Pocket Watches · Watch
Watch by Michel Vieux, France, 1770–1800
- Maker / attribution
- Michel Vieux (Horloger)
- Date
- 1770–1800
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- France
- Place
- Paris, France
- Object type
- Watch
- Materials / technique
- diamond
- Dimensions
- diameter 4 cm; length 17,3 cm; thickness 2 cm
- Holding institution
- Musée du Louvre, Paris
- Accession / object no.
- OA 8607
- 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 chatelaine ornées de portraits de femme (French)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Musée du Louvre, Paris (object number OA 8607), this is a watch by Michel Vieux, made in Paris, France, dated 1770–1800. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Pocket Watches collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: diamond. Recorded dimensions: diameter 4 cm; length 17,3 cm; thickness 2 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)
La montre ronde présente un boîtier orné sur le fond d'un médaillon en émail peint représentant une femme avec un ample décolleté, le médaillon est entouré d'un rang de roses de diamants et d'une guirlande en ors de plusieurs couleurs ; le cadran émaillé blanc possède des aiguilles en or. La châtelaine est composée de quatre plaques ornées de médaillons en émail peint représentant des portraits de femmes. A la plaque supérieure sont suspendues quatre breloques en porcelaine portant sur leur base les inscriptions suivantes : "PRET A MONTER" "JE SUIS VOTRE CAPTIF" "JE PENSE A VOUS" "TOUJOURS GAI"
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 An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.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 : vers 1770 - 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)
Matériau : or (ors de couleurs) · Matériau : diamant · Technique : techniques métal (orfèvrerie) · Technique : émail peint (techniques métal->émaillé = émaillage = émail = émaux)
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 : ; Cadran et Mouvement signés : Michel/Vieux
Provenance
collection Jules-René Olivier (1855-1933), horloger-collectionneur ; exposition au musée Galliera en 1921, n° 243 ; legs de Marie-Julie Olivier, n° 741 ; comité du 24 janvier 1935 ; conseil du 5 février 1935 ; décret du 4 août 1935 ; déposée au musée des Arts décoratifs le 4 novembre 1935 ; retour au musée du Louvre, arrêté du 5 février 1982.
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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