POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

Pocket watch by C Detouche from Paris

Pocket watch by C Detouche from Paris

Object No. A1086-9

This mainspring pocket watch has a Breuget style hour hand and a verge escapement. C. Detouche founded his business in 1803 and went on to become one of Paris's better known jewellers and scientific instrument makers. One of his specialties was the making of clock s and watches which he made at his workshop at Rue St. Martins as late as 1875. The shop itself was a recognised landmark where locals could come to set the watches against Detouche's regulator clock which gave the time, phases of the moon and the day of the week. Detouche also invented the turnstile counters which were installed at the Paris Exchange building and in 1852 was one of the first clockmakers to set about commercially manufacturing electrical clocks. His first electric clocks proved unreliable and failed to capture the market. But later, in partnership with Robert Houdin, he successfully produced a sixty franc electric clock and a hundred franc electric alarm clock. He was awarded a Gold Medal of Honour from the clock exposition in Besancon in 1860, a medal from the 1862 London International Exhibition, and the Legion of Honour for his work with clocks. The earliest known portable clocks date from the early 1500s and until the early 1800s were most commonly referred to as verge watches, after their frictional escapement mechanisms. These early timekeepers were not particularly accurate by today's standards and their value now lies mainly in their ornate designs and ingenious movements. By 1875 there had been an increase in the demand for watches, particularly after the introduction of a detached, and frictionless, escapement. These were more accurate and used shaped precious stones, wherever there were frictional surfaces. One confusing aspect when assessing watches are the differences between the maker of the watch mechanism, the case maker, and sometimes even the retailer of the watch. Although many English watches have a maker's name on the movement they were not in fact all made by them, the movements in fact were mass produced in places like Prescott, in Lancashire. On the continent most movements were made in Switzerland, which was the centre of the watch trade and by the end of the 1800s were supplying much of the English market. In America there was similarly a downturn in demand for English product as new watch making companies sprang up there. Geoff Barker, Assistant Curator, May 2010 References George Daniels, Ohannes Markarian, Watches and Clocks in the Sir David Salomons Collection, Sotheby Publications, London, 1980 G H Baillie, Watches; their history, decoration and mechanism, Methuen & Co. Ltd., London, 1929 Cecil Clutton, 'The Pocket Watch 1750 to 1850', The Antiquarian Horological Society Journal, N02, Vol 10, 1978 Charles Lefeuve, History of Paris street by street, house by house, 1875, Vol. 3, 270-271, cited http://www.jetons-monnaie.net/p/jeton620.html Chaptal Rapporteur, 'Exhibition of Nimes, Report of the Jury, Clocks', Chronometer Journal, Journal of Clocks in Science and Practice, 1862

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Summary

Object Statement

Pocket watch movement and hands, part of collection, enamelled dial, '12/50', brass / steel, movement '25956' by C Detouche, Paris, France, 1820

Physical Description

Pocket watch, movement and hands only, '12/50' '25956' brass / enamel / steel /, movement by C. Detouche, 158 -160 Rue St. Martins, Paris, 1820

DIMENSIONS

Width

43 mm

PRODUCTION

Notes

'A watch is essentially a portable, spring driven timekeeper containing a series of geared wheels to transfer energy from a wound spring to an escapement which controls the speed of the unwinding spring. It is the escapement which can be heard 'ticking' as it allows the spring to unwind, releasing one tooth of the last wheel in the gear train at each tick.' George Daniels 1980 References George Daniels, Ohannes Markarian, Watches and Clocks in the Sir David Salomons Collection, Sotheby Publications, London, 1980

SOURCE

Acquisition Date

11 July 1910

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