AN EMPIRE ORMOLU-MOUNTED MAHOGANY MONTH-GOING STRIKING LONGCASE REGULATOR WITH EQUATION OF TIME AND REVOLUTIONARY AND GREGORIAN CALENDARS
Specified lots (sold and unsold) marked with a fil… Read more
AN EMPIRE ORMOLU-MOUNTED MAHOGANY MONTH-GOING STRIKING LONGCASE REGULATOR WITH EQUATION OF TIME AND REVOLUTIONARY AND GREGORIAN CALENDARS

THE MOVEMENT BY PIERRE-BASIL LEPAUTE, THE DIAL BY ETIENNE GOBIN, KNOWN AS DUBUISSON, CIRCA 1800, THE CASE ADAPTED, THE MOUNTS LATER

Details
AN EMPIRE ORMOLU-MOUNTED MAHOGANY MONTH-GOING STRIKING LONGCASE REGULATOR WITH EQUATION OF TIME AND REVOLUTIONARY AND GREGORIAN CALENDARS
THE MOVEMENT BY PIERRE-BASIL LEPAUTE, THE DIAL BY ETIENNE GOBIN, KNOWN AS DUBUISSON, CIRCA 1800, THE CASE ADAPTED, THE MOUNTS LATER
The tapering case with enamel dial signed 'Lepaute A Paris' and 'Dubuisson', annular enamel calendar ring signed 'Dubuisson', calibrated for regular months together with corresponding Revolutionary calendar, the substantial movement with four pillars, signed to the frontplate 'LEPAUTE HORLOGER DE L'EMPEREUR. A. PARIS', and also to the backplate 'Le Paute à Paris. 8. + 1'
76 in. (193 cm.) high; 22 ¾ in. (58 cm.) wide; 11 ¾ in. (30 cm.) deep
Provenance
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 6 July 2006, lot 69.
Special notice
Specified lots (sold and unsold) marked with a filled square not collected from Christie’s by 5.00 pm on the day of the sale will, at our option, be removed to Cadogan Tate. Christie’s will inform you if the lot has been sent offsite. Our removal and storage of the lot is subject to the terms and conditions of storage which can be found at Christies.com/storage. Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Cadogan Tate Ltd. All collections will be by pre-booked appointment only. Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 9060 Email: cscollectionsuk@christies.com. If the lot remains at Christie’s it will be available for collection on any working day 9.00 am to 5.00 pm. Lots are not available for collection at weekends.

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Alexandra Cruden
Alexandra Cruden

Lot Essay

Pierre-Basil Lepaute (1750-1843). The Lepaute business received the title of 'Horloger de L'Empereur' under the Empire.
Etienne Gobin, known as Dubuisson (d. 1822).

THE GREGORIAN AND REVOLUTIONARY CALENDARS
Decimal or Revolutionary time was adopted by decree of the National Convention on November 24, 1793. It stipulated that the Gregorian calendar should be abandoned and replaced by the Republican calendar which divided the day into ten hours each with one hundred minutes and then further sub-divided into one hundred seconds. Although perhaps a logical 'simplification' of timekeeping the habits of the populous were difficult to change. The new system meant having to design a new dial and to this end a competition was organised to invent one that was clear and easy to read.
Despite the efforts of some of the great horological minds the system was never really adopted and clockmakers had no real reason to fully support it because their Revolutionary clocks were useless outside France which ruined their export trade. By 1795 it was no longer compulsory to use Decimal time and even before then clocks and watches were being made with both the 'old' and 'new' systems as on the present example. Finally it was decreed that the Decimal system had proved impossible to implement properly and from January 1, 1805 French timekeeping reverted back to the old system. It was used again briefly under the Paris Commune in 1871. The numbering to the rear of the movement '8 - 1' would indicate that it was made in the Revolutionary year which started in September 1799.
This tapering style of regulator case was popularised by Nicolas Petit (1732-91), maître 1761.


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