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The Royal Society: Science in the Making

Unpublished letters and extracts, regarding innovations in watchmaking sent from James Hutton to Joseph Banks

Reference number: AP/4/10

Date: March 1778 - November 1779

Description

A letter to Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society, from James Hutton with attached documents relating to improvements in watchmaking made by Mr [Paul?] Preudhomme of Geneva [Switzerland]. These improvements were subsequently copied by Mr Le Cerf. Hutton marked the supporting documents A-D and they concern the following topics:

A - Report by the Committee of Arts in Geneva of Preudhomme's invention of an instrument of use to watchmaking
B - Report by the Committee on a similar invention by Le Cerf
C - Narrative of the affair with Le Cerf by Preudhomme
D - Portion of a letter from Preudhomme asking Hutton to send the preceding documents to the Society

All documents are in French apart from Hutton's covering letter to Banks.

Subject: Engineering

Reference number
AP/4/10
Earliest possible date
March 1778 - November 1779
Physical description
Ink on paper
Page extent
20 pages
Format
Manuscript

Creator name

James Hutton

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Citation

James Hutton, Unpublished letters and extracts, regarding innovations in watchmaking sent from James Hutton to Joseph Banks, March 1778 - November 1779, AP/4/10, The Royal Society Archives, London, https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/ap_4_10/unpublished-letters-and-extracts-regarding-innovations-in-watchmaking-sent-from-james-hutton-to-joseph-banks, accessed on 17 September 2026

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https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/ap_4_10/unpublished-letters-and-extracts-regarding-innovations-in-watchmaking-sent-from-james-hutton-to-joseph-banks

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  • Archived Papers

    The 'Archived Papers' collection is comprised of original manuscript scientific papers and letters submitted to the Royal Society which remained unpublished or were abstracted in the journal 'Proceedings of the Royal Society' published from 1830 onwards.

    Dates: 1768 - 1989

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