Lépine: the watchmaker who refined the pocket watch

LÉPINE: L'HORLOGER QUI A AFFINÉ LA MONTRE À GOUSSET | Goussets Béguin

Jean Antoine Lépine entered the age of 18 to work (in the year 1744), in watch of the court Charles Caron . In 1756, he became master watchmaker and married his daughter, creating the company " Caron and Lépine" . In 1766, he was appointed royal watchmaker . He is the author of the abolition of the upper plate and the pillars which replace it with bridges which "thin" the watch. He invented exhaust in commas. A big businessman as well as brilliant watchmaker , he opened a workshop and a shop in London and soon after, he joined the philosopher Voltaire and opened an important watch industry < /Strong> in Fernes, in Switzerland. He was the watchmaker of Louis XV of Louis XVI and Napoleon Bonaparte .
During His life, he made nearly 6,000 gusset watches , of which just over 150 have survived, most of them in museums and collections around the world.


In the illustrations, three pocket watches thin bridge with cylinder exhausts, the third being sounded.

watch-Gousset -lepine-1

watch-gousset-lepine-2  watch-goss-lepine-3

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