LEPINE, 18K GOLD AND ENAMEL ULTRA SLIM OPENFACE CYLINDER WATCH

The present watch is distinguished by its ultra slim design and the champlevé enamel decorated case. It was made by the celebrated French clock and watchmaker Jean-Antoine Lépine (1720-1814), associated with Voltaire and favoured successively by the Bourbons and Napoleon, best known for the invention of a revolutionary movement construction called the "Lépine calibre" or "calibre à pont", such as the present. With the aim of developing thinner movements, he exchanged the volume and complexity of the fusée against a going barrel to power the gear train directly. He also invented the floating mainspring barrel and replaced the top plate and pillars with bridges. This made room for the balance at the side rather than on top of the movement.

Lépine's work profoundly influenced all subsequent watchmaking, notably by Abraham Louis Breguet who used a modified version of the "calibre à ponts" for his ultra slim watches.