French repeating watch with Robin escapement Circa 1810

Silver and gold open faced quarter repeater by Lepaute
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A very fine and extremely rare French silver and gold open faced quarter repeating pocket watch with Robin escapement, circa 1810. Matte gilt movement, cylindrical pillars, fusee and chain, the barrel with detachable bridge, maintaining power, Robin escapement with visible brass escape wheel, steel lever with banking post projecting into a hole in the backplate, three-armed brass balance, blued steel flat balance spring, bimetallic temperature compensation curb on the index regulator, fan-shaped balance cock with ruby endstone, repeating on flat gongs activate by depressing the pendant, repeat remontoir spring with an exposed barrel under a detachable bridge. Hinged silver cuvette. White enamel dial by Lucard with Breguet numerals, outer minute track and Arabic 15-minute numerals, original blued steel Breguet hands. The case back is engine-turned with a sunray pattern, gold bezel and rim, master mark JBM, fluted band. Dial, cuvette and movement signed.
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Diameter: 60 mm
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Signed: Lepaute H.ger de l’Empereur à Paris
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Robert Robin  (1741-1799) was a talented and inventive clock and watchmaker who counted among his clientele the French Royal Family. He became Marchand-Horloger Privilégié du Roi on 22 October 1763 and resigned on 13 September 1765 in favour of Jean-Pierre Courtois. In 1778 the Académie des Sciences approved two of his inventions, one being an astronomical clock representing a meridian drawn on a pyramid, which the Menus Plaisirs acquired that year for Louis XIV, for 30,000 livres. During the same period, he perfected his famous mantel clocks with astronomical indications and compensated pendulums, one of the first owners being the Marquis de Courtanvaux. Robin applied these principles to regulators, the Duc d’Aumont possessed an early model of this kind. He was equally interested in watches, using a special escapement that bears his name from 1786 onwards and in monumental clocks, supplying the Grand Commun at Versailles (1782), the Menus Plaisirs and the Petit Trianon (1785). Many members of Parisian high society were clients of Robin, including the maréchaux Ducs of Duras and Richelieu and the marquis de Sérent, tutor to the dukes of Angoulême and Berry. In 1794, Robin was appointed Horloger de la République. After the French Revolution, he was given the task of making an inventory of the Royal clocks including the 23 that belonged to Marie Antoinette.