this gold cased Charles Leroy early 54.89mm beauty Ive had a while but had cancer last year and never got to research it ,so any help would be much appreciated,thanks in advance to all,and a Merry christmas

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Unique and nice looking watch. Sorry, I don't know anything about it. But I like it.

Nice watch Tom, I am sure John or some of the other European experts will answer up.

I can tell you Loomes 21st Cen. has several Charles Le Roy's, it lists;
LEROY, Basile Charles. Paris (Galerie Montpensier, Palais Royal) c. 1785-1845 when sold to Casimir Halley Desfontaines, q.v., but kept the LeRoy name - late 19c. Clockmaker to Napoleon, Mme Mere, the king of Westphalia, the Princess Pauline & the Duc de Bourbon

LEROY, Charles David. Paris 1587-1635

LEROY, Charles Paris c. 1770-1790

Tom

Tom, that's a beautiful Continental Verge you have there.
Many thanks for posting the photo's.
It's nice to see one of these where the enamel hasn't been destroyed around the key hole!

Apart from suggesting that the regulator disc is a 'Thompion' style, I can't help much more with information on it I'm sorry to say.
Perhaps if Gerald is looking in he may be able to add a bit more to what Tom added.

Best regards

John

Hi Tom

A real Beauty ! Wonderful watch !

LeRoy (or Le Roy) was the most prominent name of french clock and watchmaking:
Baillies has listed 27 of them amongst them the celebrated Julien and his son Pierre the most eminent pioneer of chronometers and temperature compensation. Like all famous people they were copied a lot and there were much more 'LeRoy' or 'LeRoy á Paris' marked watches then the genuine ones ! (same story with Breguet later).

With your watch I am very sure that Charles Le Roy of Paris (ca.1770 - 1790) was the maker of this genuine watch. His known signature and working dates fits the time your watch was made.
I think the watch was made 1780-1790.

The watch has a centre second; two subdials, the upper showing a calendar the lower with the common time display (minute and hour). The arrangement of the dials was very 'en vogue' at those times. Sometimes the subdials changed their positions.
If a watch like this should be named 'Captain's watch? - guess no (unless you have the proof that a 'Captain' owned it). It is more a presentation watch. Consider that this beautiful lady shows only her underwear(and this in gold!). The long slender pendant indicates that there had been at least a second (very likely luxuriant) outer case.

The condition of the dial is very very good, only a minor chip and few hairlines on a dial of this age, this size and with rounded corners - remarkable! As I can see you have a newer key: be careful that there is enough clearane to the dial when winding(or try to get a straight slim old one or turn down a modern one - the moderns are conical and have too often cracked a dial.
The only faint negative are the hands: The seconds hand is a bit to short and the hour hand is sure a replace and should look like the minute hand. But on a watch like this my advice is unless you dont know exactly what should be done, how to do it and are practised to do it - better leave it as is! These are no watches to play with!

Thanks for showing us !

Enjoy your watch , your health, have a beautiful Cristmas !

Regards,
Gerald

Thank you for the words of encouragement,Gerald. I thought the watch was rare and good, and it's nice to know I was right. I did not know the proper terms for the type of watch, but half suspected it once had an outer case. I was looking at the balance wheel one day,it seems to be a four pointed cross with no outer circular band ?? Is that correct ?? From 1955-1957 I lived in Soest in Westphalia and went to school there und ich sprecht klein bisschen Deutsche,Merry Christmas and thank you ,Tom

That sure is a beauty Tom...

Gerald, Are the center second hands rare on a watch of the late 1700's?. This is the first I've seen. Thanks.

Ray

The balance should be a three spoked wheel. Two of the spokes you can spot on your picture, the rim is covered by the balance cock.

I added a link to an earlier post at this forum ; the pictures 5 and 8 should give you an idea.

And nice to hear some German words!

Gerald

hi Gerald; Yes you are right,there is a three spoke balance wheel with rim , and it runs for 10 or 15 seconds if prompted,though I have no experience in this field so will leave it as is,gute nacht,Gerald schlaf gut !!