Pocket Watches · Watch
Watch by Nicolas Gribelin, France, 1685–1700
- Maker / attribution
- Nicolas Gribelin (Horloger)
- Date
- 1685–1700
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- France
- Place
- Paris, France
- Object type
- Watch
- Materials / technique
- copper, gold
- Dimensions
- height 7,8 cm; diameter 6,4 cm; thickness 4,4 cm; diameter 5,9 cm
- Holding institution
- Musée du Louvre, Paris
- Accession / object no.
- OA 8307
- Credit line
- Musée du Louvre, Département des Objets d'art du Moyen Age, de la Renaissance et des temps modernes
- Catalogue title (original)
- Montre "oignon" (French)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Musée du Louvre, Paris (object number OA 8307), this is a watch by Nicolas Gribelin, made in Paris, France, dated 1685–1700. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Pocket Watches collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: copper, gold. Recorded dimensions: height 7,8 cm; diameter 6,4 cm; thickness 4,4 cm; diameter 5,9 cm. The record is illustrated with 2 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 "oignon" ; boîtier couvert de maroquin noir décoré de clous en or dessinant des arabesques rayonnant autour d'une fleur, et, sur le pourtour comme sur la lunette du verre, des arabesques ponctuées de fleurettes. Tête du pendant en forme de boule laissant librement passer l'anneau de suspension. Cadran à chiffres romains, gravé au centre de lambrequins où apparaissent des oiseaux et des fleurettes. Aiguille fleurdelisée ; remontage par le centre du cadran. Mouvement doté d'un échappement à roue de rencontre, une fusée avec chaînette. Balancier muni d'un ressort-spiral réglant dont la longueur peut être modifiée grâce à une crémaillère. Coq très large de forme circulaire, gravé et repercé d'un décor symétrique de lambrequins et de feuilles d'acanthe où apparaissent deux oiseaux affrontés et d'une sorte de dais orné de deux têtes de dragon. Hauts piliers en forme de colonnettes.
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 An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.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 : 1685 - 1700
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 : peau = cuir · Technique : techniques métal (orfèvrerie) · Matériau : cuivre · 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
Signature : ; mouvement signé : GRIBELIN APARIS
Provenance
collection Jules-René Olivier (1855-1933), horloger-collectionneur ; exposition au musée Gallieré en 1921, n° 261 ; legs de Marie-Julie Olivier, n° 614 ; 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
Verge and pair-cased watches
After Christiaan Huygens and Robert Hooke applied the balance spring around 1675, the verge watch became a reasonably reliable timekeeper and the minute hand became standard. Through the eighteenth century the typical English watch was a pair-cased verge: a fusee movement with a pierced, engraved balance cock, housed in an inner case and a separate protective outer case, often of repoussé gold, shagreen, tortoiseshell or enamel.
French watches of the same period were thicker 'oignons', later replaced by elegant thinner watches following Jean-Antoine Lépine's bar-bridge calibre of c. 1770. Dutch, Swiss and German makers supplied international markets, and verge watches were made until the mid-nineteenth century as cheaper alternatives to the cylinder and lever.
What to look for
- The pierced balance cock on the backplate: winged (continental) or with a foot (English); its style dates the watch.
- Fusee and chain visible through the movement; key winding through the dial (early) or case back.
- Hallmarks inside English silver or gold cases, which give a date letter.
- Maker's name and serial number engraved on the backplate; watch papers inside outer cases.
- Enamel dials (after c. 1720) versus earlier champlevé metal dials.
Dating clues
- Champlevé dials: c. 1680–1730; white enamel dials thereafter.
- English case hallmarks give the year of assay to within a year.
- Verge watches persisted in cheap production until c. 1850.
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 escapementBalance spring (hairspring)Verge escapement
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