AN EMPIRE ORMOLU-MOUNTED AND EBONIZED AMBOYNA MONTH-GOING TABLE REGULATOR WITH YEAR CALENDAR AND EQUATION OF TIME

LEPINE, HGER. DU ROI À PARIS, NO. 1905, CIRCA 1810

Details

AN EMPIRE ORMOLU-MOUNTED AND EBONIZED AMBOYNA MONTH-GOING TABLE REGULATOR WITH YEAR CALENDAR AND EQUATION OF TIME
lepine, hger. du roi à paris, no. 1905, circa 1810
The dial with gilt moulded bezel to the narrow silvered Arabic seconds ring with counterpoised blued steel sweep center seconds hand, eccentric silvered Roman hour and minute dial with blued moon hands, the recessed gilt centre signed Lepine, hgler. du roi à Paris, the deadbeat 'scape wheel with jewelled pallets secured under a gilt bridge, the silvered year calendar below engraved with the days of the month with the relevant dates indicated to by a blued steel arrow-head hand, the blued steel and gilt sunburst equation hand above moving against a stationary silvered sector with the mid-way mean time point (XII) indicated by a vertical line with the engraving les minuits du temps vrai, the substantial movement with rectangular plates, secured with flanged pillars having polished steel screws at the front and pinned at the back, twin going barrels, countwheel strike on bell on the backplate mounted with a knife-edge suspension block for the gridiron pendulum with steel and brass rods, the gilt pendulum bob with central silvered plaque with calibrated rating nut, the pedestal case with detachable stepped top revealing the ormolu knobs for the sliding front and rear glasses, the front applied with ormolu Egyptian caryatids on ebonized and amboyna pedestals, rectangular stepped base with ebonized mouldings
20in. (50.5cm.) high

Lot Essay

Jean-Antoine Lepine, 1720-1814 was born in Switzerland in a village called Challex near Geveva. He started his horological career in Geneva but soon went to Paris in 1744 as apprentice to André Charles Caron, the King's clockmaker. He married Caron's daughter in 1756 and was made Master in 1765 about which time he was appointed Horloger du Roi.
Lepine was responsible for a great many inventions but none more important than a new calibre of watch movement that revolutionized watch making and with which his name is synonymous.

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