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French industrial locomotive automaton clock by Guilmet circa 1890 — view 1 of 1
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Clocks · Clock

French industrial locomotive automaton clock by Guilmet circa 1890

DocumentedDocumented from an auction catalogue; attribution as stated by the auction house.
Maker / attribution
Guilmet (maker)
Date
c. 1890
Historical period
Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
Country of origin
France
Object type
Clock
Dimensions
Height 18 in (46 cm)
Auction house
Gardiner Houlgate (auction house), Corsham
Lot
Sale 36, lot 1313
Credit line
Auction lot record: lot 1313, Fine Clocks & Related Items, Gardiner Houlgate (24th October 2024)
Catalogue title (original)
Fine and rare French industrial locomotive automaton clock by Guilmet circa 1890, the eight day movement with half hour striking, within a gilt and patinated bronze case incorporating a barometer to t (English)

View the source record (auction lot) ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction

Record summary

Catalogued by Gardiner Houlgate (auction house), Corsham (lot Sale 36, lot 1313), this is a clock by Guilmet, made in France, dated c. 1890. The Atlas places it in the Industrial Revolution period (1850 – 1900) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: Height 18 in (46 cm). The record is illustrated with 1 photograph.

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

Lot description — Gardiner Houlgate

Fine and rare French industrial locomotive automaton clock by Guilmet circa 1890, the eight day movement with half hour striking, within a gilt and patinated bronze case incorporating a barometer to the side and thermometer and compass to the chimney, the 3.25" silvered chapter ring enclosing a plain gilded centre with slow/fast lever regulation above twelve o'clock, the eight day spring-driven movement with lever escapement and half hour striking on a bell, the wheel driven by a separate mechanism with approximately two hour duration upon a black marble stepped base fitted with rails and raised upon four stepped rectangular ormolu feet, 18" high (max), 19" wide (max), 9" deep (max) - ** See Derek Roberts - Mystery, Novelty & Fantasy Clocks, Atglen PA USA, 1999, pp. 253-270 - ** This clock was bought by a previous owner in the 1960's at Nicholl's Auction House in Belfast for £15. A similar locomotive clock by Guilmet sold for £3000 in the famous Mentmore sale in the 1970's

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

Astronomical, musical and automaton clocks

Astronomical clocks display more than the hour: the positions of the sun and moon in the zodiac, the phase of the moon, the calendar, sometimes the planets and eclipses. From Richard of Wallingford's and Giovanni de' Dondi's fourteenth-century clocks to the Prague Orloj and the Strasbourg cathedral clocks, they demonstrated the order of the cosmos. Renaissance makers in Augsburg and Nuremberg built celestial globe clocks and monstrance clocks as princely treasures.

Automaton and musical clocks entertained as well as informed: figures move, birds sing, organs and carillons play tunes from pinned cylinders. The eighteenth-century trade with China ('sing-songs') and Ottoman Turkey created a market for elaborate English, Swiss and French automata.

What to look for

  • Subsidiary dials for moon phase, calendar, zodiac and planetary positions.
  • Celestial globes or armillary spheres turned by the movement.
  • Pinned cylinders, bellows and pipes or bells for music.
  • Figures on cams and levers; separate trains for automaton work.

Dating clues

  • Renaissance astronomical table and globe clocks: c. 1550–1650.
  • English and Swiss automaton clocks for the Chinese market: c. 1760–1820.
  • Picture clocks (clockwork pictures) are mostly nineteenth century.

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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