French deck watch with 49 hour power reserve indicator Circa 1870

Brass ship’s chronometer by Simon Vissière
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A rare, very fine French ship’s chronometer watch with 49 hour power reserve and experimental chronometer balance with additional compensation, circa 1870. The case is a mahogany box with brass inlays, hinged handles at the side, lid and glass, case key, brass gimbals and bowl and a three body. The silvered signed and numbered dial has Roman radial hours; an outer minutes track with Arabic five minutes numerals, a 49 hour power reserve indicator and spade hands. And the movement is a brass movement with spring detent escapement, according to Thomas Earnshaw, a bi metallic chronometer balance with four screws and two weights each on bimetallic supports.
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Dimensions box: 165 x 180 x 165 mm
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Signed: Simon Vissière
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Simon Vissière was born on February 16, 1822, in Paris; he was the son of the jeweller Jean-Baptiste-Vital Vissière and his wife, Adelaïde Burnod. Simon’s brother Bernard became a jeweller and jeweller like his father. Simon Vissière was a pupil of Joseph Thaddäus Winnerl and Charles Auguste Berthoud. Around 1849, he still worked in Argenteuil and won a silver medal at the Industrial Exhibition in Paris. On January 24, 1863, he was made an Officer of the Legion of Honour. In 1867, Vissière opened his workshop at Rue des Drapiers 31 and set up a small observatory on the premises. A known address at Rue de Paris 15 in Le Havre – Vissière probably lived there before moving to the Rue des Drapiers.

Vissière was one of the first chronometer makers to experiment with non magnetic metals for hairsprings and balances and received a patent for a chronometer escapement in 1867. His marine chronometers are of outstanding quality, and at the World Exhibition of 1867 in Paris, Vissière won a gold medal for his watch; other gold medals were awarded to Frédéric-Bruno Scharff, OnésimeDumas, Amédée-Philippe Borrel and Montandon Frères à Paris. Vissière probably also invented a chronometer with a two day power reserve. After finishing his apprenticeship with his father, Ferdinand Adolph Lange’s oldest son Richard (1845-1932) worked with Vissiére, among others; Théodore-Marie Leroy was also an apprentice and employee of Vissière. Simon Vissiere died on January 4, 1887, in Cannet at 64.