Swiss 18K gold cylinder watch with seconde morte Circa 1850

Gold watch with independent dead center seconds 
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A fine Swiss 18 carat yellow gold open faced key wind Lépine pocket watch with seconde morte, circa 1850. The case with a guilloché engine turned back and a cuvette engraved with the name Prosper Baudouin. White enamel dial with radial Roman hours, an outer minute track and gold moon hands. Gilt brass movement with a cylinder escapement, the independent dead center seconds activated by a bolt at 6 o’clock. Dial signed, case and movement signed and numbered.
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Diameter: 45 mm
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Signed: Lucien Dubois Locle
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Lucien Dubois was probably a part of the Du Bois & Fils dynasty, specializing in technically interesting timepieces, such as watches with a compass. The company was established by Philippe Du Bois (or Dubois) (1738-1808) and became one of the most eminent in the Neuchâtel area for over two centuries.
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The seconde morte, also known as dead-beat seconds, is a complication of a mechanical movement in which the second hand moves every second. This is in contrast to the usual ‘running’ of the second hand. This complication is rare and was seen in the years before the quartz revolution, the 1970s and 1980s, but died a silent death because of the same quartz revolution. The reason for this was that the second hand moves per second in almost the same way as quartz watches, which ultimately also use a frequency of 1Hz. With that, the ‘running’ second hand became the distinction between mechanical and quartz watches. Incidentally, that external similarity only applies to the second hand jumping per second, the underlying mechanism of the dead seconds complication is of course of a completely different order.