French silver watch with decimal and duodecimal time Circa 1795

CHF 6,000 – 8,000 / EUR 5,000 – 6,500
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Silver open faced verge watch
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A fine and very rare French silver Revolutionary watch with decimal and duodecimal time, circa 1795. A polished case, 12-sided bezel, and engraved inner bezel. White enamel dial with a concentric indication of decimal time in black radial Roman numerals and Arabic 100-minute divisions, duodecimal time in Arabic numerals I-12 in each half of the dial, with outermost 60-minute divisions and three gilt Breguet hands. A hinged, matte gilt full plate movement with cylindrical pillars, fusee and chain, verge escapement with micrometric potence adjustment, brass three-arm balance with flat balance spring, continental cock, silver regulation dial. Dial and movement signed.
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Diameter: 47 mm
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Signed: Dufour Fol & Compagnie  Paris
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This watch is evocative of a brief and turbulent period in French history when the new Republic decreed the use of decimal time. After the Revolution, a new digital system was adopted. The day was divided into ten hours of 100 minutes each, each minute being subdivided into 100 seconds. Thus, for example, 12:30 PM was 5:20:83.3 in decimal time. The decimalization of time was introduced on November 24, 1793. The new division of time proved impossible to enforce and was suspended on April 7, 1795. Thus, there was a period of less than 18 months during which these timepieces were produced, which explains why they are so rare. See Revolutionary Time, Vox Magazine, 2004. A clock-signed Dufour Fol & Compagnie with Revolutionary Time is in the Musee Carnavalet in Paris.