The Mondani Collection of Rolex Wrist...

Geneva, May 14, 2006

LOT 745

?The Toilet of Venus? Jul(ien) Le Roy a Paris. Made circa 1750. Fine, vari-colored gold, painted on enamel and rose diamond-set pocket watch.

CHF 2,000 - 4,000

EUR 1,300 - 2,500 / USD 1,500 - 3,000

Sold: CHF 2,596

C. Two-body, ?Louis XV?, rose diamond-set bezel, the back finely decorated with a painted on enamel scene of Venus and cupid with a female attendant in a landscape, vari-colored gold border chased with asymmetrical scrolls, a trophy and a dog. D. White enamel, radial Roman numerals, outer minute track and Arabic five-minute numerals, winding aperture at 2 o'clock. Rose diamond-set hands. M. 35 mm, hinged, frosted gilt fullplate with pentagonal baluster pillars, fusee and chain, verge escapement, three-arm steel balance with flat balance spring, micrometric potence adjustment, pierced and chased continental balance cock with steel endplate, silver regulation dial. Movement signed. Diam. 44 mm. To be sold without reserve


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Grading System
Grade: A

Good
Case: 3-15-55

Good

Slightly rusted
Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 3-14-01

Good

Damaged

HANDS Original

Notes

Julien Le Roy (1686-1759) Born in Tours on August 6, 1686, he came to Paris in 1699 and was received master in 1713. First member, then Director of the Société des Arts, he improved almost all branches of clockmaking, and many important inventions in the realm of time-measurement are owed to him. In 1717, Julien Le Roy presented an equation clock to the Royal Academy of Sciences which showed the true time, the place of the sun and its declination. Appointed Clockmaker to the King in 1739, he had his private quarters in the Louvre. His most important discoveries concerned watch mechanisms. The adjustable potence for the verge escape wheel considerably improved the escapement?s functioning, and the steel end-piece (coqueret) which allowed oil to be retained in the balance pivots in order to diminish frictional force, was quickly adopted by other watchmakers. He contributed to the Encyclopédie by writing several articles on clockmaking together with his son Jean-Baptiste, the Academician.