Clocks · Clock
Louis XV-style wall clock
- Maker / attribution
- Marti (maker)
- Date
- late 19th century
- Historical period
- Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
- Country of origin
- France
- Object type
- Clock
- Materials / technique
- bronze, gilt
- Auction house
- Invaluable auction listings
- Lot
- Lot AC34114ED0
- Credit line
- Auction lot record: lot 110, 23rd November - Decorative & Oriental Art, Setdart Auction House (2026), via Invaluable
- Catalogue title (original)
- Louis XV-style wall clock. France, late 19th century. Gilded bronze. Paris-style movement with Brocot suspension and the stamp “S. Marti et Cie – Médaille de Bronze.” Key-wound. In good condition.... (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Invaluable auction listings (lot Lot AC34114ED0), this is a clock by Marti, made in France, dated late 19th century. The Atlas places it in the Industrial Revolution period (1850 – 1900) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: bronze, gilt. The record is illustrated with 4 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
Lot description — Setdart Auction House
Louis XV-style poster clock. France, late 19th century. Gilded bronze. Paris-type movement with Brocot suspension and “S. Marti et Cie – Médaille de Bronze” hallmark. With key. In good condition. It has a patina consistent with its age. Measurements: 60 x 34 x 13 cm. French Louis XV-style wall clock, characterized by its exuberant Rococo ornamentation and its elaborate gilt bronze casting. The case features an asymmetrical composition of rocaille, volutes, and floral motifs, with openwork elements that lend a sense of lightness to the whole. The white dial features blue Roman numerals for the hours and Arabic numerals for the minutes, accompanied by ornate hands. It incorporates a movement from the French manufacturer Samuel Marti et Cie, established in Montbéliard in 1832 and internationally renowned for the quality of its mechanisms.
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
Regulators, wall and Vienna clocks
A regulator is a precision pendulum clock used as a time standard in observatories, workshops and railway offices. Typical features are a deadbeat or Graham escapement, a temperature-compensated pendulum (mercury jar, gridiron or later invar), maintaining power and a regulator dial that separates hours, minutes and seconds. George Graham's deadbeat escapement (c. 1715) and his mercury pendulum, together with Harrison's gridiron, set the pattern for two centuries.
Wall clocks span a much wider range: the elegant Viennese Laterndluhr and Dachluhr of the Biedermeier period, the Dutch stoelklok and staartklok, English 'dial' clocks used in schools, offices and railway stations, and mass-produced spring and weight wall clocks from Germany (Gustav Becker, Junghans, Kienzle) and America.
What to look for
- Deadbeat escapement and compensated pendulum (gridiron rods, mercury jar or wood rod).
- A regulator dial with a large central minute hand and separate hour and seconds dials.
- Vienna regulators: glazed cases, slender pendulum, small weights, enamel two-piece dials.
- German factory trademarks stamped on the backplate (e.g. Gustav Becker anchor and crown, Junghans star).
Dating clues
- Graham-type deadbeat regulators: from c. 1720.
- Viennese Laterndluhr: c. 1800–1850.
- German factory 'Vienna-style' regulators: c. 1870–1930; Gustav Becker serial numbers allow close dating.
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:Deadbeat escapementAnchor (recoil) escapementGrasshopper escapement
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