A rare Directoire long duration quarter striking equation skeleton clock with remontoire, the inverted Y-form plates signed Bouchet Horloger du Roy Paris beneath the engraved silvered year calendar ring with gilt arrow-head pointer, the white enamel Roman and Arabic annular chapter ring with concentric paste-set bezels, finely pierced and engraved gilt hour and minute hands, arrow-head counterpoised solar hand, blued steel counterpoised seconds sweep centre seconds hand, the movement with pin-wheel escapement with sprung pallets and simple gridiron pendulum, the one-minute remontoire of with large pierced fly-wheel on the right side receiving power from the main spring barrel via worm wheel, going barrels for the strike, the twin bell quarter strike with countwheel visible on the left front-plate with connecting lever to the hour train on the right side with countwheel strike on one bell, the frame on levelling screws and marble plinth with brass-lined glazed rectangular dome

Details

A rare Directoire long duration quarter striking equation skeleton clock with remontoire, the inverted Y-form plates signed Bouchet Horloger du Roy Paris beneath the engraved silvered year calendar ring with gilt arrow-head pointer, the white enamel Roman and Arabic annular chapter ring with concentric paste-set bezels, finely pierced and engraved gilt hour and minute hands, arrow-head counterpoised solar hand, blued steel counterpoised seconds sweep centre seconds hand, the movement with pin-wheel escapement with sprung pallets and simple gridiron pendulum, the one-minute remontoire of with large pierced fly-wheel on the right side receiving power from the main spring barrel via worm wheel, going barrels for the strike, the twin bell quarter strike with countwheel visible on the left front-plate with connecting lever to the hour train on the right side with countwheel strike on one bell, the frame on levelling screws and marble plinth with brass-lined glazed rectangular dome
18 1/3in. (46.5cm.) over dome (2)

Literature

Derek Roberts, Continental and American Skeleton Clocks, USA, 1989, pp. 18, 19, 41, figs. 7a & b

Lot Essay

Jean-Louis Bouchet is recorded as becoming a Master in 1762 and appointed Clockmaker to the King for the Chateaux de Bellevue in 1769. The complexities of this outstanding skeleton clock are all the more pronounced when one considers its small size and the constrictions a Y-shaped configuration can cause. The long list of its accomplishments include; solar time, full annual calendar, weight driven remontoire and quarter strike. The latter is particularly unusual in this example where the strike trains run down the each leg of the Y-frame.

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