel and a single pallet on the balance staff, invented by Enderlin, the eminent maker, and improved by Paul Gamier, was used on carriage clocks circa 1830. Joly a Limoge This eminent provincial watchmaker is reputed to have restored in 1758 an automaton astronomical clock designed as a figure of Father Time, made for the Monastery of Saint Martial from where it was removed by Brousseaux. It was subsequently sold in 1807 to the Church of Saint Pierre-du-Quicroi where it was fitted above the organ. It was replaced in 1863 by a clock made by Collin, Successor of B.H. Wagner who pre Read more…