Repeater watch
ca. 1750
Medium
Gold, diamonds, emeralds, rubies
Dimensions
Diameter: 1 7/8 in. (4.8 cm)
Classification
Horology
Culture
French, Paris
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Accession Number
17.190.1593
Tags
Art Historical Context
This exquisite repeater watch, crafted around 1750 by Parisian watchmaker Jean Baptiste Dutertre, the pinnacle of French 18th-century hor. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Sculpture and Decorative Arts, this petite timepiece—measuring just 1 7/8 inches in diameter—was a marvel of technical ingenuity and luxury. A repeater mechanism, which chimes the hours, quarters, and minutes upon activation via a push-piece, represented cutting-edge innovation, reserved for the elite due to its complex internal engineering. Fashioned from gleaming gold and encrusted with diamonds, emeralds, and r...