Inked chronograph signed (on either side of the totalizer ap - Lot 132

Inked chronograph signed (on either side of the totalizer aperture) 'Rieussec H[orlo]ger du Roi' 'Chronographe Brevet d'invention' and (below the dial) 'A Paris Rue N[euv]e des P[eti]ts Champs N° 13', circa 1828. White enamel dial (accident above numeral 60) inlaid in a gilded brass plate, divided into fifths of seconds and numbered in groups of five from 0 to 55, pushers for start/stop (left) and tally (right), manual totalizer by window, ink reservoir at lower left, steel hand (rusty); double-plate movement, brass and steel, large barrel, cylinder escapement, single brass balance wheel, winding by large knob on back; case in light-filleted rosewood (crack on back) with sliding panel to access adjustment for balance wheel. To be restored. 79mm x 103mm. With protective case. An early copy of the chronograph inker invented and patented by Nicolas Mattieu Rieussec (1781-1852) in 1822. This copy bears witness to the minor changes and improvements Rieussec made to his device. The dial, a movable ring on the original model, is no longer movable or ring-shaped; the word 'par' has disappeared before 'Brevet d'invention'; the case is now fitted with a two-hinged cover to protect the control buttons. Thus, the machine appears to be immediately after the end of the period of protection (1822-25) offered by the first patent, but before its second of 1838.