196 - David Louis Huguenin - Pouzait Escapement

David Louis Huguenin - Pouzait Escapement (*) A very fine pocket watch with a quarter-repeating mechanism, jumping central seconds, and a "Pouzait" escapement Case No. 6104, Dimensions 60 mm, circa 1810, Weight 141 g, Origin: Switzerland Case: 18K gold, guilloché pattern. Dial: Enamel. Movement: Full-plate movement, key-wound, 1 barrel, Pouzait escapement, large five-arm ring balance. During the last quarter of the 18th century, several watchmakers attempted to build watches with dead-center seconds hands, a feature that was highly favored by the scientific community and also on the Chinese market. The design by Jean-Moise Pouzait (1743–1793) featured a lever escapement with a large seconds-beating balance wheel. Because of its striking appearance and despite its sensitivity to inertia, the Chinese market greatly appreciated Pouzait’s escapement. It remained in high demand until Jacot invented the so-called “Chinese” duplex escapement, which enabled the production of watches with dead-center seconds. In 1786, Pouzait created a model of his escapement and presented it to the Société des Arts in Geneva; the model can still be seen in their collection. He appears to have drawn inspiration from the pin-wheel escapement used in clocks (and, as with the pin-wheel, there was no safety mechanism—only later models featured one). However, several differences catch the observer’s eye; Pouzait’s pallets are not merely pins, but small, pin-like rectangular teeth. So, in fact, Pouzait’s design is an escapement with a divided lift. Pouzait had invented the independent seconds mechanism eleven years earlier; one may assume that his intention was to create a simpler mechanism for dead seconds. He was one of the first watchmakers to introduce the lever escapement to the continent. Case: very good, slightly worn. Dial: very good. Movement: very good, capable of running, cleaning recommended.