French gold, enamel and half pearl set cylinder watch Circa 1789

Gold decorative open faced pocket watch
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An extremely rare French 18 carat gold, enamel and half pearl set open faced gentleman’s pocket watch made by Jean-Antoine Lépine in Paris, circa 1789. The case has a translucent green enamelled engine turned back with a central polychrome enamel scene depicting a small putto and the personification of Music with a harp, flute and sheet of music, half pearl set bezels, pendant and bow and is punched with maker’s mark GM for Guillaume Mermillod. The white enamel dial, signed Lépine in. & fecit, features combined black Arabic and Roman hours, an outer minute track with red Arabic quarter hour numerals and gold pierced Fleur-de-Lys hands. The frosted fire gilt Lépine caliber movement is fitted with a wolf’s tooth going barrel, cylinder escapement, three arm ring balance and wolf’s tooth train for the going mechanism.
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Diameter: 51 mm
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Weight: 85 g
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Signed: Lépine Hger du Roi à Paris
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Lépine caliber
This is one of the first watches with a design based on the principles and horological inventions of Lépine. It has the typical early Lépine layout now called a Lépine caliber.
It was constructed around 1770 and employs wolf tooth wheels. Lépine was the first to use these wheels to strengthen the gearing. The design also uses his repeating system, “The King’s Mechanical Expert”, invented in 1763 and published in 1766 in “Mémoire of the Académie des Sciences”. It was a revolutionary mechanism in which the hour and quarter racks were placed directly on the winding arbour, eliminating the fragile winding chain.
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The watch is also important because it advances one’s knowledge of Lépine’s manufacturing practices. The ebauche maker was most likely Descombaz, the most important ebauche maker for Breguet and Lépine.
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George Washington bought a Lépine watch (without repeating) in April 1789, which is now in the collection of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.