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RESTORATION BY CHRISTIAN LOUTZ OF A RARE FERDINAND BERTHOUD LOUIS XVI SKELETON CLOCK WITH EQUATION OF TIME, ZODIAC, SOLAR AND LUNAR CALENDAR, DOMINICAL LETTER, GOLDEN NUMBER (EASTER CALCULATOR) AND CARILLON
Click on pictures for greater size
ROME, 1665, AN INSOMNIAC POPE ORDERS A SILENT NIGHT CLOCK WITH NO HANDS TO THE FAMOUS CLOCKMAKER PIETRO TOMMASO CAMPANI...
CLICK HERE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THIS EXTRORDINARY 17TH CENTURY NIGHT CLOCK ...
If you are looking for antique clocks, or a collectors' clock, appreciate horology, or, more particularly, antique clock or if you need a clockmaker an estimate, to buy or have repaired or restored an old clock... |
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ANTIQUE CLOCKS PENDULANTIC |
e-mail : loutz@pendulantic.com |
Last update: November 4th 2020 |
Just like the various expressions of art and technology, the Swiss watch and clock industry and the Swiss “Haute horlogerie” industry have their history and their "ancestors". From their precursors to their current form, they crossed various stages and evolutions. In Switzerland, marks of watches from the simple, basic watch to the flagship High-end luxury watches, combining innovation, advanced technology, and jewellery, all are directly or indirectly related to the Swiss antique clocks, more particularly those manufactured in the canton of Neuchâtel (La Chaux-de-Fonds, Le Locle, Le Sentier in the Vallée de Joux, Neuchâtel...), in Geneva and in all that one names henceforth "The watch Valley".
Most known are: Tag Heuer, Audmars Piguet, Raymond Weil, Chopard, Frank Muller, Girard Perregaux, IWC Schaffhausen, Ulysses Nardin, Vacheron Constantin, Cartier, Blanpain, Bulgari, Parmigiani, Piaget, Corum, Rodolphe, Gerald Genta, Tissot, Hublot, Bertolucci, Rolex, Omega, Patek Philippe, Jaquet-Droz, Breguet, Jeager-LeCoultre, Swatch, Eberhard & Co, Jacob & Co, Roger Dubuis, Paul Picot, Montblanc, Baume & Mercier, Omega, Frederique Constant Genève, Ebel, Breitling, Breguet, Tourbillon Cecil Purnell, Daniel Roth, De Bethune, Richard Mille, Roger Dubuis, De Grisogono Geneva, Jean-Paul Journe ( Hands of Gold 2006 for its Sonnerie Souveraine, watch of the year in Japan), italo-Swiss Officine Panarai which established its Manufacture of luxury watch here in Neuchâtel, Quinting manufacturer of the first transparent chronograph watch honoured with the prestigious price "Official Price of the Review of the Watches" in 1999 and of which one of the Manufactures is locates a few hundred meters away from Antique Clocks - Pendulantic, Zenith, Bedat & Co Geneva, DeWitt whose founder Jerome De Witt is downward of the Emperor Napoleon 1st, Jean-Richard, Leon Hatot, Goldpfeil Genève, Longines, Bovet Fleurier, Dubey & Schaldenbrand, Parmigiani Fleurier, Vaucher, Greubel Forsey, Guebelin, etc. Influence which was propagated well beyond the Swiss borders: A.Lange & Sohne, Glashutte Original, Buccellati, Rapstor Inc, and many others.
A long and marvellous history made of discoveries, improvements, and styles but especially of passion.
This passion which inspired great and brilliant Swiss clock and watch makers of the 18th century like Ferdinand Berthoud, born in the canton of Neuchâtel in 1727, installed in France, great innovator, clock and watch maker of the king of France, member of "London Royal Society"; Abraham-Louis Breguet, born in Neuchâtel in 1747, clock maker and Swiss physicist also installed in Paris France, inventor of the mechanism Tourbillon, he made also chronograph watches, astronomical clocks, clocks of marine and it is him who invented the wrist-watch, Abraham-Louis Breguet had as customers, famous personalities like Marie-Antoinette wife of the king de France Louis XVI, Napoleon Emperor of the French, and even after his death, the Victoria queen, queen of the British empire, and Winston Churchill. Other great names in the history of the Swiss watch and clock industry are Pierre Jaquet-Droz, born in 1721 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, great and famous Swiss clock and watch maker whose mechanisms and automatons fascinated the greatest of this world, the kings and the emperors of Europe, of China and Japan. And finally Daniel Jeanrichard (1665-1741) from La Sagne, established in Le Locle, he is the emblematic figure of the genius and of the clock making know-how of a whole population, he is a mythical character of the Neuchatel mountains. The legend regards him as the founder of the watch industry in the canton of Neuchatel. It is told that at the age of its 15 years old, he studied a defective English watch which he was asked to repair, then inspired, he manufactured a watch and thus created "the" first watch of the area. If the reality is not so certain, Daniel Jeanrichard is however the first true Neuchatel watch maker, his tenacity and his talent made him the pioneer of the watch and clock industry in the mountains of Neuchatel. It is by organizing the teaching and training of the watch and clock making work, by training other clock and watch makers and by inventing fundamental machines and tools for this profession, which he became "the instigator" of the Neuchatel watch and clock making industry and which today a whole population owe him their prosperity.
The bond between these great clock and watch makers of yesterday and those of today is the heritage of the know-how which they left us. A watch and clock making tradition strongly anchored in our roots, the love of the authenticity which pushes us towards this quality which forged the international fame of the Swiss watches.
From the single piece to the great collection, every antique clock is special and unique, owning an "authentic" SWISS MADE antique clock (neuchatel, of Sumiswald, or area of Bern), manufactured in the 17th 18th or 19th century, is owning a "fragment" of the extraordinary Swiss watch history.
ANTIQUE CLOCKS PENDULANTIC
Old clocks are a field of horological collecting where a knowledge of case styles is as important as knowing about the mechanical details at the heart of these beautiful works of art. French clocks, particularly the clocks called cartels in France (wall clocks on matching brackets), are a speciality of the Maison Pendulantic. We are also official distributors of the The Rollimat Pivot Polishing Machine
We try always to be able to offer our clients important
examples of the following sorts of antique clock:
Let us encourage you to check our site quite often as some clocks are sold
or exchanged very rapidly.
Many collectors let us know what items they are looking for: Mantel clock, marble
French mantel clock, four glass clock, skeleton clock, tortoiseshell and cut
engraved brass French boulle clock, carriage clock, French pendule d'officer
timepiece, bracket clock, cartel clock, regulator, wall clocks, weight driven
wall clock, longcase clocks, lyre clock, tetes de poupees, column mantel clock,
capucine, desk clock, marine chronometer, mystery clocks, French ormolu mantel
clock, au sauvage clock, au nègre clock, au bon sauvage clock, blackamoor clock, carriage timepiece, french
cartel wall clocks, etc.
Precision regulators,
like those made by Robin, Ferdinand Berthoud, or Antide Janvier; musical clocks,
with rings of bells or with sets of pipes, are works of art which one does not
come across every day and we often find we sell them before we have time to put
them up on the site. In these last months we have had the privilege of offering
our clients clocks signed by Leroy, Lépine, Ferdinand Berthoud and Breguet.
(These last two prestigious watchmakers are of Swiss origin)
17th century Neuchâtel clocks, in the Louis XIII
style, usually these are weight-driven clocks. 18th century Neuchatel clocks;
Louis XIV clocks (hard to find); Louis XV clocks (saucer-shaped convex dial with
a flat door-glass); Louis XVI (both dial and door-glass convex); clocks with guichets
(little separate glazed doors underneath the dials) often quarter-striking or
even grande sonnerie; finally mountain clocks, often called country clocks, are
Neuchâtel clocks which we know particularly well. This puts us in a good
position to advise you about them. Some clocks of this kind, with polychrome decoration
or cameo panels, are always available in our shop in Saint-Blaise (Switzerland).
We are also particularly interested in Sumiswald antique clocks, which are derived
from Neuchâtel clocks. Sumiswald clocks sometimes also come with grande
sonnerie, with guichets or in Louis XVI style. Leuenberger is probably the best-known
maker.
Amongst Neuchâtel makers the most famous are Frédéric
Jeanjaquet, Eugène JeanJaquet, Pierre Jaquet-Droz, Josué Robert.
We could easily add names to this list and one needs to remember that some magnificent
clocks were made in little known workshops. These clocks by unfamiliar names are
all the more interesting to collectors.
We only present clocks which
we consider worthy of serious interest to collectors, and also in good original
condition
It is impossible for us to have every kind of clock in stock. However, having
many contacts and oportunities allows us to get for you about any item you are
looking for. Please send us your e-mail address or your postal address, and
let us know what you are interested in. Discretion assured. Moreover, you may
be certain that you will not be showered with numerous irrelevant offers. We
will only select clocks which are worthy of interest and whose elements are
all original.
We restore all clocks with great care.
Christian Loutz
Jacques Duvoisin
Neuchatel (Switzerland)