Pere Bouhelier was native to Saint Julien, a small village near Charquemont, in Franche Comte, where his surname was very common. Although mostly farmers, the population made cylinder escapements in winter time, for both the French and the Swiss makers. It is interesting to note that the few watches known from this maker are all constructed with this very unusual calibre and all set with the same type of straight line lever escapement. In fact, only three other watches made by the Pere Bouhelier are known to exist. Two were discussed in Horlocerie Ancienne, bulletin of the A.N.C.1--I. A. (an off-print copy will be supplied with the watch), the third one was sold by Antiquorum in Geneva on 20 October 1991, lot No. 54. These three watches were made with very special primitive calibre, each of special design. It was difficult to decide whether he was ahead of his time, technologically speaking, or behind. As Pere Bouhelier was a priest who emigrated to England during the French Revolution, it is most likely that he learned how to make the lever escapements during his enforced exile based on his own trial and error. Although constructed with the Lepine calibre, which was no longer used in Paris or Geneva, this watch (the only one fitted with a lever escapement with draw), represents the ultimate development of all the watches produced by Pere Bouhelier.