Belgian silver repeating à toc center seconds duplex Circa 1790

Silver rare open faced pocket watch with date by Hubert Sarton
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Rare and large Belgian silver open faced quarter repeating à toc center seconds duplex pocket watch with date, circa 1790. Full plate movement, key winding, chain and fusee, two hammers, a double wheel duplex escapement and three arm brass balance. White enamel dial with a decentralized hour digit ring at 6 o’clock, a decentralized date digit ring at 12 and an outer minute track with Arabic quarter hour numerals. The plain case with maker’s mark LK. Dial and movement signed case numbered.
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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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Dieudonné-Hubert Sarton, 1748-1828, was an important Belgian watchmaker. Even as a child, he showed a great interest in mechanics and science. His uncle and godfather, Dieudonné Sarton, trained him as a watchmaker around 1762. In 1768, Sarton went to Paris to complete his education and perfect his watchmaking skills. There he also worked for Pierre Leroy II, the eldest son of Julien Leroy, court clockmaker to King Louis XVI. After Sarton became a master watchmaker, he returned to Liège around 1772 and settled there permanently. Sarton was court clockmaker to Duke Karl Alexander of Lorraine, governor of the Netherlands, and worked for many years in the service of the Prince-Bishop of Liège, Franz Karl von Velbrück, who was his patron and sponsor. In 1799, he commissioned Sarton to found the Société Libre d’Emulation in Liège. Sarton wrote several memoranda and was also involved in the construction of machines for coal mining, as well as windmills and hydraulic machines for draining Dutch polders.
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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.