French 20K gold and enamel verge rococo watch Circa 1740

Gold and enamel verge rococo watch by Julien le Roy
–
A very rare and fine French 20K gold and enamel open faced verge rococo pocket watch, circa 1740. Full plate gilt movement, square baluster pillars, finely pierced and engraved bridge cock with steel coqueret, plain three arm gilt balance with blue steel spiral hairspring, silver regulator, winding through the white enamel dial with Roman hours and Arabic five minute numerals, decorative gilt hands. A consular case with a polychrome enamel nobility scene on the back, the interior of the reverse with painted enamel flowers, in contrast to most French rococo watches the case of the present piece is completely enamelled, not only the outside and the inside but also the edges.
–
Diameter: 45 mm
–
Weight: 72 g
–
Signed: Jul Le Roy A Paris
–
Julien Le Roy is one of the clockmakers who contributed most to the progress and the reputation of French watch- and clockmaking. Born in Tours on August 6, 1686 and died in 1759 in Paris. He came to Paris in 1699. In 1713 he achieved his master’s degree and in the following years, he became a jury member of the Paris Guild of Watchmakers. Later, Le Roy became director of the Société des Arts de Genève and, in 1739, Court Watchmaker (French Horloger Ordinaire du Roi) under Louis XV, he had his private quarters in the Louvre. He improved almost all branches of clockmaking and many important inventions in the realm of time measurement are owed to him. In 1717, Julien Le Roy presented an equation clock to the Royal Academy of Sciences which showed the true time, the place of the sun and its decline. His most important discoveries concerned watch mechanisms. The adjustable ‘potence’ for the verge escape wheel considerably improved the escapement’s functioning and the steel end piece (coqueret) which allowed oil to be retained in the balance pivots in order to diminish frictional force, was quickly adopted by other watchmakers. He was the inventor of dumb repeating watches too, in 1740, he created a new arrangement that allowed the area allotted to the repeating work to be enlarged. This invention, called ‘à bâte levée’, was also adopted by his fellow clockmakers. In 1755 he invented a small anker escapement used as a regulator for the repeating train. He contributed to the Encyclopédie by writing several articles on clockmaking together with his son Jean-Baptiste, the Academician. Le Roy ran his workshop in the Rue de Harlay in Paris until his death. Examples of his timepieces can be found in various important museums around the world, such as the Louvre and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
–
Reference 020000