Clocks · Clock
Clock by Societe Meridionale D'Industrie, France, 1930-1939
- Maker / attribution
- Societe Meridionale D'Industrie (maker)
- Date
- 1930-1939
- Historical period
- Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
- Country of origin
- France
- Place
- Marseilles, Bouches-du-Rhône, Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, France, Marseilles
- Object type
- Clock
- Dimensions
- overall: 112 mm x 225 mm x 65 mm, 0.4822kg
- Holding institution
- Science Museum Group, London
- Accession / object no.
- 2005-147
- Credit line
- Frangenberg, Tomas
- Catalogue title (original)
- Dark brown
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Science Museum Group, London (object number 2005-147), this is a clock by Societe Meridionale D'Industrie, made in Marseilles, Bouches-du-Rhône, Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, France, Marseilles, dated 1930-1939. The Atlas places it in the Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking period (1900 – 1945) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: overall: 112 mm x 225 mm x 65 mm, 0.4822kg. 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
The source record does not include a narrative description. The structured fields above are reproduced from it.
Inscriptions & marks
; ; ;
Historical context
Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
The wristwatch displaces the pocket watch; waterproof cases, self-winding and grand complications.
Between 1900 and 1945 clocks were electrified: master-clock systems ran factories and offices, synchronous mains clocks entered homes, and the Shortt free-pendulum clock set new standards of accuracy before the first quartz clocks (1927). Art Deco design reshaped mantel and table clocks.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Industrial Revolution
Atlas type guide
Domestic clocks
A clock combines four systems: a source of power (falling weight, coiled spring, or later electricity), a gear train that divides time, an escapement and oscillator that regulate it (foliot, pendulum or balance), and an indicating system of dial and hands or a bell. Its history runs from the large iron weight-driven clocks of the late thirteenth century to Renaissance spring-driven table clocks, the pendulum revolution of 1656, the factory clocks of the nineteenth century and electric and quartz clocks of the twentieth.
Domestic clocks also reflect regional furniture and decorative traditions — English longcase and bracket clocks, French pendules, Viennese regulators, Black Forest and American shelf clocks — and therefore record changing tastes as much as technical progress.
What to look for
- How the clock is powered: weights, spring barrel, fusee, electric coil.
- The oscillator: foliot, short pendulum, long seconds pendulum or balance.
- Whether it strikes: hour only (count wheel) or hours and quarters (rack striking).
- The maker or retailer's name on dial and movement, and any factory trademarks.
- Signs of alteration — replaced dials, converted escapements, 'married' cases.
Dating clues
- Before 1656 clocks used foliots or balances; after, most domestic clocks have pendulums.
- Anchor escapements spread after c. 1670; minute hands became common at the same time.
- Factory production in America and Germany transformed prices after c. 1840.
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.
Related records
Clocks · 1902-1912
Fery's selfwound clock, with subsidiary pendulum for making contact, by Prof. Charles Fery and C. Beaudouin, Paris, France, 1902-1912.
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · 1915-1925
Type A 'Bulle' electric clock, no.6160, with glass shade, made in France but sold by British Horo-Electric Ltd., 109 Kingsway, London, WC, England, 1915-1925.
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · 1921
Table clock by Compagnie Générale des Appareils Horo-Electriques, France, 1921
German Clock Museum
Clocks · 1890-1930
Clock with 8-inch impulse dial, by the Synchronome Company Limited, England, 1890-1930.
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · c.1903-1904
Clock, pewter, made for Liberty& Co., England. 1903-4.
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Clocks · 1900
Alarm clock by Union Clock Company, Germany, 1900
German Clock Museum
Clocks · 1900-1939
Clock by Cox-Walkers of Darlington, England, 1900-1939
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · 1900
Clock by Josef Münzer, Germany, 1900
German Clock Museum