97th Auction

2018/5/12

Lot 82

Cabrier, London, 107 mm, 1150 g, circa 1760
An exceptionally well preserved coach clock with quarter hour/hour repeater, alarm and double wheel duplex escapement according to Dutertre, here with 11 teeth
Case: outer case - silver, coated with ray skin. Inner case - silver, open-work, engraved baroque decoration, rear bell. Dial: silver champlevé, central engraved turnable alarm disc. Movm.: full plate movement, 2 barrels for striking and alarm train, 3 hammers, three-arm brass balance.
This coach clock is fitted with an unusual double wheel duplex escapement according to Dutertre with a pair of vertically stacked, star-shaped steel wheels. The two-part case consists of an exquisitely worked inner part embellished with foliage scrolls and a fine ray skin outer case decorated with ornamental studs and sound holes.
Charles Cabrier II
Charles Cabrier‘s father (a French watchmaker who emigrated to England after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes) and his son - Charles Cabrier I and III - were both reputed makers as well. Cabrier himself began his apprenticeship in 1719, was a member of the Clockmakers‘ Company from 1726 on and a master from 1757 until 1772. Until 1759 he had a workshop in 79 Broad Street, near Finsbury Circus; he then moved to Pig Street - which does not exist anymore - near Threadneedle Street. The watch we have here may have been a joint effort by Charles Cabrier II and his son. Baillie mentions Charles Cabrier II as a "famous maker", Britten calls him a "celebrated maker".
Jean Baptiste Dutertre (1684-1734)
Jean Baptiste Dutertre was born on November 6, 1684 in Rennes; his father was the clockmaker François Dutertre. He went to Paris around 1701 and apprenticed with Jean-Baptiste Le Noir. Dutertre worked in the Rue Harlay near the Quai des Orfèvres from 1712 on and soon gained a reputation as an excellent maker.
Together with Pierre le Roy, Dutertre refined the duplex escapement; he also invented the Dutertre escapement for pendulum clocks, a recoil escapement used for double pendulum clocks. Jean Baptiste Dutertre died on July 22, 1734 in Paris at the age of 49.
Source: http://watch-wiki.org/index.php?title=Dutertre,_Jean_Baptiste_%281%29, as of 01/21/2015

Sold

estimated
20.00025.000 €
Price realized
22.400 €