Belgian rare quarter repeating à toc pocket watch Circa 1790

Silver repeating duplex watch by Hubert Sarton
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A rare, large Belgian silver open faced quarter repeating à toc double wheel duplex pocket watch with centre seconds and date, circa 1790.
Tiered, polished case with pusher for repetition through the pendant, case maker’s mark LK. Signed white enamel dial, an eccentric hour chapter ring with Arabic numerals at 6 o’clock, an eccentric chapter ring for the date with Arabic numerals at 12 and Louis XV hands. Signed gilt full plate movement, double wheel duplex escapement, keywind, two hammers, chain and fusee, three-arm brass balance, a fine florally engraved and pierced balance bridge.
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Diameter: 62 mm
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Weight: 172 g
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Signed: Hubt Sarton à Liège
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Hubert Sarton (1748-1828) was an eminent Belgian watchmaker. From early childhood, he showed mechanical inclination and keen scientific interest. He was trained as a watchmaker by his uncle and godfather, Dieudonné Sarton, in 1762. In 1768 Sarton moved to Paris to complete his apprenticeship and perfect his skills as a watchmaker. There he worked for Pierre Leroy II the oldest son of Julien Le Roy, who was the royal watchmaker of King Ludwig XVI. After becoming master watchmaker, he returned to Liège in 1772 and settled there. Sarton became the royal watchmaker of Duke Karl Alexander von Lothringen, Governor of the Netherlands and worked many years in the service of the prince-archbishop of Liège, Franz Karl von Velbrück, who was his patron and sponsor. In 1799 he assigned Satron with the founding of the Société Libre d’Emulation in Liège. Sarton wrote a series of memoranda and also occupied himself with the construction of coal mining machines, as well as windmills and hydraulic machines used for draining the dutch polder landscape.
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Montre à toc. A ‘dumb’ repeater watch in which a hammer strikes the inside of the case to produce a muffled sound. Invented by Julian Le Roy in 1740.