====== Lépine, Jean-Antoine ======
{{wst>image_r|Lepine,_Jean-Antoine|Jean-Antoine Lépine (1720-1814)}}
**Jean-Antoine Lépine** was a French watchmaker active in the 18th century. His name is most associated today with [[Lépine]] movements, in which the [[small seconds]] [[subdial]] is on the same axis as the [[stem]], even though this was not one of his innovations.

The French watchmaker Jean-Antoine Lépine was was born [[1720]] in Challex near [[Geneva]] on 18 November. He moved to Paris and married a daughter of [[Caron, André-Charles|André-Charles Caron]], father of watchmaking polymath [[Beaumarchais]]. Lépine gained fame as a watchmaker and became an official supplier of Louis XV, also building watches for Louis XVI, Napoleon I, and George Washington. He was also a mentor to [[Breguet, Abraham-Louis|Abraham-Louis Breguet]].

Through his major inventions he contributed significantly to the improvement of the [[pocket watch]]. His principal contribution was the development of the modern [[plate]] and [[bridge]]s concept, with all components affixed to a main [[ebauche]] in one plane. He dispensed with the [[fusée and chain]], replacing it with a modern toothed [[mainspring]] [[barrel]]. Such watches became known by his name in the 19th century, and all modern watches use this architecture.

Lépine was also influential in the development of [[complication]]s, including one of the first [[perpetual calendar]] mechanisms and early work on [[dead beat seconds]] and [[keyless winding]]. He also invented [[repetition]] and [[moon phase]] mechanisms.

Around 1770, he opened a workshop in the watchmaker colony Ferney founded by Voltaire. He later also headed this "watch factory" (till [[1783]]). Jean-Antoine Lépine died [[1814]] in Paris.

  * [[1750]], he developed the decimal inhibition.
  * [[1770]], he invented the Lépine calibre named after him. Until then, watch movements had been equipped with full plates, but Lépine revolutionized the [[pocket watch]] movement with a completely new design the [[bridge]] design. From this developed the //open pocket watch// with always visible dial; on the contrary, see [[Savonnette]]). Today the principle of the [[bridge]] concept is found throughout all mechanical watches.
  * He improved the structure of the [[barrel]] and replaced the old design with chain and screw, whereby watches could be built much flatter.
  * Approx. [[1780]] he invented a new [[repetition]] mechanism.
  * Around [[1780]] he invented a keyless [[winding]].

===== See Also =====
  * [[Lépine]]
  * [[Savonnette]] or [[hunter]]

===== External Links =====
  * [[https://grail-watch.com/2022/05/03/what-is-a-lepine-watch-movement/|What is a Lépine Watch Movement?]]

{{tag>Biographies}}