Nicolas-Mathieu Rieussec was born in Toulouse in 1781; although he was still a minor, he settled as a watch dealer in rue du Marché-Palu on the Ile de la Cité, circa 1802, where he was still working in 1812. After he had been appointed watchmaker to the King at the beginning of the 1817, Rieussec requested on June 1st, of the same year, the title of Watchmaker to the Garde Meuble, of which he had already been a supplyer for the last two years; he was not appointed until the following year (Arch.nat. O3 1886). His son Joseph-Ferdinand Rieussec, born in Paris on December 15, 1804, also became watchmaker and worked on13 rue Neuve-des-Petits-Champs during the Restauration, and later on 4 Boulevard Bourdon under Louis-Philippe.Rieussec, was the first to patent an inking chronograph in 1821, it was then with a fixed inking hand and a revolving dial. This chronograph was improved in 1823 by Fatton for Breguet, with a revolving inking hand and a normal dial. This counter is a fine and very rare example of the final development of the inking chronograph, signed by Rieussec himself towards the end of his career, after he took Chaudé & Bruneau as partners and theNo. 4 suggests that it was made early in their partnership.