Renowned for his absolute quest for precision, Julien Le Roy is rightly considered one of the greatest French watchmakers in history. A precocious genius, he successfully synthesized two opposing watchmaking cultures, French and British, notably by paying tribute to the great English names in the sector. This celebrated watchmaker is also known for inventing the horizontal architectural clock.
This young man, born in Tours in 1686, was a phenomenon. Indeed, at the age of 13, Julien Le Roy was already crafting small works of his own invention, demonstrating a rare intelligence and an equally keen finesse. These singular aptitudes for mechanics, the young boy would quickly dedicate to a major art, which once brought glory to the nation, but whose splendor had shifted to the English side: watchmaking.
Having moved to Paris to perfect his skills in timepiece mechanics, Julien Le Roy joined the very exclusive corporation of master watchmakers in the capital at just 27 years old. He quickly became known for his talents and his particularity: an almost obsessive pursuit of absolute precision, which first led him to perfect existing mechanisms before designing his own. He thus tackled repeating watches, greatly reducing their volume while improving both their robustness and precision.
Julien Le Roy, a Precocious Genius
This young man, born in Tours in 1686, was a phenomenon. Indeed, at the age of 13, Julien Le Roy was already crafting small works of his own invention, demonstrating a rare intelligence and an equally keen finesse. These singular aptitudes for mechanics, the young boy would quickly dedicate to a major art, which once brought glory to the nation, but whose splendor had shifted to the English side: watchmaking.
Having moved to Paris to perfect his skills in timepiece mechanics, Julien Le Roy joined the very exclusive corporation of master watchmakers in the capital at just 27 years old. He quickly became known for his talents and his particularity: an almost obsessive pursuit of absolute precision, which first led him to perfect existing mechanisms before designing his own. He thus tackled repeating watches, greatly reducing their volume while improving both their robustness and precision.
Defeating the English at Their Own Game
At the time, it was the English who held sway in watchmaking: their masters in the field certainly demonstrated undeniable technical superiority. Julien Le Roy would contribute to reversing this trend, but without malicious intent. As his reputation grew across Europe, rather than confronting his British rivals, the young man chose to pay them tribute. In 1728, he brought one of George Graham’s cylinder watches to Paris, for whom he held great admiration. (Graham, in return, made no secret of his enthusiasm for his French colleague, whose improvements to repeating watches he particularly appreciated.) He also borrowed Newton’s findings on fluids to apply them to watch balances, thereby significantly reducing friction and, consequently, the wear of mechanisms. The British, however, were defeated when Julien Le Roy’s name replaced those of English watchmakers engraved on Geneva watches.Watches and Clocks
In 1739, appointed watchmaker to Louis XIV, Le Roy settled in the Louvre. From then on, he dedicated himself to perfecting clocks. He designed seconds clocks and equation clocks of various kinds, each time with absolute precision. He developed a compensation mechanism that allowed them to be unaffected by the effects of heat or cold. Above all, he revolutionized the field of public clocks by inventing a horizontal model for buildings, which was both cheaper, easier to manufacture, and much more precise. This clock, designed through a new arrangement of gears, Julien Le Roy chose to enhance with several recent inventions, including the universal dial with a compass and pinnules. Among the many advantages of the horizontal clock over the old model, it required fewer parts for its manufacture, reduced friction, and facilitated construction and maintenance. The master detailed the secrets of its design in a work published in 1737, ‘Règle artificielle du temps’. But Le Roy was not just a genius watchmaker, one of the most important in his country: he was also a good man. Not only did he ensure that his colleagues could benefit from his knowledge and experience, but he willingly distributed his earnings to the workers in his workshop to reward their labor, to the extent that he left only a meager inheritance upon his death. Julien Le Roy died in Paris in 1759. His son Pierre Le Roy, who took over the workshop, would in his time be considered one of the fathers of modern chronometry.His Inventions
In Julien Le Roy’s career, inventions were intertwined with improvements. Here is a selection:- In 1720, before the Academy of Sciences, he presented an equation clock marking true time, sunrise, and declination – an invention his audience judged wonderfully accurate and practical.
- Around 1721: he invented an adjustable potence for the verge escapement wheel, which was found in most escapements of this type until the end of the 18th century.
- In 1738, he designed the compensating pendulum.
- Around 1740, the horizontal clock was invented.
- In 1744, he removed the case band from watch cases and placed the striking mechanism under the dial.
- In 1755, he developed a new striking train employing the lever escapement as a moderator.