Rarity, very rare gold pocket watch with repeater and seconds, Le Paute Hger De L'Empereur a Paris No.1895 with year punch 1809-4, with directoire splendour key, ca. 1820 Ca. Ø57mm, ca. 137g, 20K gold, engine turned, dome signed and numbered, case with French 20K gold punch, very fine and rare calibre with cylinder escapement, quarter repeater, early and rare seconds display in unusual position, signed original enamel dial (restored), steel hands, with matching probably original directoire splendour key with red moss agate, matching for the time setting, additionally another key for the winding, in working order. This is a very high quality watch with an extremely rare calibre, the only example with seconds known to us. Pierre-Basile Lepaute (1750-1843). Pierre-Basile Lepaute took over the famous company founded in the 1740s by Jean André Lepaute and ran it together with his son Pierre-Michel Lepaute (1785-1849). He held the title of Horloger de l'Empereur during the imperial period. Lepaute was one of the main suppliers of watches to the imperial court and was allowed to exhibit at the industrial fairs of 1819 and 1823. The Lepautes were among France's leading manufacturers of watches and clocks. Among the members of the family were inventors and writers as well as researchers and excellent master craftsmen. Their customers included Louis XV, Louis XVI, Madame du Barry, Duc de Bourbon, the Princesse de Monaco, King Ferdinand VI, King Charles III and Charles IV of Spain (source: https://www.cortrie.de/go/8WV).