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A successful businessman, author, meteorologist, and clockmaker, Jean Romilly rose from the life of a poor immigrant to an economic position often described as "close to opulence when the [French] Revolution occurred." Born in 1714 into a clockmaking dynasty already established in Geneva, Romilly joined his father, uncle, and three brothers in the family business. When he was about twenty, he immigrated to Paris and was soon accepted into the intellectual circle of the French capital. Romilly was a good friend of noted philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau and contributed several articles about clock and watchmaking to Denis Diderot's Encyclopédie. With his son-in-law, he also founded Paris's first daily newspaper, the Journal de Paris, to which he often contributed weather reports.
Also often described as a clever and very successful watch maker who made multiple advances in Horology, Jean Romilly specialized in producing movements for watches, usually set in fine cases made by the most sought after case designers in Paris at the time like Charles Cressant. He perfected a mechanism that allowed his watches to run for eight days without the need to be rewound. He also developed a watch that ran for 378 days straight without being wound, although it would no longer give accurate time after a few months of use. In 1768, he even made a marine timekeeper, though it was damaged during its initial trials.
Romilly's most notable contribution to the watch making world was the creation of the "seconde morte" or independent seconds. Today, we typically distinguish a mechanical watch from a quartz watch at first glance by looking at the seconds hand. If the hand performs a constant "sweeping" motion, most fairly assume that the watch has an automatic or mechanical movement, if it jumps from one second to the next, the watch is often quartz-driven. Watchmakers in the past had made great efforts to transform the continuous motion of the seconds hand into one second steps, but it was Romilly whom finally accomplished this in 1755. A secondary feature of this mechanism allows the seconds hand to be stopped independently while the hour and minute hands keep running.
In all, Jean Romilly produced only a small number of clock movements, mostly at the specific request of members of the French nobility such as Madame de Pompadour. Though, both his innovation and genius are still noted even in the world today.
This man of many talents is once again recognized in this new millennium by means of this elegant automatic watch collection. Each timepiece is given an aristocratic feel by means of exquisitely textured stainless steel cases, stitched genuine leather straps, and cultivated folding buckles that provide a more personalized fit for any gentleman's wrist.
Indulge yourself in the classic style of Romilly.
For more information: www.romillywatches.com
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