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Skeleton With A Pin Wheel Escapement
Made By Lepaute
2nd Half Of The 18th Century
This Skeleton measures 14.5" to the top of the dome, 11" across the base, and 6.5"
wide at the base. It still has its original dome, which is apparent from the wavy
glass and the air pockets. On the dial, we found the name Lepaute
written very faintly. Due to this, the pin wheel escapement, and the obvious age of the clock,
I presumed that it was made by either Lepaute - who also invented the pin wheel
escapement - or one of his descendents - most likely the latter.
The Pin Wheel escapement was invented by Jean Andre Lepaute
(b1720 - d 1787 or 1789) in 1753 and he claimed it to be superior to the lever
escapement. While there is a lot of conjecture on this point, the one truth is
that Pin Wheel escapements are much rarer than lever escapements. Their one draw back
is that the pin can become brittle and snap off. This clock however, has all of
the original pins - as far as I can tell. Also, Lepaute was a very renown
clock maker to the King and retired from the profession in 1774.
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