Nicolas Mathieu Rieussec

• brass double plated movement with oversized cylinder escapement, winding by an oversized fluted wheel on the back of the wood case, ring based on a three-armed brass wheel turning once per minute • white enamel dial, black Arabic numerals, outer minute and 1/5 seconds track • brass plate movement base hand-engraved RIEUSSEC H-ger DU ROI CHRONOGRAPHE B-et D'INVENTION A PARIS RUE N-ve DES PETITS CHAMPS N 13 • minute counter a guichet engraved with Arabic numerals and numbered from 0 to 9 activated every minute, can be manually adjusted with a knob wheel above the inking arm, two pusher buttons one on the left to release the stop second and to start the movement as well as the dial, the second on the right to activate the inking mechanism composed of an steel arm ended by a nib, when the system is activated the slit of the nib takes ink from a small bowl and places a drop of ink on the 1/5 divisions on the dial, the last button reveals a hidden reserve for the ink, the reserve cup all mounted on a spring wire • mahogany case with a replaced sliding panel to the back for access to the balance regulation

1: Seine département prefecture, Horse races, excerpt from the minutes of the meeting on September 23, 1821, 

2: Institut National de la Propriété Industrielle,

3: Institut National de la Propriété Industrielle,

Nicolas Mathieu Rieussec (1781-1866) was an important French watchmaker and inventor.  Clearly a talented child, he was already established as a watchmaker in Rue du Marché-Palu by 1805. He was made watchmaker to The King in 1817.

Rieussec's brother, Nicolas Joseph, was heavily involved in the equestrian racing world in Paris and it is therefore no coincidence that Nicolas Mathieu seized the opportunity to develop a timing instrument that, in 1821, became the first chronograph.

After a long and successful life, Nicolas Mathieu Rieussec died at his home at 60 Avenue du Bel-Air in Paris, in 1866.