20,700 CHF
“Wolf’s Tooth” Lépine, Horloger du Roy, Paris, Invenit et Fecit, No. 5229, Paris hallmarks for 1789. Fine and extremely rare, large 18K gold, dumb quarter repeating watch with wolf’s tooth train and Lépine’s special opening mechanism. Two-body, by Guillaume Mermillod (GM), polished, fixed bezel, concealed hinge. Gilt brass cuvette. White enamel with Arabic numerals and outer red Arabic minute ring. Gold “Lépine type” pierced fleur-de-lys hands. 44 mm., gilt brass, Lépine calibre with free-standing barrel and wolf’s tooth train, cylinder escapement, plain brass three-arm balance, blued steel flat balance spring, index regulator, repeating on the case with a single massive polished steel hammer activated by depressing the pendant. Dial and cuvette signed. Diam. 54 mm. Notes The present watch is a very good example of Jean-Antoine Lépine’s work. The case with fixed bezel, the back opening by twisting the pendant, the distinctive form of Arabic numerals (which were to become fashionable until the Empire, and were used during the same period by Breguet), and the gold “fleur-de-lys” hands are typical of Lépine’s style. The movement illustrates all the characteristics associated with Lépine’s work and is identical to that chosen by Moinet to illustrate his book “Nouveau Traité d’Horlogerie, plate 10. According to A. Chapiro, “Jean-Antoine Lepine, Horloger”, Editions de L’Amateur, Lépine made his first watches with wolf’s tooth trains in 1771, but it is mainly between 1787 and
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2005-10-16
