L\'ART DE L\'HORLOGERIE EN FRANCE DE ...

Geneva, Hotel Des Bergues, Nov 14, 1993

LOT 53

Giles Martinot à Paris, circa 1680. Fine small tortoise-shell veneered hour and half hour striking early pendulum clock.

CHF 12,000 - 14,000

C. Shaped, moulded with half moon pediment and brass inlaid lines and borders. D. Gilt brass chapter-ring with Roman numerals on enamel cartouches and outer engraved Arabic minute ring. Blued steel "poker and beetle" hands. Gilt brass dial plate engraved with foliage decoration and a small subsidiary dial for the index of the fast/slow regulator. M. Brass, shaped plates with going barrels for both the going and striking train, verge escapement, now with short pendulum with silk suspension. Striking on a bell with the countwheel on the back plate. Signed on the back plate. In good condition. Dim. 26 x 14,5 x 12 cm.


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Notes

This clock was originally fitted with a balance wheel with early balance spring, and the witness marks for the size of the wheel, along with the screw and steady pin holes for the cock can still be seen on the backplate. Gilles Martinot, along with his brother and Nicolas Gribelin signed an agreement with Jean de Hautefeuille to make watches regulated by a balance spring at around the time that Huygens' patent expired, although no details exist to establish whether the system was any different from the original conception. The purpose of these small balance wheel clocks was certainly to be portable, at least from room to room, if not on longer journeys.