The life of Louis Moinet (1768 – 1853)

REPUTED WATCHMAKER, ARTIST AND ASTRONOMER

1768

Louis Moinet’s birth certificate, dated December 7th 1768.

1785

Louis Moinet studies in Bourges, and shows a keen early interest in horology and the arts.

1789

Louis Moinet travels to Rome and Florence to study Art.

1804

Louis Moinet begins teaching at the Ecole Supérieure des Arts in Bourges (1804 – 1806).

1816

Louis Moinet invents the chronograph.

1823

Louis Moinet installs his precision instruments workshop at 32 Rue Meslay, near the Porte Saint-Martin, in Paris.

1825

An example of Louis Moinet’s watchmaking correspondence

“One of the most skilled and scholarly horologists of our time”.

— Le Siècle

1837

Louis Moinet founds and chairs the Société Chronométrique de Paris, within which the most interesting issues from an art-related standpoint are raised and debated by distinguished artists. It initially comprises 37 members.

1848

Louis Moinet publishes his Watchmaking Treatise.

1853

Louis Moinet died on May 21st 1853, in Paris, and was buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery.

2018

Louis Moinet lives again in Bourges, with the inauguration of the Impasse Louis Moinet, right next to the house he occupied in the 1820s.

He was always precise, lucid, indulgent, illuminating the weak with support and encouragement, sharing his own light and knowledge without restriction or the slightest hesitation

— Delmas