Literature
Julien LeRoy, 1686-1759, was born at Tours and by the age of thirteen had already made his first clock. By the age of seventeen he was established as apprentice to Le Bon in Paris. There the story goes that so quick and adept was he at his work that he made and finished a repeating watch in just eight days!
At twenty six he had attained his Mastership and was later made clockmaker to the King in 1739. His inventions included turret clocks, equation clocks and pull repeat mechanisms.
LeRoy was an innovative clockmaker and would never just copy other clockmaker's work and reap the benefits.
His friendship with Henry Sully and his senior clockmaker William Blakey led to a large induction of high quality English and Dutch clockmakers to Parisian workshops. Indeed it is perhaps fair to say that hitherto French clockmaking was far from the high standards that were being set by their English counterparts. LeRoy's foresight was therefore one that could be translated as having been the man to lay the foundations for French excellence from the middle of the 18th century and onwards