Pocket Watches · Watch
Watch by Lacloche Frères, France, c. 1930
- Maker / attribution
- Lacloche Frères (maker)
- Date
- c. 1930
- Historical period
- Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
- Country of origin
- France
- Place
- Paris
- Object type
- Watch
- Materials / technique
- Gold, platinum, enamel, brilliant- and rose-cut diamonds, sapphires, jadeite, black-backed chalcedony, pearl and silk
- Dimensions
- Length: 3.5 cm (watch); Width: 2.4 cm; Depth: .5 cm; Length: 9.5 cm (overall)
- Holding institution
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Accession / object no.
- M.170-2007
- Credit line
- Given by the American Friends of the V&A through the generosity of Patricia V. Goldstein
View the source record ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Victoria and Albert Museum, London (object number M.170-2007), this is a watch by Lacloche Frères, made in Paris, France, dated c. 1930. The Atlas places it in the Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking period (1900 – 1945) of its Pocket Watches collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Gold, platinum, enamel, brilliant- and rose-cut diamonds, sapphires, jadeite, black-backed chalcedony, pearl and silk. Recorded dimensions: Length: 3.5 cm (watch); Width: 2.4 cm; Depth: .5 cm; Length: 9.5 cm (overall). 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
Summary — Victoria and Albert Museum
The bold juxtapositioning of the red and the black in this watch shows the influence of Oriental lacquer on jewellery during the 1920s and '30s. The floating stylized flowers may also be inspired by Oriental art - in particular textile designs. Lacloche Frères were amongst the profusion of jewellers on the rue de la Paix in Paris. Founded in Madrid in 1875 they also had branches in Saint-Sébastien, Biarritz, and from 1920 in London. One of their best-known pieces was the tiara made in 1930 for the Duchess of Westminster.
Physical description — Victoria and Albert Museum
Square watch hanging on a braided silk cord from a matching brooch. The watch back and brooch both have a central panel of two overlapping sapphire and jadeite flowers against a diamond background, surrounded by a black frame with red side panels. A narrow band of diamonds divides the red and the black on the watch and surrounds the top of the silk cord. The watch unit has a single large diamond above and a single pearl below.
Brief description — Victoria and Albert Museum
Jewelled watch hanging on a braided silk cord from a matching brooch, Lacloche Frères, Paris, 1920s.
Historical context
Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
The wristwatch displaces the pocket watch; waterproof cases, self-winding and grand complications.
The pocket watch reached technical maturity and then began to give way to the wristwatch after the First World War. Complicated watches for collectors such as Henry Graves Jr. and James Ward Packard, railroad watches, and slim Art Deco dress watches are characteristic.
Read the period in the timelineMore pocket watches from this periodEarlier: Industrial Revolution
Atlas type guide
Pocket watches
The pocket watch was the dominant personal timekeeper from the late seventeenth century until the First World War. Its development tracks the history of the escapement: verge watches with fusees until the late eighteenth century; Thomas Mudge's lever escapement (c. 1755) and the cylinder escapement popularised by George Graham and later by Swiss makers; and the Swiss and English lever watches of the nineteenth century. Lépine's bar-bridge calibre and keyless winding made watches thinner and easier to use.
Industrialisation transformed the trade: American factories such as Waltham (from 1850) and Elgin produced interchangeable parts by machine, and Swiss makers responded with their own mechanisation after the 1876 Philadelphia Exhibition. By 1900 a reliable watch was affordable to millions; the finest makers continued to produce complications and precision watches.
What to look for
- The escapement: verge (crown wheel), cylinder, duplex, English or Swiss lever.
- Key winding (a square arbor in dial or back) or keyless crown winding.
- Signatures and serial numbers on the movement, dial and inside case back.
- Hallmarks, case maker's marks and gold or silver standards stamped in the case.
- Dial material: enamel, silver, gold, later printed metal.
Dating clues
- Verge watches dominate before c. 1800; cylinder watches c. 1770–1900; lever watches after c. 1820.
- Keyless winding: increasingly common after c. 1860.
- Manufacturer serial number lists exist for Waltham, Elgin, Longines, Omega, Patek Philippe and others.
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 escapementDetached lever escapementFuseeIdentification Centre
Related records
Pocket Watches · c. 1927
Gold, ivory, enamel pendent watch with ribbon fob, made by Verger Frères for Lacloche Frères, Paris, c. 1927
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Pocket Watches · 1890–1910
Pocket watch by Union Horlogère, France, 1890–1910
Museum of City History Leipzig
Pocket Watches · c. 1900
Pocket watch by Firm of Breguet et Fils, France, c. 1900
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Pocket Watches · 1900–1930
Pocket watch by Fabrique des Billodes, France, 1900–1930
Museum of City History Leipzig
Pocket Watches · 1900–1999
Pocket watch by Surete, France, 1900–1999
Swedish National Museum of Science and Technology
Pocket Watches · 1900
Pocket watch, France, 1900
The Silvermuseet
Pocket Watches · 1905
Pocket watch by Abraham Louis Breguet, France, 1905 (no. 24939)
Museum of Gothenburg
Pocket Watches · 1905
Pocket watch by Abraham Louis Breguet, France, 1905 (no. 25085)
Museum of Gothenburg