David Louis Huguenin - Pouzait Escapement
Record status
Individual type · partial
Period
circa 1810
A very fine, quarter repeating pocket watch with jumping central seconds and "Pouzait" escapement The design by Jean-Moise Pouzait (1743-1793) featured a lever escapement with a large seconds-beating balance.
It was in great 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 Geneva Société des Arts; the model can still be seen in their collection. So actually Pouzait's design is an escapement with 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.
Evidence at a glance
- Linked sources
- 1
- Photograph views
- 1
- Catalogue references
- 0
Counts describe this entry’s documentation, not authenticity, rarity or completeness. Photographs may show one specimen; check each caption and licence.
Physical characteristics
- Dimensions
- 60 mm
Identification
- Candidate id
- inv-david-louis-huguenin-pouzait-escapement-196-c-bf92542709
- Museum object number
- bf92542709
- Source note
- Facts transcribed from the linked single-object source. Wider type attribution and authenticity have not been independently verified.
Catalogue references
No catalogue numbers recorded. Numbers are only published once transcribed from a verified edition of a standard catalogue — they are never inferred.
Research required
- Research required: confirm the wider type and source attribution against specialist references.