Clock-watch with alarm and calendar

ca. 1600–1610

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 544

The case and dial of this watch are engraved with designs of inhabited foliage and grotesque ornament, the latter having its inspiration in the engravings of the French artist Jacques Androuet DuCerceau (ca. 1512–ca. 1585). The side, or band, of the case is pierced to permit the sound to be heard when the watch strikes the hour (1–12) on the bell attached to the inside of the bottom of the case. A single hand indicates the hours and the half hours marked in the silver chapter ring applied to the dial. A small hand attached to a disk that revolves inside the chapter ring indicates the moon's age in its monthly cycle, and an aperture in the disk displays the phases of the moon. Further, the length of time of moonlight after sundown can be read at the edge of the disk, and in its center there is an aspectarium showing the changes in the angular distance between the sun and the moon in the zodiac, information useful for astrological purposes.

Artwork Details

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

Title: Clock-watch with alarm and calendar
Maker: Watchmaker: Nicolas Forfaict (French, Paris, ca. 1580–1615)
Date: ca. 1600–1610
Culture: French, Paris
Medium: Movement: gilded breass and steel, partly blued; case and dial: brass, silvered brass, silver; hand: steel
Dimensions: 2 1/8 x 1 3/8 in. (5.4 x 3.5 cm)
Classification: Horology
Credit Line: Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Object Number: 17.190.1607
Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

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By Nicolas Forfaict

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Watch, Nicolas Forfaict French, Gilt metal, silver, French, Paris — Watch
Nicolas Forfaict
ca. 1605

Wall clock (pendule en cartel), Jean Godde l'aîné French, Case: gilded bronze, oak, and tortoiseshell on brass marquetry on oak; Dial: white enamel and gilded brass with blued-steel hands; Movement: brass and steel, French, Paris — Wall clock (pendule en cartel)
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Charles Cressent
ca. 1740–45

Table clock with calendar, Lucien Falize French, Case: silver, partly enameled gold, hardstones, rock crystal, amethysts, and diamonds; movement: brass and steel, French, Paris — Table clock with calendar
Multiple artists/makers
1881

Traveling clock watch with alarm, Thomas Tompion British, Case and dial: silver; Movement: gilded brass, partly blued steel, silver, British, London — Traveling clock watch with alarm
Thomas Tompion
Nathanial Delander I
ca. 1680

Longcase clock with calendar, Joseph Knibb British, Case: walnut and oak veneered with walnut; dial: gilded and silvered brass; movement: brass, steel, British, London — Longcase clock with calendar
Joseph Knibb
ca. 1680–85

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