{{short description|Genevan watchmaker, journalist and encyclopédiste}} {{Other uses|Romilly (disambiguation){{!}}Romilly}} {{Infobox person | name = | image = Encyclopedie volume 3-405.png | imagesize = | caption = Planche ''Horlogerie'' de l’''Encyclopédie'', t. 3., {{p.|405}} | birth_name = | birth_date = 27 June 1714 | birth_place = Geneva, Republic of Geneva | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1796|02|16|1714|06|27}} | death_place = Paris, France | othername = | occupation = Watchmaker<br>Journalist | years_active = | spouse = | signature = }}
'''Jean Romilly''' (27 June 1714 – 16 February 1796) was an 18th-century Genevan watchmaker, journalist and encyclopédiste.
Born in a Huguenot family which took refuge in Geneva following the Edict of Fontainebleau, Romilly became known by various improvements he made to his art. He realized, among other remarkable works, a watch that could go a whole year without being winded, but he left Ferdinand Berthoud the honor to give his invention the required degree of accuracy.
Romilly was one of the founders of the ''Journal de Paris'' in 1777, and an editor of the ''Encyclopédie'' by Diderot and d’Alembert, to which he contributed articles on the theoretical part of watchmaking.
His son, theologian Jean-Edme Romilly also collaborated with the ''Encyclopédie''. His daughter, Jeanne, was general Cavaignac's grandmother.
== Sources == * E. Haag, ''La France protestante'', t. 8, Paris, Joël Cherbuliez, 1858, (p. 513). * G. H. Baillie: ''Watchmakers and Clockmakers of the World.'' (1929) Reprint Read Books, 2006, {{ISBN|1-4067-9113-X}}. * Kathleen H. Pritchard: ''Swiss Timepiece Makers 1775 – 1975.'' Phoenix-Verlag, USA. {{ISBN|0-9146-5979-0}}. * R.A. Leigh (Ed.): ''Correspondance complète de Jean-Jacques Rousseau.'' 52 vol. 1965–1998.
== External links == * [https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Auteur:Jean_Romilly List of Romilly's contributions to the Encyclopédie] on Wikidource * [http://dictionnaire-journalistes.gazettes18e.fr/journaliste/702-jean-romilly Jean Romilly] on [http://dictionnaire-journalistes.gazettes18e.fr Dictionnaire des journalistes] * {{HLS|29282|Jean Romilly|author=Barbara Roth / AL}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Romilly, Jean}} Category:1714 births Category:18th-century writers from the Republic of Geneva Category:1796 deaths Category:Clockmakers from the Republic of Geneva Category:Contributors to the Encyclopédie (1751–1772) Category:Male journalists Category:Watchmakers (people)