A fine Empire ormolu mounted amboyna and ebony mantel regulator signed L’Epine, Place Dauphine, Paris No. 742,
circa 1815
23 in. [58.4 cm] H
11 ½ in. [29.2 cm] W
7 in. [17.8 cm] D
Portico clocks first appeared in the late 18th century and were designed to show off the finely made compensation pendulums that made them precision timekeepers. The substantial steel and brass gridiron pendulum of this example is suspended from an inverted knife edge mounted on the portico. The movement is of two week duration. It has round plates, boldly signed by Lépine. The pinwheel escapement is planted on the back plate, with a transverse screw for beat adjustment in the crutch. It strikes the hours ans half hours on a bell by means of a countwheel. The dial is white enamel and has the traces of an early 19th century retailer’s signature, “Godet à Paris.” The hands are blued steel.
The technically innovative Swiss - born maker, Jean-Antoine Lépine (1720-1814) worked in Paris during the latter part of the 18th century. He is best known for the watch movement that bears his name.
From 1500, until the last quarter of the 18th century, watch movements were essentially a thick sandwich of wheels and a fusee between two circular brass plates separated by ornamental pillars. Lépine dispensed with the bulky plates, pillars and the fusee by mounting a going barrel on a single large plate. Several slender bridges screwed to the plate hold the wheels of the train. Around the edge of the movement plate was a raised ring that slid into the watch case and was held in place by eccentric screws. In this way, Lépine dramatically reduced movement thickness. His design is known today as the “lépine calibre” or “calibre à ponts”. It was quickly adopted by his most able pupil, A.-L. Breguet (1747-1823), who freely acknowledged his debt to Lépine.
Literature
Chapiro, Adolphe. Jean Antoine Lépine, Paris, 1988.
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