Exceptional Collectors Timepieces, Ho...

Geneva, May 15, 2005

LOT 206

"Day and Night" Attributed to Jaquet Droz à la Chaux de Fonds. Made circa 1780. Very fine and extremely rare two-dialled, ebonised wood, gilt bronze, painted on enamel and tole peinte table clock with day and night dials and quarter striking.

CHF 50,000 - 70,000

EUR 32,000 - 45,000 / USD 43,000 - 60,000

Sold: CHF 55,200

C. Rectangular, ebonised, outset cornersflanked by gilt bronze fluted corinthianpillasters raised on fielded plinths,moulded base, block feet, three side basepanels set with a guilloche flowerheadmount, tole peint side door panels deco-ratedwith with a swagged neo-classicallidded urn, broken-arch pediment with abalustraded gallery, corner plinths, six urnfinials, central "chimney" in the form of atent with a hinged scew-down canopy andwith an acanthus and berry finial.D. Daytime dial: White enamel, radialRoman numerals, outer minute track andArabic five minute numerals, hinged andglazed bezel, polished arch-top mask setwith an oval polychrome enamel depict-inga flute playing shepherdess and herbeau in a pastoral landscape, mountedwithin a cast and chased palm, swag andtasselled gilt-brass cartouche. Pierced giltbrass "Louis" hands. Nightime dial: arch-top,polished, pierced radial Romannumerals, dot quarter markers and crosshalf-hour markers, dot and arcaded outerborder, the centre with a rotating discpierced with a single hour-hand to indi-catethe time, mask pierced with scrollsand foliage in the pattern of a waistedclock case, foliate pieced panel below.M. Rectangular polished brass plates, 147x 131 mm., turned pillars, two largespring barrels, verge escapement withsteel pallets and blued steel set-up screw,acorn bob pendulum with regulation nuthanging between the front-plate and dial-plate,striking the hours and quarters withtwo hammers on two bells, the strikinggeared from a count-wheel mounted onthe hour-wheel arbour, strike stop-lever,an extra wheel geared from behind thehour wheel via another wheel and a steelrod through the plates driving the night-timedisc.Dim. 46 x 25 x 21 cm.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 3 - 5
Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 3-14-01

Good

Damaged

HANDS Original

Notes

Night Clocks by Jaquet Droz This clock is one of only two known exam-ples of day and night clocks by Jaquet Droz. The other, signed Jaquet Droz, a la Chaux de Fonds, but incomplete and altered is in a German private collection. Until the discov-ery of these two clocks in the 1960s it was not known that Jaquet Droz had made night clocks. Both clocks are almost identical in design with only subtle differences to the decoration of the case. Due to the fact that a naked flame is used to iluminate the night dial, the case has a metal carcase and a chimney to allow the heat to escape. The side doors are of painted tin-plate, one bearing the artist's pattern number A6613. The night dial would have been illuminated by an oil lamp with two wicks one either side of the steel rod turning the hand disc. The piercing of the night dial is, in terms of design, very characteristic of Jaquet Droz and when illuminated, gives the impression of a rococco mantel clock. The pendulum is suspended from a two-piece crutch allowing the lower half of the crutch two move when the clock is turned and therefore not placing any stress upon the escapement. It is mounted between the dial-plate and the front-plate therefore out of the way of the oil lamps and allowing the back-plate to reflect the maximum light from its surface. As the clock has a dial at the front and the back, it would have originally been mounted on a turntable, this is confirmed by the pres-cence of a central hole in the base of the case where a peg would have located the clock to the turntable. The striking mecha-nism sounds the hours with one hammer and the quarters using two hammers mounted on pump-action rods. The striking can be stopped - essential for night-time use - by sliding a lever which restrains the hammers for the desired period. Literature: ?Masterpieces of the Art of Clock-making - Night clocks by Jaquet Droz?; Hans von Bertele, Speculum Otis, June 1963.