Pocket Watches · Watch
Watch by Jean Rousseau, Switzerland, 1640–1660
- Maker / attribution
- Jean Rousseau (Horloger)
- Date
- 1640–1660
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- Switzerland
- Place
- Genève, Switzerland
- Object type
- Watch
- Materials / technique
- silver, brass
- Dimensions
- diameter 5,5 cm; height 4,5 cm
- Holding institution
- Musée du Louvre, Paris
- Accession / object no.
- OA 8314
- Credit line
- Musée du Louvre, Département des Objets d'art du Moyen Age, de la Renaissance et des temps modernes
- Catalogue title (original)
- Montre en forme de tête de mort (French)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Musée du Louvre, Paris (object number OA 8314), this is a watch by Jean Rousseau, made in Genève, Switzerland, dated 1640–1660. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Pocket Watches collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: silver, brass. Recorded dimensions: diameter 5,5 cm; height 4,5 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)
Boîte crânienne formant la cuvette du boîtier et la machoîre inférieure, articulée par une charnière, sert de couvercle au cadran. Crâne repercé et gravé de rinceaux fleuris. Deux médaillons, réservés, sont gravés : Adam et Eve, sur le front et, La Résurrection, derrière le crâne ; banderole gravée de sentences entourant ce décor : Stipendia Peccati mors. Domun (Saint Paul, Rom., 6/23) / Sicut in Adamo omnes moriuntur / ita & in Christo omnes uiuificabutur (Saint Paul, 1 Cor., 15/22). Anneau de suspension au-dessus du crâne. Cadran à chiffres romains. A l'intérieur, cercle mobile gravé de chiffres arabes marquant l'heure du réveil, décoré au centre de rinceaux fleuris ; index fixé sur le 12 remplaçant l'aiguille des heures habituelle. Mouvement à réveil doté d'un échappement à roue de rencontre, une fusée avec chaînette. Barillet de la sonnerie gravé et repercé de rinceaux fleuris comme le coq à un pied. Vis-sans-fin munie d'une rosette de réglage numérotée.
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 An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.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 XIV (1643-1715) (Occident->époque moderne = Ancien Régime->dynastie des Bourbons) · · Date de création/fabrication : 1640 - 1660
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 : argent · Matériau : laiton · Technique : doré = dorure (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
Signature : ; mouvement signé : Jean Rousseau
Provenance
collection Jules-René Olivier (1855-1933), horloger-collectionneur ; legs de sa sœur Marie-Julie Olivier, n° 807 ; comité du 24 janvier 1935 ; conseil du 5 février 1935 ; décret du 4 août 1935
Historical context
Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
Huygens' pendulum and balance spring transform accuracy; English makers develop the anchor and deadbeat escapements.
The balance spring (c. 1675) improved watches dramatically and introduced the minute hand. English pair-cased verge watches with pierced balance cocks and French oignons were typical; enamel painting at Blois and Geneva, and the repeating watch (1680s), made watches objects of great refinement.
Read the period in the timelineMore pocket watches from this periodEarlier: Renaissance 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 escapementIdentification Centre
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