French gold quarter repeating verge pocket watch Circa 1740

Gold quarter repeater by Julien Le Roy
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A very fine, rare 18 Carat gold open faced quarter repeating verge pocket watch, circa 1740. The back cover of the case with a costly engraved floral decor on a translucent green ground, the edge with pierced volute shaped cartouches, a diamond set thumb piece, large lateral hinge. Signed white enamel dial with radial Roman hours, diamond set, filigree hands. Signed frosted gilt full plate movement, chain and fusee, blued screws, solid movement pillars, two hammers, a bell, three arm steel balance, verge escapement, engraved and pierced balance bridge, large silver regulator disc.
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Diameter: 48 mm
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Weight: 141 g
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Signed: Julien Le Roy A Paris
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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 anchor 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.