Pocket Watches · Coach watch
Coach watch by Champclou, France, 1650–1675
- Maker / attribution
- Champclou (Horloger)
- Date
- 1650–1675
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- France
- Place
- Paris, France
- Object type
- Coach watch
- Materials / technique
- silver, brass
- Dimensions
- height 10,8 cm; diameter 8 cm; thickness 4,5 cm
- Holding institution
- Musée du Louvre, Paris
- Accession / object no.
- OA 10072
- Credit line
- Musée du Louvre, Département des Objets d'art du Moyen Age, de la Renaissance et des temps modernes
- Catalogue title (original)
- Montre de carrosse (French)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Musée du Louvre, Paris (object number OA 10072), this is a coach watch by Champclou, made in Paris, France, dated 1650–1675. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Pocket Watches collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: silver, brass. Recorded dimensions: height 10,8 cm; diameter 8 cm; thickness 4,5 cm. The record is illustrated with 6 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
Catalogue description — Musée du Louvre (French)
Montre de carrosse ; boîtier poli sur le fond, repercé et gravé sur la carrure d'une frise de rinceaux fleuris. Cloche vissée à l'intérieur. La tête du pendant en forme de boule. Cadran à chiffres romains ; disque mobile du réveil à chiffres arabes, gravé de fleurs au centre. Aiguille moulurée, index en acier bleui. Mouvement à sonnerie des heures et à réveil doté d'un échappement à roue de rencontre, une fusée à chaîne, un balancier à ressort-spiral-réglant, accompagné d'une échelle graduée de réglage. Coq et cliquet ajourés et gravés de rinceaux à fleurs de fraisier. Barillet du mécanisme de sonnerie ajouré et gravé. Roue de compte gravée d'une fleur.
Shown in the original language of the source catalogue. An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.
Dating and period as catalogued (French)
Epoque / période : Louis XIV (1643-1715) (Occident->époque moderne = Ancien Régime->dynastie des Bourbons) · · Date de création/fabrication : 1650 - 1675
Shown in the original language of the source catalogue. An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.
Materials and techniques as catalogued (French)
Matériau : argent · Matériau : laiton · Technique : techniques métal (orfèvrerie)
Shown in the original language of the source catalogue. An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.
Inscriptions & marks
Signature : ; mouvement signé : Champclou AParis
Provenance
Collection Claudius Côte (1881-1956), Lyon ; legs Mme Marie-Françoise Côte, accepté par décret du 9 juillet 1961
Historical context
Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
Huygens' pendulum and balance spring transform accuracy; English makers develop the anchor and deadbeat escapements.
The balance spring (c. 1675) improved watches dramatically and introduced the minute hand. English pair-cased verge watches with pierced balance cocks and French oignons were typical; enamel painting at Blois and Geneva, and the repeating watch (1680s), made watches objects of great refinement.
Read the period in the timelineMore pocket watches from this periodEarlier: Renaissance Horology
Atlas type guide
Verge and pair-cased watches
After Christiaan Huygens and Robert Hooke applied the balance spring around 1675, the verge watch became a reasonably reliable timekeeper and the minute hand became standard. Through the eighteenth century the typical English watch was a pair-cased verge: a fusee movement with a pierced, engraved balance cock, housed in an inner case and a separate protective outer case, often of repoussé gold, shagreen, tortoiseshell or enamel.
French watches of the same period were thicker 'oignons', later replaced by elegant thinner watches following Jean-Antoine Lépine's bar-bridge calibre of c. 1770. Dutch, Swiss and German makers supplied international markets, and verge watches were made until the mid-nineteenth century as cheaper alternatives to the cylinder and lever.
What to look for
- The pierced balance cock on the backplate: winged (continental) or with a foot (English); its style dates the watch.
- Fusee and chain visible through the movement; key winding through the dial (early) or case back.
- Hallmarks inside English silver or gold cases, which give a date letter.
- Maker's name and serial number engraved on the backplate; watch papers inside outer cases.
- Enamel dials (after c. 1720) versus earlier champlevé metal dials.
Dating clues
- Champlevé dials: c. 1680–1730; white enamel dials thereafter.
- English case hallmarks give the year of assay to within a year.
- Verge watches persisted in cheap production until c. 1850.
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:Verge escapementBalance spring (hairspring)Verge escapement
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