The semicircle of this graphometer is silvered, graduated to 30 minutes, numbered clockwise and counterclockwise, and read by verniers at either end of the alidade to single minutes. An inscription reads "Secretan à Paris." A label in the box reads: "Lerebours & Secretan, Secretan Successeur, Optician de S. M. l'Empereur, de l'Observatoire & de la Marine. Magasins: 13, Rue Du Pont-Neuf, Ateliers: 9, Rue Mechain, Faubg St. Jacques Paris." The address of the atelier suggests a date of around 1870.
Marc François Secretan (1804–1867) went into partnership with N. M. P. Lerebours in Paris in 1844, and became the sole proprietor of the shop in 1855. The shop offered a wide range of scientific apparatus, showed its wares at several international exhibitions, and was still in business in 1930.
Ref: Paolo Brenni, "Lerebours et Secretan," Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society 40 (March 1994): 3–6
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