Clocks · Carriage clock
Carriage clock by Drocourt, c. 1870–1880
- Maker / attribution
- Drocourt (maker)
- Date
- c. 1870–1880
- Historical period
- Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Carriage clock
- Dimensions
- Height 14 cm
- Stock no.
- Product 4339
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (product 4339)
- Catalogue title (original)
- DROCOURT N° 12119. A finely engraved, carriage clock with hour and half-hour passing strike on a gong. (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number Product 4339), this is a carriage clock by Drocourt, dated c. 1870–1880. The Atlas places it in the Industrial Revolution period (1850 – 1900) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: Height 14 cm. The record is illustrated with 2 photographs.
Assembled from the source record's structured fields. Dates and attributions are given as the source states them; where a field is missing the Atlas leaves it blank rather than estimating.
Catalogue description
Dealer description — Howard Walwyn
A finely engraved, carriage clock with hour and half-hour passing strike on a gong and with three subsidiary dials. The case is of classic gorge style with knopped carrying handle, oval top glass and ogee foot. The engraving of flowers and foliage on a delicate matted ground is of very fine quality. The round dial set within an engraved mask and written with double minutes circle, beautifully proportioned Roman numerals and Arabic five minutes has blued steel moon hands. The subsidiary dials for day of the week, alarm and date are set below the main dial. The movement with ruby endstone and cut compensated balance strikes the hours and half hours on a gong. The alarm also sounds on one of the bells. The backplate is stamped D and C between an image of a carriage clock on the left hand side and is also numbered 12119 at the bottom left. Date : circa 1870-1880 Height: 5 ½ in (14 cm) excluding handle Height: 6 ¾ in (17 cm) with handle up Width : 3 ¾ in (9.5 cm) Depth : 3 ¼ in (8 cm) * The Drocourt s are recorded in Charles Allix’s book Carriage Clocks: Their History and Development. Other more up to date research on the family has been carried out by Leigh Extence. Pierre Drocourt was born in 1819 and started working as a clockmaker in Paris in 1853. He was succeeded by his son Alfred, who was born in 1847, in 1872. The Drocourts won numerous international exhibition medals for their high quality clocks including Silver in Paris in 1878 and a Gold medal in 1889. HW6512
Historical context
Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
American interchangeable-parts manufacture; railroad time standards; Swiss and German factory systems.
Factory production transformed the clock into an everyday object. American makers (Seth Thomas, Ansonia, Waterbury) and German factories (Junghans, Gustav Becker, Lenzkirch) sold millions of shelf, wall and alarm clocks worldwide; France produced standardised Paris movements and carriage clocks; electric time distribution began.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Precision & Scientific Horology
Atlas type guide
Carriage and travel clocks
The carriage clock is a portable spring clock with a balance-wheel escapement and a brass case with glass panels and a carrying handle. Abraham-Louis Breguet made early examples around 1800, and from the 1830s Paul Garnier and other French makers industrialised production, with the small towns of Saint-Nicolas-d'Aliermont and the Franche-Comté supplying movements for retailers worldwide.
Typical features include a platform escapement mounted horizontally on top of the movement (usually a lever, sometimes cylinder or Garnier's chaff-cutter), striking or repeating work, and alarms. English carriage clocks, generally larger and with fusees, were made by firms such as Frodsham and Dent. Travel clocks in folding leather cases became popular in the twentieth century.
What to look for
- A platform escapement visible through the top glass.
- Case styles: corniche, gorge, anglaise, obis or engraved cases.
- Repeat buttons on top and strike/silent levers.
- Stamps of movement makers (e.g. Drocourt, Jacot, Margaine, Richard & Co.) on the backplate.
Dating clues
- Early carriage clocks with Breguet or Garnier features: c. 1800–1850.
- Mass-produced French carriage clocks: c. 1850–1914.
- Folding travel clocks and alarm travel clocks: mostly 1920–1970.
General guidance written by the Atlas editors about this kind of object. It is not a statement about this particular piece; for that, rely on the source record above and on physical examination.
Read next:Detached lever escapement
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