Jean-Joseph Robin a Paris, Height 510 mm, circa 1805

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Jean-Joseph Robin a Paris, Height 510 mm, circa 1805
An important, astronomical Empire table regulator with monthgoing remontoire (constant force) and half hour / hour self strike
Case: bronze, gilt, rectangular shape, moulded base and top, facet glazed
on four sides, 4 bracket feet, the corners decorated with Corinthian
columns, domed bevelled glass for the three circular dials, moulded bezels.
Dial: enamel, five concentric indications: half-seconds, hours with radial
Roman numerals, minutes with a gold dot every five, months of the year
and their length. Four concentric steel hands. Signature Robin à Paris;
on the reverse signed by the enameller Baudet. Lower subsidiary enamel
dials: the days of the week on the left and the phases and the age of
the moon on the right. Movm.: square brass full plate movement, gilt,
2 barrels, keywind, 1 hammer / 1 bell, solid movement pillars, 30 daysmovement, going train with maintaining power, count wheel, pin wheel
escapement, compensation gridiron pendulum with gilt bob.
This regulator is illustrated and described in: “Precision Pendulum Clocks
- France, Germany, America and Recent Advancements” by Derek Roberts,
Atglen 2004, page 36, fig. 26-10.
Jean-Joseph Robin
Jean-Joseph Robin was the second son of Robert Robin and was established as clockmaker at rue Saint-Honoré in Paris from 1806 to 1812, and
then at rue de Richelieu from 1815 to 1825. Jean-Joseph, along with his
brother Nicolas-Robert (1775-1816), clockmaker to Louis XVIII, continued
their father business into the first third of the nineteenth century. Both
were awarded a Second Class Silver Medal at the 1806 Paris Exposition
publique des produits de lndustrie française (Public Industrial Exhibition).
The jury report1 for the above exhibition indicates that mm. Robin frères
established at rue Saint-Honoré presented: “1. A thirteen-dial watch that
shows the time at the same moment in different cities; 2. A clock that
indicates the sunrise and sunset, and the time in various places. The jury
remarked that these works were beautifully executed, and displayed great
skill.” At the 1819 Exhibition, Jean-Joseph Robin was also noted by the
jury for having presented “two very finely crafted astronomical clocks
thus maintaining the great reputation that his father acquired through
his numerous and important works”.” Jean-Joseph Robin was awarded the
Bronze Medal, and thereby perpetuated his father tradition of excellence
acquired under the Ancien Régime.
Robert Robin
A renowned horologist, Robert Robin was one of the major figures of
French horology during the reign of Louis XVI, benefitting from many
advantages in practising his art as “Privileged Merchant-Watchmaker of
the King following the Court and Councils of His Majesty.” In 1777 he
presented an article on the properties of remontoires entitled Mémoire
contenant des réflexions sur les propriétés des remontoirs.
Robert Robin sense of perfection and brilliant craftsmanship rivalled that
of the greatest French horologists Bréguet, Lépine, Janvier and Berthoud
enabling him to collaborate with the leading artists of his time; one of
his mantle clocks, Vestal Virgins carrying the Altar of the Sacred Fire on
a Brancard, created in collaboration with the ornament designer JeanDémosthène Dugourc (1740-1809) and the bronze caster Pierre-Philippe
Thomire (1751-1843) bears witness to this exceptional refinement both in
its execution and décor.
After the French Revolution, Robert Robin was one of the first horologists
to support decimal time. In 1793 he wrote a paper entitled Description
de la pendule décimale à secondes, and in Year II (1793-94) he wrote
Mémoire contenant la description d’un échappement libre, ou à détente
and Réflexions sur les montres décimales. He made a decimal clock which
he gave as a gift to the National Convention, along with a description of
the astronomical clock with a centre-sweeping seconds hand, decimal
time and strike, and remontoire - an invention he was passionate about.
Studies of a number of timepieces have shown that the young JeanJoseph Robin, who began his career under the Empire, reused or modified
dials and movements produced by his father.
For example, the regulator by Robert Robin now housed at the Musée
Lambinet in Versailles (Inv. 947), is equipped with a remontoire and a
compensated pendulum with enamel dial thermometer inside a mahogany
glass case surmounted with a capital. The movement plate bears the
engraved inscription: Pendule à seconde décimale par Robin membre
de la Société des inventions et découvertes de France. The clock signed:
Pendule de compansation (sic) Par Robin aux Galeries du Louvre A PARIS.
As the remarkable exhibition catalogue La révolution dans la mesure du
temps2 reveals: “its dial and movement were modified to conform to the
duodecimal hour and Gregorian calendar, after 1805, by one of Robin’s
sons who stamped his name on the existing dial”.
This modification by Jean-Joseph Robin, dating from 1805, of the
regulator previously designed by his father, suggests that our table
regulator, which was executed in the same year, may also have a
movement that was made by or under the direction of Robert Robin.
Jean-Joseph Robin was appointed Horloger du Roi et de Madame (Clockmaker to the King and to Madame la duchesse d’Angoulême, daughter of
Louis XVI) under the Bourbon Restoration - a mantle clock, Le point du
jour (Break of Dawn), made in early 1824, bears witness to the prestige
and refinement of his work. Housed at Versailles’ Grand Trianon, the
mantle clock was executed after a design by Jean-Charles-François Leloy
(active from 1816 to 1844); the ornamentation in imitation agate by
Riton; the bronze work, comprising the laurel-crowned figure of Apollo
and the fluted columns framing the case, by Boquet; the graceful composition painted on Sèvres porcelain by Leguay.
Due to its exceptional quality and practical design, our table regulator
illustrates the perfection achieved by Jean-Joseph Robin in the first years
of his career, and remains a rare example of the transmission from father
to son in the world of early nineteenth-century horology. Just like his
celebrated father Robert Robin, Jean-Joseph timepiece demonstrates
his virtuosity in combining technical complexity with the beauty and
harmony of his time.
REFERENCE BIBLIOGRAPHY:
- Jean-Dominique Augarde, Les ouvriers du Temps, Geneva, 1996 
- Tardy, Dictionnaire des horlogers français, Paris, 1972
- Tardy, La pendule française de Louis XVI à nos jours, 1967
- Louis Moinet, Nouveau Traité Général Élémentaire, Pratique et Théorique
dorlogerie pour les Usages Civils et Astronomiques suivant les principes
des meilleurs auteurs et les progrès récents de la science et de lrt, Paris,
1848.
Jean-Joseph Robin 巴黎 — 意義深遠，帝國氣息的天文星辰校準座
鐘，可重新調配(恆定力)的月份，大小自鳴
38537  C: 2, 23, 31 D: 2 M: 2, 41 
60.000 - 75.000 EUR 82.200 - 102.800 USD 636.000 - 795.000 HKD