Rousseau family numbered many, working both in Switzerland and France. A possible maker could be Andre, brother of Pierre Rousseau who is recorded in Paris at the rue Mazzerine in 1705. The Huaud Brothers, Jean-Pierre and Ami worked together from 1682 and worked for the Elector of Brandenburg from 1686 until 1700. Absence of any reference to their appointment in the signature, would indicate that the watch was probably made after their resignation in 1700. The great period of enamelling in France, notably in Blois, was over by this date, and any maker wishing to make a watch with such a case would need to look to Switzerland. The subject depicted on the back of the case - Quantum vis mngnos dolce....... - is taken from an engraving by Crispijn de Passe (1630's), whilst the interior landscape scene is from an engraving by Gabriel Perelle (1603-1677) entitled 'Reins Next to n Large River', (see Hans Boeckh, Einaihnnlerei Auf Centrer Taschenuhren etc, Freiburg 1982, p. 449, plate 93). 'Oignons' and 'Religieuses' The invention of the pendulum clocks and of the balance spring In 1657, the famous Dutch physicist, Christian Huygens, had the idea of substituting for the balance, then used as the exclusive means of regulating docks, the pendulum invented by Galileo and described in his book: the Discorsi in 1638. The first pendulum dock, designed on this principle, vas made by Salomon Coster in the Hague in 1657. The impact of this invention was considerable. These clocks, provided with Huygens' pendulum, were exact to within two minutes a day. Thenceforward they were considered as veritable scientific instruments, so useful that everyone wanted one. Clockmakers were obliged to produce them in large numbers so as to meet the demand, not only of the nobles and merchants, but also of the bourgeoisie. The first of these pendulum docks were square, veneered in ebony or stained pearwood. Fixed onto an iron or brass plaque covered with velvet, the dial vas a simple silver, pewter, or gilt brass ring, with no decoration, engraved with the hours in Roman numerals, and what was a great novelty, all the minutes, in Arabic numerals. They were also fitted with another hand, for the minutes, which their precision made worthwhile. Their functional beauty, and the simplicity of their mechanism, made a stark contrast with the riel decor and multiple complications of clocks produced previously. The invention, by the same Christian Huygens in 1675, of the regulatory hairspring, had for watches consequences in every way comparable to those of the pendulum for dock production. These two inventions caused a total revolution in clockmaking. In France, particularly, clockmakers were amazed by the precision which the introduction of this small spring, rolled in a spiral and mounted on the balance, brought to watches. From being luxury goods, whose practical use was even more open to question than that of clocks before the invention of the pendulm, watches became, from one day to the next, indispensable for the regulation of daily life. The result vas so great a demand that clockmakers had to organise production at lover cost. They were therefore made of gilt metal, sometimes of silver, but only exceptionally of gold. This was the beginning of serial production, with the first attempts to standardise and to split up the work, the making of certain components being entrusted to specialist workers. Technical requirements, and the use made of them, had immediate results for the shape and dimensions of these nei' watches. The newly invented hairspring could not be very finely shaped, so clockmakers had to use larges balances, which led them to make watches of greater diameter.Their precision vas such that the first clockmakers who made them thought that they could omit the "fusée". However, experiments did not confirm their hopes, and they were obliged to refit this piece, indispensable with the verge escapement, the only one known at the period. In spite of a steadily growing demand in the large production centres from 1690, the conquest of this ne \v market encouraged clockmakers to engage in frantic competition. Thus in Rouen, Gloria, a clockmaker, thought that he could do without the fusee, a piece difficult to shape and expensive to instal, by using as the driving force the central portion only of a longer mainspring. In order to do this, he imagined a device preventing the spring from being completely rewound, and put on the rear plate a small counter indicating the 30 hours during which, according to him, the spring would furnish a relatively constant power. These watches were appreciably cheaper than those provided with a fusee; they were also a great deal less precise and had only relative success. Nevertheless, almost all the to bc continucd clockmakers in Rouen had to make them in order to compete in the market. They are the only watches without a fusee produced after 1690. Other clockmakers tried to exploit the excellent reputation of pendulum docks. They deceived their clients by making them believe that they made watches with pendulums and to this end they inserted a small semi-circular opening in the cock which protected the balance, in which could be seen swinging, as if it were a pendulum, a small metal disk, welded to an arm of the balance. In tract this vas a vulgar deception, and although these watches are more conunonly found than oignons without fusee - thev were known as "pendulum" watches - thev had only an ephemeral success. A few Louis XIV onions had a striking train, but most frequently this vas an alarm, as the hour strike which ornamented the sumptuous watches produced before the invention of the hairspring, were considered to be expensive whim. Daniel Quare, an English clockmaker, invented in about 1680 a new kind of strike whose usefulness was immediately and universally recognised. At the time it was almost impossible to consult a watch after sundown, and in ill-lit streets, in order to read the time, the user had to struggle with flint and tinder to light a candie. It is easy to understand, in these conditions, the success of "repeater" watches, which struck upon request, and allowed the owner to know the time within a quarter hour, without having to look at the dial. In 1690, Iess than ten years after its invention, the device had crossed the Channel, and many Louis XIV onions already boasted this improvement. In the collection which follows, examples of every improvement will be found. The Property of a Gentleman The following 20 lots are devoted to the history of the 'oignon' watch in France, of which 14 are from a single collection formed during the last forty years. They are signalled as such.