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The Encyclopedia of Horology

Table clock · La Haye

The very plain ebony case is glazed on the sides

Verified

The chapter ring is applied on pink velvet. The pierced, gilded brass hours are in Roman numerals and separated by fleurons. The minutes are engraved in Arabic numerals from 1 to 60 on the exterior.

Technical facts

Inventory number
MIH IV-407
Object type
Table clock
Place of production
La Haye
Dating
c. 1660
Materials and techniques (catalogue wording)
Bois, Laiton, Acier, Textile
Dimensions (catalogue)
Dimensions: cabinet 29 x 23 x 12 cm; Dimensions: mouvement 12.0 x 9.0 x 8.0 cm
Inscriptions (catalogue)
Peter Visbach Fecit Haghe (mouvement); Peter Visbagh Hague (Bronze)

Historical significance

  • The chapter ring is applied on pink velvet. The pierced, gilded brass hours are in Roman numerals and separated by fleurons. The minutes are engraved in Arabic numerals from 1 to 60 on the exterior.
  • Underneath is a repoussé gilded brass plate. Decorated with two cupids, flowers and leaves, it conceals a rectangular opening for starting the pendulum.
  • The movement, with an hour-strike and a single barrel, has a locking-plate on the back whose centre is engraved and pierced with scrolls and flowers. The verge escapement is regulated by a simple pendulum suspended from a silk thread suspended between two cycloidal cheeks.
  • This clock shows the influence of Christian Huygens (1629-1695) and Salomon Coster (?-1659), who made the first clock to be fitted with a pendulum in 1657 in The Hague. After this, timepieces with this kind of regulator were called pendulum clocks.

Photographs

The very plain ebony case is glazed on the sides (MIH IV-407)
The very plain ebony case is glazed on the sides (MIH IV-407) — Musée international d'horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Museum collection photograph, rights review pending. MIH collection record
The very plain ebony case is glazed on the sides (MIH IV-407)
The very plain ebony case is glazed on the sides (MIH IV-407) — Musée international d'horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Museum collection photograph, rights review pending. MIH collection record

Photographs are illustrative examples of the type, not necessarily the exact object described. Verify details against the source file page.

Sources & references

  1. Musée international d'horlogerie, online collection record, inv. IV-407: https://collection.mih.ch/fr/collection/item/37077/

Where sources disagree, the disagreement is stated rather than resolved silently.