Pocket Watches · Watch
Watch by Jean-Baptiste Lenoir, France, 1760–1780
- Maker / attribution
- Jean-Baptiste Lenoir (Horloger)
- Date
- 1760–1780
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- France
- Place
- Paris, France
- Object type
- Watch
- Materials / technique
- gold, silver, diamond
- Dimensions
- height 12,2 cm; width 4,5 cm; height 4 cm
- Holding institution
- Musée du Louvre, Paris
- Accession / object no.
- R 412
- Credit line
- Musée du Louvre, Département des Objets d'art du Moyen Age, de la Renaissance et des temps modernes
- Catalogue title (original)
- Montre ronde assortie d'une châtelaine (French)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Musée du Louvre, Paris (object number R 412), this is a watch by Jean-Baptiste Lenoir, made in Paris, France, dated 1760–1780. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Pocket Watches collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: gold, silver, diamond. Recorded dimensions: height 12,2 cm; width 4,5 cm; height 4 cm. The record is illustrated with 6 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)
Montre ronde avec sur le fond du boîtier une allégorie de l'Amour gravée en quatre couleurs (colombes, autel, panier de fleurs) encadrée d'un rang de roses de diamants et d'une guirlande de feuilles en or vert, brillant sur le poussoir, l'onglet et la tête du pendant ; des roses de diamants ornent la bélière et le drageoir du verre. Cadran en émail blanc, chiffres romains et arabes, aiguilles en or repercées et ornées de roses de diamants. Mouvement muni d'un échappement à roue de rencontre, coq circulaire ajouré et gravé de rinceaux. La châtelaine est composée de quatre plaques ornées de fleurs en roses de diamants, sur le pourtour de la plaque supérieure court une guirlande fleurie en ors de plusieurs couleurs, une clef et un cachet y sont suspendus.
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 An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.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 XV (1715-1774) (Occident->époque moderne = Ancien Régime->dynastie des Bourbons) · · Date de création/fabrication : vers 1760 - 1780
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)
Matériau : or · Matériau : argent · Matériau : diamant · Technique : techniques métal (orfèvrerie) · Technique : émaillé = émaillage = émail = émaux (techniques métal) (cadran)
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 PB/C ; Charge et Décharge Paris 1762-1768 ; décharge Paris 1775-1781. ; Signature : ; "Jn Baptiste Le Noir/AParis" sur le mouvement et "Jn Baptiste Le Noir" sur le cadran.
Provenance
Collection du baron Salomon de Rothschild (1835-1864) ; collection de la baronne Adèle de Rothschild (1843-1922) ; legs en 1922
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
Pocket watches
The pocket watch was the dominant personal timekeeper from the late seventeenth century until the First World War. Its development tracks the history of the escapement: verge watches with fusees until the late eighteenth century; Thomas Mudge's lever escapement (c. 1755) and the cylinder escapement popularised by George Graham and later by Swiss makers; and the Swiss and English lever watches of the nineteenth century. Lépine's bar-bridge calibre and keyless winding made watches thinner and easier to use.
Industrialisation transformed the trade: American factories such as Waltham (from 1850) and Elgin produced interchangeable parts by machine, and Swiss makers responded with their own mechanisation after the 1876 Philadelphia Exhibition. By 1900 a reliable watch was affordable to millions; the finest makers continued to produce complications and precision watches.
What to look for
- The escapement: verge (crown wheel), cylinder, duplex, English or Swiss lever.
- Key winding (a square arbor in dial or back) or keyless crown winding.
- Signatures and serial numbers on the movement, dial and inside case back.
- Hallmarks, case maker's marks and gold or silver standards stamped in the case.
- Dial material: enamel, silver, gold, later printed metal.
Dating clues
- Verge watches dominate before c. 1800; cylinder watches c. 1770–1900; lever watches after c. 1820.
- Keyless winding: increasingly common after c. 1860.
- Manufacturer serial number lists exist for Waltham, Elgin, Longines, Omega, Patek Philippe and others.
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:Verge escapementDetached lever escapementFuseeIdentification Centre
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