Sl ROI ET FILS SWITZERLAND A Louis XVI pendule d’officier, c.1780. Height: A Swiss Louis XVI pendule d’officier, signed on the enamel dial Sl Roi et Fila, made around 1780. The fruitwood case, with ormolu handle and ornaments, is veneered with tortoiseshell on a red paper base. The two-day going movement has a going train with balance and duplex escapement, while the striking train, indicating the time on two bells, can be set to grande sonnerie and silence. The alarm train uses only one of the two bells. The enamel dial has a Roman chapter ring while the time is indicated by two blued-steel moon hands. • The maker Samuel Roy (ROI), was christened in Fontaines (Switzerland) on 6 March 1746 and died on the 3th of June 1822 in La Chaux-de-Fonds. He was the illegitimate son of Mary Magdalene Roy, Orvin (father Francis Galamin). He was the father of Henri-Louis, Jacques-Louis and Samuel. One of the most remarkable Neuchâtel watchmakers. He was apprenticed in 1762 to J. Robert and son with whom he was trained for eight years as a clockmaker. He was first established in Fontaines and later in La Chaux-de-Fonds, where he founded La maison Samuel Roy and Fils. He had working relations with Charles Duke, gilder in Paris. He received many clock cases from Charles-Frédéric Dubois after 1815. Extensive trade relations included exports to Portugal. Several clocks and watches signed by him are known. (source: Worldtempus). • Literature: Tardy, Dictionnaire des horlogers français, 1971, p. 568. source: http://mobile.crijns.com CS1302

Source:  http://www.crijns.com