Exceptional horologic works of art

Hotel Noga Hilton, Geneva, Oct 11, 2003

LOT 557

Mouton a Versailles, circa 1810. Exceptional ?Empire?, mahogany, 30-day going, floor regulator clock, striking hours and half-hours with center dead seconds, annular calendar, equation of time, and special maintaining power device.

CHF 70,000 - 90,000

EUR 46,000 - 58,000

Sold: CHF 46,000

C. mahogany, rectangular, paneled trunk, sides with hinged ormolu-framed glazed doors, rectangular plinth with concave top molding, dado of choice-grain mahogany, molded surbase, the top with cornice over dentils.D. white enamel, convex and heavy, well polished, Roman numerals, outer minute divisions with five-minute Arabic markers accented by gold rhomboids, outermost annular ring with days marked in gold dots. Gilt brass pierced hands, poker equation hand with gilt sunrays in the center. M. rectangular, brass with pulleys set outside and wound through an intermediate gear, 4-wheel train, Lepaute pin-wheel escapement with pins on both sides of the escape wheel, micrometric depth adjustment and micrometric beat adjustment on the crutch, brass-iron gridiron pendulum with very heavy bob, spring-suspension set on a separate bracket mounted directly to the back case panel, manual maintaining power with a clock lever which when pulled by a cord applies pressure directly on the teeth of the center wheel, grooveless pulleys with double clicks to assure safety, striking on a bell by a hammer, epicycloidal Dauthiau type equation mechanism with a roller on the equation lever, heavy brass weights.Signed on the dial.Dim. Height 214 cm.


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Grading System
Grade: AAA

Excellent

Case: 3

Good

Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense

Dial: 3 - 01

Notes

A very well made clock with excellently executed equation, escapement and power transmission. The power maintaining device employed here is very reliable, simple and very rare. Mounting the pulleys outside the movement allowed the maker to use larger wheels and so assure a longer duration for one winding. The choice of a Dauthiau Dauthiau was clockmaker to the King equation mechanism assured precision measurement of the difference between mean and solar time with very little energy loss, particularly since a roller was fitted to the lever rolling over the equation cam. The Lepaute pin-wheel escapement, with the pins on both sides and micrometric pallet adjustment, assures minimal drop, small lift, and therefore, high performance of the escapement..Equation of timeEquation of time indicates the time difference between the true solar day and the mean solar day or time told by a clock or watch. It has two major causes. The first is that the plane of the Earth's Equator is inclined to Earth's orbital plane. The second is that the orbit of the Earth around the Sun is an ellipse and not a circle.Equation of Time due to Obliquity the Earth's tilt.If the Earth's rotational axis was not tilted with respect to its orbit around the Sun, the apparent motion of the Sun along the Ecliptic would fall directly on the Equator, covering the same angles along the Equator in equal time. However, this is not the case, since the angular movement is not linear in terms of time because it changes as the Sun moves above and below the Equator. The projection of the Sun's motion onto the Equator will be at a maximum when its motion along the Ecliptic is parallel to the Equator at the summer and winter solstices and will be at a minimum at the equinoxes.Equation of Time due to Unequal Motion the Earth's elliptical orbit.The orbit of the Earth around the Sun is an ellipse. The distance between the Earth and the Sun is at a minimum around December 31 and is greatest around July 1. The Sun's apparent longitude changes fastest when the Earth is closest to the Sun. The Sun will appear on the meridian at noon on these two dates and so the Equation of Time due to Unequal Motion will then be zero. The mean solar day, calculated by averaging all the days of the year, was invented by astronomers for convenience so that the solar day would always be 24 hours. True solar time and mean solar time coincide four times a year, on April 16, June 14, September 1, and December 25. On these days, the equation will equal zero. During the other 361 days, the equation of time must be used to indicate the difference between the two times, amounting over 16 minutes at certain times of year. The minimum difference occurs on ovember 1 with a loss of 16 minutes and 23 seconds and the maximum occurs on February 11 with an increae of 14 minutes 20 seconds. This positive and negative value is offset in the time of the local noon and those of sunrise and sunset. Equation of time, often represented by a figure eight, called an ?analemma?, can be approximated by the following formula: E = 9.87 * sin 2B 7.53 * cos B 1.5 * sin B Where: B = 360 * -81 / 365 Where: = day number, January 1 = day 1.