A French brass grande sonnerie carriage clock with fly-back calendar, alarm and thermometer

VWB, NO.557. LAST QUARTER 19TH CENTURY

Details
A French brass grande sonnerie carriage clock with fly-back calendar, alarm and thermometer
vwb, no.557. last quarter 19th century
The oval case with foliate scroll engraved gilt-mask to the white enamel Roman dial with Arabic five minutes, with conforming alarm dial below flanked by arched silvered scales for a Centigrade thermometer and a fly-back calendar, the twin barrel movement with gilt platform stamped twice for VWB in a heart, probably for Victorien Bousset/Boseet, to the bimetallic balance with lever escapement, strike/repeat/alarm on two bells to the base, with rack-work planted on the backplate stamped VWB and numbered 557
6in. (15cm.) high
Literature
In Carriage Clocks, Antique Collectors' Club 1974, p.434 Charles Allix writes: 'V.W.B.' in a heart. This trademark is found on a superb clock No. 557 having grande sonnerie striking, fly-back calendar, alarm, thermometer, and semi-oval case. Could 'V.W.B' have been Victorien Bousset?'

Lot Essay

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
A similar clock, numbered 580 is illustrated in Derek Roberts Carriage and Other Travelling Clocks, Schiffer 1993, p.223, fig.13-27.

With the fly-back calendar, a pointer moves down a vertical scale daily. On Sunday at midnight the pointer 'flies back' to Monday. Derek Roberts suggests that the similarities between the the scales on the known examples of this relatively unusual calendar work on carriage clocks leads to the conclusion that they are products of the same hand. The clocks which Derek Roberts illustrates are attributed by him to Victorien Boseet and it is likely that Bousset and Boseet are synonymous.

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