Movement record · France / Switzerland
Lépine Calibre (bar movement)
VerifiedJean-Antoine Lépine's abandonment of the full top plate in favour of separate bars and bridges mounted on a single plate, removing the fusee and allowing a dramatically thinner watch.
Technical specifications
- Diameter
- Varies
- Height
- Notably thin for its date
- Jewels
- Variable; often jewelled to the escapement only
- Frequency
- Typically 14,400–18,000 vph
- Power reserve
- Approx. 30 hours
- Winding
- Key wind, later keyless
- Setting
- Key set, later pendant set
- Escapement
- Cylinder or lever depending on period
- Balance
- Flat or Breguet overcoil hairspring by the nineteenth century
- Complications
- Subsidiary seconds on some examples
Identification features
- The calibre uses individual bridges or cocks mounted on a single bottom plate rather than a continuous top plate.
- It features a going barrel instead of the traditional fusee and chain mechanism.
- Thin overall height compared with contemporary English work
Known variants
- Swiss bar movement
- Three-quarter plate derivatives
Servicing notes
Bars are easily bent; support the train when refitting. Cylinder escapements require correct cylinder-to-tooth depth.
General guidance only. Antique movements should be serviced by a qualified watchmaker.
Historical significance
The structural basis of nearly all later thin watch construction, and the point at which Continental and English practice diverged.
Invented by Jean-Antoine Lépine around 1765, this calibre replaced the traditional two-plate construction with a single bottom plate and individual bridges. By replacing the bulky fusee with a floating mainspring going barrel, the design significantly reduced the overall thickness of pocket watch movements. This design simplified assembly and repair, and its architecture is a basis for later mechanical watch movements. The design was adopted throughout France and influenced Abraham-Louis Breguet, who utilized and modified the calibre for his timepieces.
The added history summarises the open references listed under Sources; each statement was checked against the cited passage.
Photographs
Photographs are illustrative examples of the type, not necessarily the exact object described. Verify details against the source file page.
Sources & references
- Lepine Pocket Watches and Movements, calibercorner.com, retrieved 2026-11-04 (paraphrased; text © the publisher)
- Jean-Antoine Lépine, Wikipedia (English), retrieved 2026-11-04 (text CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Turquoise Set Gold Swiss Lever | BADA, bada.org, retrieved 2026-11-04 (paraphrased; text © the publisher)
- Turquoise Set Three Colour Gold Pocket Watch | BADA, bada.org, retrieved 2026-11-04 (paraphrased; text © the publisher)
- Chapuis & Jaquet, The History of the Self-Winding Watch (background)
- Musée international d'horlogerie collection notes
Where sources disagree, the disagreement is stated rather than resolved silently.