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Men have always had a ferocious appetite for measuring time. During many centuries they relied on the movement of the sun with sundials or that of stars with astrolabes or simply on water clocks or hourglasses.

At the end of the Middle Age period, clocks were generally installed in the towers of churches and those of town-houses in order to regulate city life while only a few people had the privilege of having time pieces in their homes.

Today the world lives with electronic or even nuclear clocks adjusted to the precision of 1/100th or even 1/1000th of a second so as to cling to the speed of various activities. New technologies have naturally been counterbalanced by some kind of nostalgia regarding less precise ancient clocks that were synonymous with an easygoing life whereby being five or ten minutes late for an appointment did not really matter. Now, many people have been showing a keen interest in hand-made instruments that are pure marvels among human creations.

First of all, let us start with French clocks, which are much in demand on the market. These can be usually found in many auction rooms around the world despite the fact that many good pieces have already been sold during the past three decades.

«A rare enamelled skeleton clock
with daily and monthly calendar, circa 1794,
French (Value : US $ 80,000-100,000)»

The skeleton clock the mechanism of which is visible, the Louis XIV clock called «Pendule Religieuse» in French or bracket clock with a sober design but with cases made of rare types of wood, sometimes inlaid with copper or ivory as well as regulators, which are very precise clocks with short of long cases.

There are also mantle piece clocks, table clocks and also lantern clocks of the 16th and 17th centuries topped with a bell.

«A rare gilt bronze cartel, Louis XVI period, dial by Bugnon (Value : US $ 50,000-70,000)»

«A magnificent gilt bronze clock by Viger, case by Saint-Germain, circa 1745-1750 (Value : US $ 30,000-35,000)»

«An imposing early 17th Century gilt metal clock
case now containing a 19th Century English
fusee and chain, bell striking movement with
anchor escapement, later chapter ring
with roman numerals and inner circle
with signs of the Zodiac, later silver centre
with enamel decoration (Value : US $ 15,000-25,000)»

During the 17th,18th and 19th French clock-makers produced some incredible quantities of clocks, which by all means were magnificent works of art. During the 18th Century they went on to adapt their pieces to daily reality with decorative features recalling new fashions and conquests with bronze figures of Indians, black men, slaves, sailors, gods and goddesses, angels and so forth.

Robert Robin was Queen Marie Antoinette's favourite clock-maker. Born in 1742, he invented new mechanisms and provided the King with some extraordinary timepieces. After the Revolution he designed an astronomical repeating decimal clock for the National Convention.

Antide Janvier was also a famous inventor. Born into a family of clock-makers (his ancestor Charles started his career in Blois in 1621), Antide, born in 1751, produced at 13 a moving celestial sphere which was presented to the Academy of Besançon. After coming to Paris in 1771, he made several astronomical clocks, which are now much sought by collectors.

«A Directoire mahogany and ebonised
month-going longcase regulator
by A. Janvier (Value US $ 35,000-50,000)»

«A Large Empire ormolu mounted mahogany
clock and pedestal, signed on the dial Bréguet
in co-operation with the enameller Dubuisson,
the case by Denière, circa 1810
(Value : US $ 100,000-130,000)»

Salomon Chesnon, born in Blois in 1572, produced a repeating clock for Queen Marie de Medicis in 1618. His pieces are nowadays quite rare.

Jean-André Lepaute, born in 1720, invented in 1751 a clock the mechanism of which consisted in one single wheel. A year later he invented a piece, which indicated the hours, the minutes and the seconds, striking every hour and every quarter. Some of his most famous clocks were the Uranie piece with sculptures after Houdon, the Clio piece, the mixed Uranie and Clio clock, Time and Astronomy as well as Mars and Eros. His son Jean Baptiste, his nephew Pierre-Henry and cousin Pierre-Basile were also renowned clock makers.

«A superb Empire ormolu astronomical clock with equation of time, by Lepaute, circa 1808 (Value : US $ 120,000-150,000)»

«A fine bronze ormolu and red marble mantel clock, French, circa 1815 (Value : US $ 9,000-11,000)»

Jean-Antoine Lépine, born in 1720, was also a clock- maker to the King, and produced a clock decorated with the head of a Negro girl, now in the collection of the Queen in London.

Gilles Martinot, born in 1622, produced elaborate clocks for the French court. His son Henri made a piece in the shape of a celestial globe, which indicated the movements of the sun, and of the moon as well as an 8-day repeating clock. Jérome Gaulard, also of the Martinot family, who worked during the second half of the 17th Century, also produced some interesting timepieces, including an impressive clock indicating sunrise and sunset, the days of the month and world time dial with moving celestial spheres for which he received 500 gold coins from the King in 1701.

Another great maker of the Martinot dynasty was Balthazar the Elder, born in 1636, who worked for the Queen and produced repeating clocks.

One of the first known makers was Pierre Merlin, who worked for the King of France in 1372. One of his clocks worked during 400 years until the church tower in which it was installed was destroyed in 1813.

In 1689, Louis XIV's son, heir to the throne of France, possessed ten clocks including one gilt silver piece inlaid with diamonds and rubies. In 1787, King Louis 16th had 161 clocks while his wife Marie-Antoinette possessed 45 pieces.

There were many dynasties of famous clock-makers between the 16th and 19th centuries such as Martinot, Gribelin, L'Allemand and Thuret during the reign of Louis 14th, Julien Le Roy, Caron, Filleul, Ageron, Juhel, Bailleul and Caranda during the reign of Louis XV, Janvier, Robin, Lépine, Roque, Lepaute, Montjoye, Manière, Berthoud, Charles Le Roy, Godon, Sotiau under that of Louis 16th while Bréguet pursued his achievements under that of Napoleon the First.

A good 19th Century clock (of the reigns of Louis-Philippe or Napoleon 3rd) can be found at US $ 900. It might be in a wood or marble case. Clocks from the 18th Century or from the 1800-1820 period are much more expensive (between US $ 3,000 and 5,000 for average quality pieces).

Apart from French clocks collectors also seek 16th Century German and 17th or 18th Century English time pieces, which also bore testimony of some incredible technological inventions.

It must be stressed that the oldest surviving and working clock is that of the Salisbury cathedral in England dating back to 1386. In France, the clock of Rouen dates back to 1389. During the second half of the 15th Century some gunsmith had the idea to add a spring to the movement of clocks so as to supply them with a driving power though such power was not constant.
A solution was eventually found in winding the spring to a conical piece called the fuse.

In 1658 Huygens invented a rhythm regulator called the pendulum. Before that year a clock would lose or gain one hour a day whereby the pendulum reduced that gap to three minutes per week. Clock makers then designed the escapement, which produced that ticking noise familiar to our ears. Many types of escapements appeared until George Graham designed the cylinder escapement system in 1726 with the introduction of rubies, sapphires, garnets and crystals in movements to reduce wear.

«A highly important and extremely rare
silver and silver gilt musical clock,
3rd quarter of the 16th Century, by an unknown
English maker who possibly worked
with foreign craftsmen in London, the movement
with its long fuses and the verge control
of the carillon train combined with
the days of the week suggesting a French origin
(Value : US $ 500,000-820,000)»

«A good small Charles II walnut longcase clock, circa 1685, by Joseph Knibb with calendar aperture (Value : US $ 100,000-130,000)»

«An important month going equation calendar longcase clock with duplex escapement by Daniel Delander, circa 1710 (Value : US $ 72,000-90,000)»

There were also good timepieces produced elsewhere during the early 19th Century, notably in Belgium where Hubert Sarton (1748-1828) was among the best designers and in Austria where makers were quite active by the end of the 18th Century.

After 1840, hundreds of makers became increasingly involved in the making of clocks after demands increased constantly.

Despite new inventions, clocks no longer revealed that refinement of the past regarding design, sculpture, forms and gilding.

All the more, many makers went on to produce poor copies of 18th Century pieces which are now worth less than US $ 1,000 on the market.