Pocket Watches · Watch
Watch by Jean-Antoine Lépine, France, 1785–1800
- Maker / attribution
- Jean-Antoine Lépine (Horloger)
- Date
- 1785–1800
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- France
- Place
- Paris, France
- Object type
- Watch
- Materials / technique
- silver, gold
- Dimensions
- height 4,4 cm; diameter 3,5 cm
- Holding institution
- Musée du Louvre, Paris
- Accession / object no.
- OA 9482
- Credit line
- Musée du Louvre, Département des Objets d'art du Moyen Age, de la Renaissance et des temps modernes
- Catalogue title (original)
- Montre tabatière en forme de lanterne (French)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Musée du Louvre, Paris (object number OA 9482), this is a watch by Jean-Antoine Lépine, made in Paris, France, dated 1785–1800. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Pocket Watches collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: silver, gold. Recorded dimensions: height 4,4 cm; diameter 3,5 cm. The record is illustrated with 5 photographs.
Assembled from the source record's structured fields. Dates and attributions are given as the source states them; where a field is missing the Atlas leaves it blank rather than estimating.
Catalogue description
Catalogue description — Musée du Louvre (French)
En forme de lanterne cylindrique, boîte ornée de trophées gravés représentant les attributs de l'Amour et des instruments de musique séparant trois cadrans circulaires indiquant les heures et minutes, les quantièmes et les jours de la semaine. Partie supérieure en forme de dôme portant le pendant, s'ouvrant à charnière sur le mouvement horizontal à coq circulaire. Rosette de réglage numérotée en argent. Echappement à roue de rencontre. Socle s'ouvrant aussi à charnière, contenant une petite case circulaire destinée au tabac.
Shown in the original language of the source catalogue. An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.
Dating and period as catalogued (French)
Epoque / période : Louis XVI (1774-1792) (Occident->époque moderne = Ancien Régime->dynastie des Bourbons) · · Date de création/fabrication : 1785 - 1800
Shown in the original language of the source catalogue. An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.
Materials and techniques as catalogued (French)
Technique : techniques métal (orfèvrerie) · Matériau : argent · Matériau : or · Technique : émaillé = émaillage = émail = émaux (techniques métal)
Shown in the original language of the source catalogue. An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.
Inscriptions & marks
Poinçon : ; maître (illisible) ; importation des pays non contractants, or, France, depuis 1893 ; Signature : ; mouvement signé : Lépine/A PARIS
Provenance
Legs Mme Jacques Bourceret, née Marie Chevalier (1889-1925), 1925
Historical context
Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
Harrison solves longitude; Mudge invents the lever; Breguet's Paris workshop defines the modern watch.
From 1750 to 1850 the watch became a precision instrument. Mudge's lever escapement, the cylinder escapement, Lépine's thin bar calibre, Breguet's innovations (overcoil, tourbillon, perpétuelle) and the pocket chronometer of Arnold and Earnshaw all date from this period, while verge watches remained common in cheaper production.
Read the period in the timelineMore pocket watches from this periodEarlier: Early Modern Horology
Atlas type guide
Hunter, half-hunter and open-face watches
In the nineteenth century the pocket watch case settled into a few standard forms. The hunter (French savonnette) has a hinged front lid protecting the crystal — reputedly for riders who could not risk broken glass — and is opened by pressing the crown or a push-piece. The half-hunter has a small window in the lid so the hands can be read when closed. The open-face (lépine) watch has no front cover, with the crown at 12; hunters normally carry the crown at 3.
Case types also changed with winding: key-wound watches gave way to keyless (stem-wound) mechanisms after Adrien Philippe's and others' designs of the 1840s, with pendant setting or lever setting.
What to look for
- Crown position relative to the seconds dial: at 3 for hunters, at 12 for open-face watches.
- Spring-loaded front cover with a push-piece in the pendant.
- Half-hunter chapter ring enamelled on the lid.
- Key holes in the inner dome (cuvette) versus keyless winding.
Dating clues
- Keyless winding spread after c. 1850 and became standard by c. 1890.
- English hallmarks inside gold and silver cases give the year of assay.
General guidance written by the Atlas editors about this kind of object. It is not a statement about this particular piece; for that, rely on the source record above and on physical examination.
Read next:Detached lever escapement
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