Extremely rare French quarter repeating coach clock Circa 1770

Silver coach clock by Jean Baptiste Michel
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An extremely rare and very fine French silver open faced quarter repeating coach clock with quarter hour and hour strike, circa 1770. Full plate movement, chain and fusee, a barrel, four hammers, verge escapement. White enamel dial with Arabic numerals. A very finely hand engraved case, trophies of war, sheets of music and a dove in an oval frame at the top surrounded by leaf and flower garlands on the back, a frieze made of rocailles and round sound holes adorns both bezels, a rear bell, string with a tassel for the repetition, strike deactivation, maker’s mark DE.
Dial and movement signed, case numbered. Accompanied by a tailor made, one of a kind, wooden transport case with applied red tortoiseshell veneer elements decorated with contre partie brass marquetry.
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Diameter: 112 mm
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Weight: 1035 g
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Signed: Michel Horloger de Mesdames in Bourbonne
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Not much information is available on the maker Jean Baptiste Michel, which is kind of surprising as he obviously had an excellent reputation and is recorded in Tardy’s ‘Dictionnaire des Horlogers Français’ as a watchmaker to Mesdames de France. This title was reserved for the daughters of Louis XV, who often remained at the royal court because they refused to marry any suitor who was of lower rank than a king. He was born around 1759 in Martigny-les-Bains, Vosges, Lorraine. In 1784 he married Marguerite Bourdault in Bourbonne-les-Bains, Haute Marne, Champagne-Ardenne, where he worked as a bell founder and clockmaker. The date of his death is not known.