Important Watches, Pocket Watches and...

Noga Hilton Hotel, Nov 13, 2005

LOT 170

?Rise and Fall Hours? Invente Par Mr. Le Marquis de Courtanvaux, Execute a l'hotel de Louvois par Alexandre Le Roy. Dated 1777. Very fine and extremely rare, important, ebony, bronze and gilt bronze eight-day going table clock in the form of a column with rise-and-fall hour indication, swivelling hand and hour and half-hour striking.

CHF 10,000 - 15,000

EUR 6,500 - 10,000 / USD 8,000 - 12,000

Sold: CHF 14,950

C. Fluted bronze pillar containing the rise-and-fall hour mechanism with gilt bronze molded base and surmounted by an ornamental armilliary sphere, ebony plinth with molded cornice and base, hinged doors to three sides, the fourth with gilt brass beaded bezel, a brass plaque below engraved ?Alexandre Le Roy, 1777,? paneled base with glazed brass side panels, block feet. D. Silvered linear scale for the hours with Roman numerals 1-12 down one side and 1-12 upwards on the other side, minute dial in the plinth with silvered chapter ring, radial Arabic five minute numerals and outer minute track, matted gilt brass center. Fine steel fleur-de-lys hand. M. In three-parts, linear construction, gilt brass, going train with rectangular plates, four cylindrical pillars, spring barrel, center wheel arbor directly driving the minute hand, the hours driven by another wheel on the center pinion meshing with two further wheels within a sub-frame and in turn meshing with a steel rack, the hand being turned by a rack and pinion activated by a lever acting against a pin mounted at each extreme of the slotted plate, recoil anchor escapement, silk suspension, brass bob pendulum, striking mechanism mounted below the going train and joined by two shaped plates, each secured by four screws, countwheel striking on a bell.Movement and case signed. Dim. 50.5 x 13 x 12 cm.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 3-5

Good

Poor
Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 3-5-01

Good

Poor

HANDS Original

Notes

This remarkable clock illustrates the ingenious mind of the Marquis de Courtanvaux, a vision turned into reality by Alexandre Le Roy. The case is beautifully proportioned and finished and was of course the height of neo-classical fashion in 1777. The most interesting feature of this clock is the hour hand mechanism which allows the hand to travel up the scale for twelve hours, turn around at the top and travel down the scale for the next twelve hours and then turn around at the bottom. The movement is made in three sections: the striking train at the base, the going train above and the hour hand mechanism above in the coloumn. The hand mechanism is operated by an extra wheel mounted on the hour pinion, this drives two further wheels which directly mesh with the rack that rises up inside the column as the hour pinion turns. When the hand reaches the top or the bottom of the scale, a pin acting against a sprung lever and rack ?flips? the hand over, repeating the process every twelve hours. Charles François César Le Tellier de Louvois, Duke de Doudeauville, Marquis de Courtanvaux and Montmirail. The great grandson of Louis XV's minister.Louvois, in 1733, he became aide de camp to his uncle the Maréchal de Noailles. Named Colonel in 1740, he served in Bohemia and Bavaria, but in 1745 health problems forced him to leave the Army. He was then able to devote himself to scientific pursuits, being welcomed at the Académie des Sciences. In 1767, Courtanvaux financed the construction of the frigate l'Aurore, on which the Le Roy chronometers ?A? and ?S? were tested. The frigate was equipped with a special room in which the chronometers were kept. Every day at an appointed time Courtanvaux, Canon Pingré and the King's astronomer Messier tested the chronometers' rate and wound them.It was following this journey that Le Roy's watches won the double prize of the Académie des Sciences. Courtanvaux was fascinated with many areas of science, including astronomy, geography, physics, and mechanical studies, a true Renaissance man. Andre-Alexandre Le Roy Born in 1729, he was apprenticed from 1742 - 1752. He was the horologer for Courtanvaux in the Rue Richelieu and died in 1791.