Clocks · Clock
Cartier Desk Clock with Alarm, circa 2000s
- Maker / attribution
- Cartier (brand / maker)
- Date
- circa 2000s
- Historical period
- Mechanical Renaissance (1990 – 2010)
- Country of origin
- France
- Object type
- Clock
- Auction house
- Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
- Lot
- Lot 374-43
- Credit line
- Auction lot record: LOT 43
- Catalogue title (original)
- CARTIER, DESK CLOCK WITH ALARM, GILT BRASS AND ENAMEL
Record summary
Catalogued by Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva (lot Lot 374-43), this is a clock by Cartier, made in France, dated circa 2000s. The Atlas places it in the Mechanical Renaissance period (1990 – 2010) of its Clocks collection. 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
Antiquorum catalogue description
EUR 400 - 650 / CHF 350 - 600 / USD 400 - 650 A fine and gilt brass, quartz squared-shaped desk clock with alarm,with white dial and red enamel painting hour indexes on the bezel, red bar-hinged dial cover which can used as a stand
Lot specifications (Antiquorum)
Caliber: quartz; Case No.: 355103509; Signature: Dial, case and movement
Historical context
Mechanical Renaissance (1990 – 2010)
Mechanical watches return as cultural objects; independent watchmaking flourishes.
Mechanical clocks returned as luxury and craft objects, alongside radio-controlled and designer quartz clocks. Independent makers and restorers revived traditional techniques, and museums increasingly documented industrial and electric clocks as heritage.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Quartz Revolution
Atlas type guide
Alarm clocks
Alarm work is among the oldest clock functions: monastic clocks woke monks for night prayers, and Renaissance table clocks often carried an alarm disc set by a pin. A separate spring or weight is released at the set time and drives a hammer against a bell. Some early alarms also lit a candle by striking a flint — the 'tinder pistol' alarm.
The cheap, mass-produced alarm clock arrived in the second half of the nineteenth century. American firms such as Seth Thomas and Westclox (the 'Big Ben' of 1910) and German makers such as Junghans and Kienzle made millions of drum-shaped alarms with pin-pallet escapements. Electric, quartz and digital alarm clocks followed in the twentieth century.
What to look for
- A separate alarm-setting dial or disc and an extra winding key.
- Twin bells on top (common after c. 1920) or a bell enclosed in the base.
- Pin-pallet escapements in inexpensive factory alarms.
- Trademarks and patent dates on dial or back.
Dating clues
- Renaissance alarm table clocks: sixteenth to seventeenth centuries.
- Drum alarm clocks: from the 1870s.
- Luminous dials with radium paint: c. 1910–1960.
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.
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