Robert Robin, maître in 1767 and appointed horloger du Roi in 1785.

Robin was one of the finest clockmakers of eighteenth-century France and highly regarded for both the excellence and ingenuity of his work. J-D. Augarde notes: 'Il appartint au cercle restreint des grands horlogers de la fin du XVIIIe siècle qui apportèrent une contribution particulière au perfectionnement des instruments de la mesure du temps' (J-D. Augarde, Les Ouvriers du Temps, Geneva, 1996, p. 391). Robin was received as a master clockmaker in November 1767 by decree of the Council, which exempted him from the apprenticeship qualification, probably because he had already displayed exceptional talent. In 1778 he was appointed Horloger du Duc de Chartres, and that same year he was honored by the Académie des Sciences, who approved two of his inventions. One of the articles he presented to the Academy was on his remontoire: 'Mémoire contenant des réflexions sur le proprieté du Remontoire, un éschappement naturel avec une courte description d'une pendule dans lacquelle ces effets sont éxecuté'. Other appointments included Valet de Chambre-Horloger Ordinaire du Roi in 1783 and Valet de Chambre-Horloger Ordinaire de la Reine in 1786. In 1794, he was made Clockmaker to the Republic and in 1796 to the Directoire. Table regulators of similar design by Robin and with complex mechanisms and elaborately enameled dials sold Christie's, New York, 20 April 2018, lot 7 ($200,000), and Christie's, London, 8 July 2010, lot 72 (£157,250).