Repeater watch

Case maker: I. T. French

ca. 1755

Not on view

Julien Le Roy, probably the most inventive clockmaker in eighteenth century France, was appointed clockmaker to Louis XV (1710–1774), an honor that allowed him a workshop in the Louvre. The movement of the watch strikes hours and quarters on the back of the case instead of on a bell. This type of repeater, called a dumb repeater, allowed the user to tell the time unobtrusively by counting the vibrations of the case. The style of the case, with its beautiful opaque-enameled flowers that seem to float on an engraved gold ground, was fashionable among Parisian makers of watchcases and gold boxes about the middle of the eighteenth century.

Artwork Details

Object Information

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

Exhibition History

Title: Repeater watch
Maker: Watchmaker: Julien Le Roy (French, Tours 1686–1759 Paris)
Maker: Case maker: I. T. (French)
Date: ca. 1755
Culture: French, Paris
Medium: Gold, enamel
Dimensions: Diameter: 1 5/8 in. (4.1 cm)
Classification: Horology
Credit Line: Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Object Number: 17.190.1566
Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

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