COMTOISE UHREN ONLINE MUSEUM

 

                    Bernd Deckert

 

           ORIGIN OF    

   COMTOISE CLOCKS

   From Lantern Clock To Comtoise Clock

 

                                          

The use of the texts and images, even in extracts, without the consent of the author or the publisher is illegal and punishable by law.

This also applies to duplications, translations, microfilming and processing with electronic media.

 

 

           2022 Bernd Deckert, Comtoise Clock Museum, Düsseldorf

                     www.comtoise.com     www.comtoise.info

 

                   ONLINE COMTOISE WATCH MUSEUM

                                   www.morbier-clocks.de

 

 

 

FOREWORD.

 

It all started in the fall of 2010 when I asked Ton Bollen if the two of us would write a book together on the origins of Comtoise clocks in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. To my amazement, but also joy, Ton said spontaneously: "Yes, we'll do that."

 

Neither Ton in his 1974 book “Comtoise Klokken” nor I in my 2009 book, Volume 2 “The History of the Comtoise Clock” had adequately answered the question of the origins of the Comtoise clocks. It was clear to us that the question would be very difficult to answer and would depend mainly on whether we could find clocks that could be clearly dated to the 17th century, perhaps even dated and signed by Mayet or by other makers whose names appear on early 18th century clocks.

We all knew the names of the clockmakers of the High Jura who had built the first Comtoise clocks in the early 18th century, after all we had seen many of their examples during our decades of work with Comtoise clocks. We hadn't bought every clock, but we had held countless clock in our hands, had learned to recognize the changes and repairs that inevitably occur on clocks that are 250 or 300 years old, and we had learned to use genuine copies of *marriages* and distinguish fakes. The sum of such decades of experience often leads to a brief look at a clock with the statement:

"Everything is right with this clock and something is wrong with this clock."

 

It was clear to us that we would not find the clocks we were looking for for our work from a single collector and that we would have to drive many thousands of miles.

We met collectors in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France and Switzerland whose Comtoise clock collections contained one or two early Comtoise clocks, but also collectors who owned between ten and twenty such clocks.

As a result of searches in the Dutch Rikketik Magazine and the notifications from the DGC, numerous collectors came forward and offered their help.

Collectors often know each other, so that further contacts were made through recommendations.

 

We owe many contacts to Swiss collectors to our common Swiss clock friend, Heinz Christeler, who has unfortunately passed away in the meantime.

During our work from 2010 to the end of 2015, Ton and I found time and again that we complemented each other perfectly. What one did not recognize, the other recognized and vice versa. What one did not know, the other knew and vice versa. We both learned a lot about Comtoise clocks. 

 

 

 

Towards the end of 2011, while we were working, I made an existential decision for my family, my company and my museum, namely to move to a new building next to our house, i.e. living and working under one roof. I had underestimated the amount of time I would have invested in this new building project, so that the publication date of the book, which we had planned for the end of 2015, unfortunately could not be kept.

Unfortunately, Ton Bollen ended the joint work in autumn 2015. When I look back today, I am sure that the book would have been published in 2016.

After Ton's resignation from the collaboration in 2015, I thought that he would now publish his own book, but unfortunately that has not happened to this day.

Personally, I can say that the last 11 years have been very instructive. Due to new findings regarding the origin of the Comtoise clocks, my level of knowledge is different today than it was at the end of 2008, when my volume II of the history of the Comtoise clocks was published.

However, I would like to pass on my knowledge and my expanded insights after 2008, a total of almost 50 years of experience with Comtoise clocks, so that I have decided to put my knowledge into words and make it available in printed form to all interested lovers and collectors of antique Comtoise clocks.

 

A printed book would never recoup the printing costs with the expected sales figures, because the community of interested collectors is getting smaller and smaller, new Comtoise clock collectors are almost non-existent, so I decided to create a printed version in the form of a working text, provided with to publish some key photos. All other photos will then be made available to interested readers via the website of the Comtoise Clock Museum - www.morbier-clocks.de.

Since I radically question the current state of knowledge about the origin of the Comtoise clock, a discussion will probably arise, which will hopefully be conducted objectively. If factual criticism with verifiable sources might give me errors, this can flow into my WORKING TEXT.

The working text will also appear on the website of the Comtoise Clock Museum after a few years, so that from this point on, any extensions or corrections will be even easier and of course additional photos of clocks that are still unknown today can be added.

At this point I would like to thank you again for the hospitality I was given everywhere, which I was able to experience during the visits to the 'European' houses. The hospitality often went far beyond coffee and tea. Numerous new friends were found, numerous friendships were made.

 

Duesseldorf, August 2018

 

 

FOREWORD 2022

In my *HISTORY OF COMTOISE CLOCKS* from 2008 I wrote on page 27: "As long as there is no signed and dated clock or a Comtoise clock that can clearly be dated before 1685 from Haute-Saône, Haute Marne and the Plateau of Langres (I don't think so). the existence of such a clock ), we must attribute the development of the Comtoise watch to the Jura blacksmith watchmakers.”

For decades every passionate collector of Comtoise clocks had been looking for the original Comtoise, or at least hoped to see such a clock at least once.

What a stroke of luck when, in June of this year, I discovered a Haute-Saône Comtoise Clock with a rim folio escapement  on an internet sales platform, which for me represents the missing link between a lantern clock and a Haut-Jura Comtoise clock. Although more than 100 people had already seen this clock before me, the clock had not yet been sold. I was on holiday in the Canary Islands at the time this watch was found and was able to persuade the seller to reserve the clock for me until my return to Germany, so that I could ultimately look at and buy the clock. When the seller then assured me that only one collector out of more than 150 people who had looked at his offer had contacted him to ask about the price, I couldn't understand the world anymore. Maybe it should just be that this Haute-Saône Comtoise clock with rim foliot escapement comes to the Comtoise Clock Museum in Duesseldorf.

In my book/working text *URSPRUNG DER COMTOISE CLOCKS* ( ORIGIN OF COMTOISE CLOCKS ) from 2018, I had already proved and thus revised my view from 2008 that the Comtoise clock of the High Jura was not made by the Mayet in the 17th century, i.e. around 1680/1690 had been developed, but corresponding clocks from Haute-Saône must have served as models. With the now acquired Haute-Saône Comtoise of the 17th century with rim folios escapement and another *Hybrid Comtoise*, this evidence can now also be clearly demonstrated using existing movements.

                                   The Comtoise clock of origin exists!

 

 

Duesseldorf, March 2022

 

 

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

Page       3        Foreword

Page       7        Table of Contents

Page       9        1. Provocative statements at the beginning!

Page     11        2. Authors - Mirror

Page     29        3. Pictures - Mirror

Page     39        4. Lantern clocks

Page     43        5. Comtoise Lantern Clocks

Page     53        6. Mayet tower clock movements

Page     67        7. Origin-Comtoise Clock

Page     83        8. Rack striking mechanism

Page     89        9. In 1730

Page   101      10. Screws - Fixing screws on Haut-Jura

                             type Comtoise clocks                                                                                                                              

Page   117      11. Why the Comtoise clock was formed in the 

                              High Jura?

Page   133      12. Signatures on early Comtoise clocks

Page   141      13. Originals, copies, reproductions, imitations,

                              mariages, fakes, etc.

Page   155      14. Bibliography

Page   161            Afterword

Page   165            Pictures section ( 33 pages

 

 

 

 

 

1. Provocative statements!

"Vers l'an 1660, d'après une tradition de famille non contestée,........... "Around the year 1660, according to an undisputed family tradition,“

 

"Mais cette découverte ne pénétra qu'en 1675 dans les montagnes du Jura.“

"But this invention did not penetrate into the mountains of the Jura until 1675".

 

We had all read the above sentences in the Mayet legend and we all believed these statements to be true: Around 1675 the invention of the pendulum made its way into the Jura mountains.

 

But today there are further building blocks that prove that this assumption "around 1675" is no longer tenable, so that at the beginning of my investigation I will also present some results directly and state provocatively:

 

The Mayet can only have found out about the pendulum clock or the pendulum around 1688/89!

 

The Haut-Jura Comtoise clock as a wall clock is not the further development of the tower clocks built by the Mayet in the Haut-Jura!

The Haut-Jura Comtoise clock is not an independent development by Mayet.

 

The oldest Comtoise clocks of the Haut-Jura type date from the first decade of the 18th century.

 

The Mayet escapement can only have been developed around 1710/1715, because around 1730 the French-born clockmaker Claude Du Chesne died in London.

 

Comtoise clocks, which had used the technical innovations coming from England, such as hook escapement and rack strike mechanism in their designs, were certainly already being built in the Haute-Saône towards the end of the 17th century!

 

The Haut-Jura Comtoise clock is an evolution of the Haute-Saône Comtoise clock!

 

The Haut-Jura Comtoise clock is by far the most modern clock of its time!

 

There is a genealogy of the fixing screws of the Haut-Jura Comtoise clock!

 

Without the economic conditions that already existed in the High Jura, such a successful clock production could never have developed there!

 

Of the numerous clocks I saw and photographed while working with Ton Bollen, not a single clock remained that I would date before 1700. I have to date all examined and photographed clocks to the 18th century.

One clock, a Haute-Saône Comtoise clock signed 'Meon à Vesoul', seemed worthy of closer examination!

 

The oldest signed and dated Haut-Jura Comtoise clock I found and photographed was from 1711!

 

In my opinion, Ton Bollen depicted the „Origin-Comtoise“ or at least one specimen that comes very close to the „Origin-Comtoise“ in his book as early as 1977!

 

The Comtoise clocks depicted in the relevant literature, which are dated there before 1700, I rate and date differently for the most part!

 

Before I substantiate all my provocative claims, I would like to introduce you to the individual authors in the relevant Comtoise literature with regard to their estimation of the beginning of Comtoise clock production in the High Jura and the dating of the clocks used and illustrated.

 

                                                                                                                      Therefore first author mirror and picture mirror!

 

 

 

2. AUTHOR MIRROR

 

In the following I would like to give you an overview of how other authors imagine the origin of the Comtoise clock in the High Jura.

 

All authors, and I do not want to exclude myself here, who have dealt with the subject of 'COMTOISE' up to now, have probably been influenced by the Mayet legend and by studying the existing literature.

 

We know that legends are based on oral traditions and that these traditions may have been subject to various changes - one could also speak of additions - before they were finally written down. But if the legend is expanded by further additions nowadays, only the paper benefits because it is then printed in black.

 

Nevertheless, all authors have always tried to reconcile their research, considerations and results regarding the origin of the Comtoise clock with the Mayet legend.

 

However, if an author claims to know of a signed and dated Mayet Comtoise from 1692, it is clear that this information is extremely influential for all possible collectors and other authors in their search for the Origin-Comtoise. It is very unfortunate that it has taken from 2004 to the present day for this probably erroneously stated date of 1692 to be withdrawn.

 

The first author was probably TARDY in 1964, who wrote in his work "LA PENDULE FRANCAISE" 3me Partie, Provinces et Etranger, Paris 1964 on page 275:„L‘autre centre de fabrication est la région de Morbier-Morez-Foncine. C‘est vers 1600 que Mayet, après avoir réparé l‘horloge du Couvent des Capucins de Sainte-Claude, eut l‘idée de faire quelques horloges en fer. La fabrication, faite simplement au compas, était grossière. Un simple cercle de laiton faisait office de cadran. Ce ne fut que vers 1675 que l‘horloge à pendule fut connue. Alors commence la fabrication de la Comtoise, ou la Morbier comme on l‘appelle quelquefois.“

(„The other manufacturing center is the region of Morbier-Morez-Foncine. It was around 1600 that Mayet, after having repaired the clock of the Capuchin Convent of Sainte-Claude, had the idea of ​​making some iron clocks. The manufacturing, done simply with a compass, was crude. A simple brass circle acted as a dial. It was only around 1675 that the pendulum clock became known. Then begins the production of Comtoise, or Morbier as it is sometimes called.“ )

Tardy therefore assumes that the pendulum clock became known in the High Jura around 1675 and that the Mayets then began to build Comtoise clocks, i.e. iron clocks. They had also built tower clocks, but they were demonstrably equipped with foliot.

 

In 1974, even before Ton Bollen's book was published, the journal l'Estampille No. 51 March 1974 an article: "LES COMTOISES EN HAUSSE" ( THE HAUSSE OF THE COMTOISES ), in which the author - BERNARD BUSSON - reports on the huge demand for Comtoise clocks at the Paris flea market at the time. He also explains to the readers the origin of the Comtoise clocks by the Mayet brothers, as he learned from a flea market dealer:„ Trois siècles d‘efforts. Ce sont les cultivateurs Jurassiens à qui revient l‘honneur d‘avoir créé les premières comtoises: les frères Mayet, qui demeuraient à Morez, une petite localité perdue au milieu de forêts verdoyantes et escarpées. Depuis le XVe siècle, le Jura était devenu un centre actif d‘horlogerie. Pourtant dans la montagne, le soir après le travail, les paysans montaient des mécanismes et les vendaient aux habitants des grandes villes riches.                                                                                            En 1670, les frères Mayet apprirent qu‘à Genève il existait une sorte de haute horloge, munie d‘un balancier qui sonnait les heures et les demi-heures. Cette innovation leur parut si surprenante que, sans hésiter, ils franchirent à pièd les montagnes, pour aller admirer sur place cette *merveille*. Un des premiers cas d‘espionnage industriel sans doute! De retour au pays, après bien des tracas, ils réalisèrent la première comtoise francaise.“                                                                                                    („Three centuries of effort. The honor of having created the first comtoises is due to the Jura farmers: the Mayet brothers, who lived in Morez, a small town lost in the middle of verdant and steep forests. Since the 15th century, the Jura had become an active center of clockmaking. Yet in the mountains, in the evening after work, the peasants assembled mechanisms and sold them to the inhabitants of the big rich cities. In 1670, the Mayet brothers learned that in Geneva there was a kind of high clock, equipped with a pendulum which struck the hours and half-hours. This innovation seemed so surprising to them that, without hesitation, they crossed the mountains on foot to go and admire this *marvel* on the spot. One of the first cases of industrial espionage no doubt! Back home, after much hassle, they made the first French Comtoise.“) 

 

A slightly modified Mayet legend, which also sounds nice - especially sales-promoting - in which the first Comtoise clock, however, was only created in the little closet at home after the 'first industrial espionage' in Geneva. In any case, after reading this article, every *brocanteur* had the little story ready for foreign customers who were interested in the old Comtoise clocks that had become outdated in France. Flea market knowledge spreads very quickly, because every day people trade and sell and tell stories! The snowball rolls and rolls!

 

The second author was TON BOLLEN in 1974, who wrote in his book "COMTOISEKLOKKEN", which was fundamental for all subsequent authors:

Seite 9: „Uitgewaaierd over bijna de hele wereld hebben den Franse klokken uit de Haut-Jura, de Haute-Saône, het Plateau van Langres, het district Calvados en de Pyrenées Atlantiques en naam verworven, die onverbrekelijk verbonden is an kwaliteit en duurzaamheid........                                                                                             De wieg van deze klokken heft hoog boven in den bergen van de Franse Jura gestaan, in het gebied dat als het Franche Comté, Contées volgens de oude spelling, bekend is. Als Comtoises, afkomstig uit het Comté, zijn deze klokken de wereld ingegaan.“...........

Seite 13: „Over de begintijd van de klokkenfabricage in de Jura is nagenoeg niets bekend en alleen de namen van enkele families geven enige aanknopingspunkten.                                                               Het onstaan van de Comtoises is namelijk terug te brengen tot de aktiviteiten van één familie of een group families. De familie, die volgens de overlevering het meest direkt bij de ontwikkeling van de Comtoises betrokken is geweest, is de familie Mayet. Bij de familie Mayet heeft de opvatting dat zij de eersten zijn geweest, die Comtoises hebben gebouwd, altijd as waar en als enig juiste gang van zaken geleefd. Historisch gezien is dit niet te achterhalen. Bovendien zijn er uit de beginperiode van de Comtoises, na 1700, nog te weinig exemplaren bekend, om op grond van vergeleijking en enigszins juist oordeel te kunnen geven.“                                                                                                                          Seite 19: „ Vergelijken we beide typen klokken, dan doet die Comtoise uit de Jura zeer modern aan en past volledig in de achttiende eeuw. Dit kan op grond van het uiterlijk en de constructie van de Comtoises uit de Haute-Saône en van het Plateau van Langres nauwelijks gezegd worden, die, wat de constructie betreffen nog volledig in de zeventiende eeuw thuishoren, ondanks, o.a. de toepassing van de voor die tijd wel zeer moderne ankergang. Geenszins sluit dit meer traditionele werken van de noordelijke gebieden uit, dat ze niet in een vroeger stadium ‚Comtoieses‘ gefabriceerd zouden hebben, eerder dan de Jura en dat zelfs he ontbrekende overgangstype voor de Jura gezocht moeten worden in den Haute-Saône of het Plateau van Langres. De Jura heeft dan eerst later de produktie en wel het bestaande niveau van de Haute-Saône overgenomen en in een kortere tijdsbestek en eigen klokkenfabricage op poten gezet.“.................................                                                              Concluderend is het basismodel van de Comtoise ontwikkeld in de Haute-Saône.“...............                     Seite 20:  „Onontkoombaar, als secundair gebied, is het Franche Comté beinvloed geworden door de omliggende gebieden.“   

Page 9: “Winning out almost all over the world, the French clocks from the Haut-Jura, the Haute-Saône, the Plateau of Langres, the district of Calvados and the Pyrenées Atlantiques have acquired a reputation that is inseparable from quality and durability. ....... The cradle of these bells has stood high up in the mountains of the French Jura, in the area known as the Franche Comté, Contées according to the old spelling. Coming from Comté, these bells have gone out into the world as Comtoises.”...........

Page 13: “About the beginning of clock making in the Jura is almost nothing known and only the names of a few families provide some clues. The origin of the Comtoises can be traced back to the activities of one family or a group of families. According to tradition, the family most directly involved in the development of the Comtoises is the Mayet family. The Mayet family has always held the belief that they were the first to build Comtoises as true and as the only right course of action. Historically, this cannot be traced. Moreover, from the early period of the Comtoises, after 1700, there are still too few copies known to be able to give a somewhat correct judgment based on comparison.”

Page 19: „ If we compare both types of clocks, the Comtoise from the Jura looks very modern and fits perfectly in the eighteenth century. This can hardly be said on the basis of the appearance and construction of the Comtoises from the Haute-Saône and the Langres Plateau, which, as far as construction is concerned, still belong entirely to the seventeenth century, despite, among other things, the application of the for that time very modern anchor escapement. This by no means excludes the more traditional works of the northern regions, that they would not have produced 'Comtoieses' at an earlier stage, earlier than the Jura and that even the missing transitional type for the Jura must be sought in the Haute-Saône or the Plateau from Langres. The Jura only later took over the production, namely the existing level of the Haute-Saône and set up its own clock manufacturing in a shorter period of time.”................. ............... In conclusion, the basic model of the Comtoise was developed in the Haute-Saône."............... Seite 20: "Inescapable , as a secondary area, the Franche Comté has become influenced by the surrounding areas.”                                                                                                                           

 

Eigentlich hatten Ton Bollen bereits im Jahr 1974 die richtigen Schlüsse gezogen, und er hatte nach meiner Überzeugung auch bereits ein *Basismodell* in den Händen gehalten, ohne diesem allerdings die Bedeutung beizumessen, die das Werk verdient.

Although he already spoke of Comtoise clocks from the Haute-Saône and from Haute-Marne, he did not consequently call the clocks from the Haut-Jura Haut-Jura Comtoise Clocks, but used the term Comtoise of the Mayet type or Mayet Comtoise for the oldest specimens. So he implied to his readers, who very soon followed this designation willingly, that all *experts* only spoke of Mayet Comtoise for those Comtoise clocks with a simple brass ring dial. Mayet signatures were more common in relation to other signatures and/or clocks from Haute-Saône and Haute-Marne. Of course, since everyone knew the legend that attributed the development of the Comtoise clocks to the Mayets anyway, the name 'Mayet Comtoise' seemed only logical. Ton Bollen is certainly the first author to speak of Mayet Comtoise clocks in writing, which does not mean, however, that the early one-hand Comtoises with dial rings were not referred to and sold as Mayet Comtoises in everyday language among antique dealers and brocanteurs in France before 1974.

In 1974 he wrote on page 51: "Voor 1700 is niets met zekerheid over Comtoises uit de Jura bekend." ( Before 1700 nothing is known with certainty about Comtoises from the Jura ).

 

While the following authors Gustav Schmitt and Maitzner/Moreau naturally use the designations Mayet Comtoise, Schmitt, but not Maitzner/Moreau, speaks again of Comtoisen and Mayet in the second half of the 17th century.

 

But TON BOLLEN now seems to have switched to this line, because in 2004 he wrote in the catalog for the exhibition "MET FRANSE SLAG  Comtoise klokken 1680 - 1930" of the Nederlands Goud-, Silver- en Klokkenmuseum in his outline:

 

De historie van de Comtoiseklok: ( The history of the Comtoise clock)

 

„Van geen enkel ander Europees type uurwerk zijn er, in meer dan twee eeuwen tijds (van 1675 to 1920), zo onvoorstelbar veel exemplaren geproduceerd en zijn er so oneindig veel variaties op het oermodel (1675) bedacht.“ ...................................

 „Het oermodel van de Comtoise is afgeleid van de vijftiende-en zestiende eeuwse torenuurwerkconstructies. Gaand – en slagwerk werden naast elkaar geplaatst.“.........

„De oudste mij bekende en gedateerde Comtoise van het type Mayet bevindt zich in een particuliere collectie en is gesigneerd en gedateerd*Jean Baptiste Mayet Morez 1692.“

(“In more than two centuries (from 1675 to 1920), no other European type of timepiece has been produced so unimaginably many copies and so infinitely many variations on the original model (1675) have been devised.” ..... ..............................

 

“The original model of the Comtoise is derived from the fifteenth and sixteenth century tower clock constructions. Going – and percussion were placed next to each other.”.........

 

“The oldest known and dated Comtoise of the Mayet type is in a private collection and is signed and dated *Jean Baptiste Mayet Morez 1692.”)

 

I am not able to say what prompted Ton Bollen to place the derivation of the Comtoise clockwork in direct line with the tower clocks of the 15th and 16th centuries, since the going train and striking mechanism are placed next to each other, but it contradicts everything I think I know about clock development. Unfortunately, the initiators of the 2011 exhibition in Schoonhoven chose the title: “VAN TORENUURWERK TOT HUISKLOK. Het Ontstaan ​​van de comtoiseklok 1700 - 1750 ( FROM TOWER CLOCKWORK TO HOUSE CLOCK. The creation of the Comtoise clock 1700 - 1750 ) On page 3 of the exhibition catalogue, it says:

„Torenuurwerk.  De eerste comtoises zijn afgeleid von den torenuurwerken uit de 16e en 17e eeuw. Gaand- en slagwerk werden naast elkaar geplaatst. Dit in tegenstelling tot andere wandklokken waarbij het slagwerk achter het gaand werk werde geplaatst.....“ (“Tower clockwork. The first comtoises are derived from tower clocks from the 16th and 17th centuries. Going train and striking train were placed next to each other. This in contrast to other wall clocks where the striking mechanism is placed behind the going train…..")

 

When the first Comtoises were created, there were already other clocks in which going and striking mechanisms were placed side by side. The fact that going and striking mechanisms were placed next to each other was not an invention of the Comtoise clocks.

 

When the first Comtoises were created, there were already other small house clocks; I only think of Gothic house clocks and lantern clocks, and for me the emergence of the Comtois house clock is a further development of the lantern clocks, which were already being built in France in many ways in the second half of the 17th century. More of that later.

 

I think that Ton Bollen would certainly no longer say this sentence from 2004 about the derivation of the Comtoise clocks from the tower clocks.

 

He speaks of a period from 1675 to 1920 and states that he knows a signed and dated Comtoise clock by Jean Baptiste Mayet Morez 1692.

 

Anyone who read this in the exhibition catalog at the time must have said to themselves: “Oh yes, there are Comtoise clocks in the High Jura in the 17th century. We just have to keep looking, maybe there is a copy from the 1680s too?”

 

Unfortunately, what Ton Bollen did with his error cannot be erased from the literature that came about afterwards.

Ton Bollen ist aber inzwischen wieder auf das Niveau zurückgekehrt, welches er im Jahr 1974 betreten hatte.  Die älteste  bisher  bekannte  signierte  und  datierte Comtoise aus dem Hohen Jura stammt aus dem Jahr 1709.             

                                                                                                                                                        Das Basismodell, das Urmodell ist im Haute-Saône entwickelt!

In 1975 the book entitled "THE MORBIER 1680 - 1900" by STEVE NEMRAVA was published in the USA. As the title suggests, it is also assumed here that the Comtoise clock ( Morbier clock in the USA ) was manufactured from 1680 onwards .

 

 

 

 

In 1976 the book by MAITZNER/MOREAU "LA COMTOISE - LA MORBIER - LA MOREZ" was published in France ( further editions in 1977, 1979, 1982 and 1985 )

The Mayet Legend is quoted in full, but on page 5 the authors write:„ Enfin, de toute facon, cette histoire est très belle et comme elle fut transmise de génération en génération par voie orale, il est normal de se trouver devant une histoire dont les sources sont réelles, mais le texte arrangé.“ 

(„ Finally, anyway, this story is very beautiful and as it was transmitted from generation to generation orally, it is normal to find ourselves in front of a story whose sources are real, but the text arranged.“) 

 

On pages 69 + 70 under the heading: ÉVOLUTION DU MOUVEMENT DE LA COMTOISE  ( DEVELOPMENT OF COMTOISE MOVEMENT )                                                                                                                „ Avant 1700. Peu de Comtoises connues.                                                                                                          1700 - 1730                                                                                                                                                                Mouvement type Comté, de petites dimensions, approchant la forme carrée. Cadran en forme de couronne en laiton ou en étain. 1 seule aiguille en laiton ou en fer. Fronton en laiton découpé ou en étain. Absence presque totale de gravures. La facade souvent bordée d‘un filet de laiton plat, sur lequel peut-être frappé le nom de l‘horloger. 2 pièces mobiles décoratives, en laiton, portant signature ou devise latine, cachent les trous de remontage toujours en dehors du cercle du cadran. Parfois, écoincons décoratifs dans les angles supérieurs.                                                                                               Ce modèle correspond à ce que l‘on appelle généralement l‘Horloge des MAYET.“ 

 

(„ Before 1700. Few known Comtoises. 1700 - 1730 Comté-type movement, small in size, approaching the square shape. Crown-shaped dial in brass or pewter. 1 single brass or iron hand. Pediment in cut brass or pewter. Almost total absence of engravings. The facade often lined with a flat brass net, on which the name of the watchmaker may be stamped. 2 decorative moving parts, in brass, bearing a Latin signature or motto, hide the winding holes always outside the dial circle. Sometimes decorative spandrels in the upper corners. This model corresponds to what is generally called the MAYET Clock.“)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Maitzner Moreau do not rule out that Comtoise clocks could have existed before 1700. Few are known. However, no example of such a Comtoise clock before 1700 can be found in her book. Maitzner/Moreau also either follow the oral tradition or everyday language use and/or adopt the name Mayet Comtoise from his book of 1974, which Ton Bollen wrote for the first time.          

 

The first edition of GUSTAV SCHMITT's book "DIE COMTOISE-UHR" was published in 1977, and he also assumes that the production of Comtoise clocks began in the 1680s. He writes in the 3rd edition from 1983 on page 7: „ Der Holländer Huygens erfand das Pendel im Jahr 1656, es dürfte aber 20 Jahre gedauert haben, bis die Kenntnis von seiner Erfindung in der Franche-Comté bekannt wurde. Demnach werden wohl die ersten Comtoise Uhren um das Jahr 1680 gebaut worden sein. Eine der ältesten mit Jahreszahl und Uhrmacher gezeichnete Comtoise-Uhr scheint eine Uhr mit Zahlenreif aus dem Uhrenmuseum in Genf zu sein; sie trägt die Jahreszahl 1693 und den Uhrmachernamen „Moyse Golay du Chenit“. (“The Dutchman Huygens invented the pendulum in 1656, but it must have taken 20 years until knowledge of his invention became known in Franche-Comté. According to this, the first Comtoise clocks were probably built around 1680. One of the oldest Comtoise clocks marked with a date and clockmaker appears to be a clock with a circlet from the clock museum in Geneva; it bears the year 1693 and the clockmaker's name "Moyse Golay du Chenit". )                                                 "Chenit" refers to a stretch of land in the Joux valley. This region is in Switzerland, 5 km from the French border ( Doubs department ).” Furthermore we read on page 309: „Die Mayet Hemmung bei der Comtoise-Uhr. Die älteste bekannte Comtoise-Uhr mit Mayet Hemmung ist eine mit der Jahreszahl 1693 gezeichnete Uhr im Uhrenmuseum Genf, die bereits erwähnt wurde.“ (“The Mayet escapement of the Comtoise clock. The oldest known Comtoise clock with a Mayet escapement is a clock in the Geneva Clock Museum marked with the year 1693, which has already been mentioned.”)

 

It was generally assumed that knowledge of the pendulum took 20 years to become known in the Jura. But what if it took 35 or 40 years? Then the first Comtoise clocks can probably only have appeared around 1700. Then there could not possibly have been a signed Comtoise clock with a Mayet escapement in 1693. There may well be a signed clock with the year 1693, the only question is whether this clock is authentic.

I will argue that it is impossible for a Mayet escapement to have existed as early as the 17th century.

The next author who now deals with the subject of Comtoise watches is SIEGFRIED BERGMANN in 2005 with his book: "COMTOISE UHREN" On page 13 he writes: „ Der Ursprung dieser Uhr, die ihren Namen von der Bezeichnung der Region Franche-Comté ableitet, geht auf Schmiede aus dem Französischen Jura zurück, die um 1680 die erste Comtoise Uhr - die Ur-Comtoise - hergestellt haben. Als Vorbild  dienten ihnen Turmuhrkonstruktionen des 15. und 16. Jh. und die Erfindung des Pendels im Jahr 1656 durch Huygens war ihnen bereits bekannt. So wurden die Merkmale der gewichtsgetriebenen Turmuhren und das Pendelsystem auf den neuen Uhrentyp - die Comtoise Uhr - übertragen.“  („The origin of this clock, which derives its name from the name of the Franche-Comté region, goes back to blacksmiths from the French Jura who made the first Comtoise clock - the Origin-Comtoise - around 1680. Tower clock constructions from the 15th and 16th centuries served as a model and they were already familiar with the invention of the pendulum in 1656 by Huygens. So the features of the weight-driven tower clocks and the pendulum system were carried over to the new type of clock - the Comtoise clock.“)                                                                                                                                                      

On page 25 he then writes: „ Die Herstellung dieses Uhrentyps breitete sich ausgehend von Morbier und Morez rasch in andere Juradörfer, wie zum Beispiel Belle Fontaine, La Chapelle des Bois, Forte du Plasne, Fourgs, Thonne, Foncine le Haut und auch darüber hinaus in die Départements Doubs und Haute-Saône aus. Sogar außerhalb der Franche Comté in den Départements Haute-Marne, Ain, Côte-d‘Or und Loire wurden später Comtoise Uhren hergestellt.“ (“Starting from Morbier and Morez, the production of this type of clock quickly spread to other Jura villages such as Belle Fontaine, La Chapelle des Bois, Forte du Plasne, Fourgs, Thonne, Foncine le Haut and beyond out into the departments of Doubs and Haute-Saône. Even outside Franche Comté in the departments of Haute-Marne, Ain, Côte-d'Or and Loire, Comtoise watches were later made.”)

No deviation from the line previously specified in the literature.

 

In his four-volume work from 2012, the above sentence is then expanded on page 17: „ Der Ursprung dieser Uhr, die ihren Namen von der Bezeichnung der Region Franche-Comté ableitet, geht auf Schmiede aus dem Französischen Jura zurück, die um 1680 die erste Comtoise Uhr - die Ur-Comtoise - hergestellt haben. Als Vorbild  dienten ihnen Turmuhrkonstruktionen des 15. und 16. Jh. und die Anwendung des schwingenden Pendels  im Jahr 1656 durch Huygens war ihnen durch die im Jahr 1741 veröffentlichte Abhandlung von Antoine Thiout, der 1692 in Jonvelle in der Franche Comté geboren wurde und 1767 in Paris verstarb,  bekannt. So wurden die Merkmale der gewichtsgetriebenen Turmuhren und das Pendelsystem auf den neuen Uhrentyp - die Comtoise Uhr - übertragen.“   (“The origin of this clock, which derives its name from the name of the Franche-Comté region, goes back to blacksmiths from the French Jura who around 1680 manufactured the first Comtoise clock - the Origin-Comtoise. They were inspired by tower clock constructions from the 15th and 16th centuries and the use of the swinging pendulum by Huygens in 1656 was known and was explained to them by the treatise published in 1741 by Antoine Thiout, who was born in Jonvelle in Franche Comté in 1692 and died in 1767 in Paris passed away. So the features of the weight-driven tower clocks and the pendulum system were carried over to the new type of clock - the Comtoise clock.“)    

In 2010, Francois Buffard, in his 'Petite Historie de l'horloge comtoise', also argued that the Mayet derived the Comtoise from the tower clocks. On page 5 he writes:  „Les Mayet ont alors cherché à réduire la taille des mécanismes des horloges d’édifices pour créer l’horloge comtoise. Cette réduction s’est accompagnée de diverses adaptions techniques comme la sonnerie à crémaillère et l’échappement.“  („The Mayets then sought to reduce the size of the mechanisms of building clocks to create the Comtoise clock. This reduction was accompanied by various technical adaptations such as the rack strike and the escapement.“)                         

‚In Petite  histoire  des horloges  d’édifice'  des  Jahres 2013  kann  man dann auf Seite 7 lesen: “Les frères Mayet ont acquis une grande connaissance de l’horlogerie. Ce sont des maîtres horlogers. Non contents de fabriquer des horloges à clochers, ils cherchent à réduire la taille des mécanismes. Ils inventent les premières horloges comtoise entre 1680 et 1700.“ ( “The Mayet brothers have acquired a great knowledge of clockmaking. They are master clockmakers. Not content with making tower clocks, they sought to reduce the size of the mechanisms. They invented the first Comtoise clocks between 1680 and 1700.“)   

Finally, in 2019, Francois Buffard even wrote of a stroke of genius in his book 'l'Horloge comtoise et des horlogers' on page 22: „ Le coup de génie des Frères Mayet est sans doute aussi d’avoir compris très vite qu’ils pouvaient trouver leur place dans le monde de l’horlogerie, à côté d’horlogers établis dans les grandes villes comme Paris, Londres et Genève.“  ( „The Mayet brothers' stroke of genius also undoubtedly stems from the fact that they understood very quickly that they could find a place in the clockmaking world alongside the clockmakers established in the big cities like Paris, London and Geneva.“ )                      

For Francois Buffard, too, the Mayet are the inventors of the Comtoise clock, the development of which is derived from the tower clocks. From this derivation alone and the innovations developed in the second half of the 17th century, such as pendulum use and rack striking mechanism, they then developed the Comtoise clockwork of the High Jura *in one piece*. An achievement that Francois Buffard, from today's point of view, even rated as a stroke of genius, since they felt equal to the great watchmakers in the watchmaking centers of the time.

Seen from the outside, certainly a little too much of a good thing in terms of local patriotism. Seen from the inside, maybe understandable. But it means that the Mayet legend is still being written today.

 

In the magazine CHRONOMÉTROPHILIA of the Swiss Society for the History of Timekeeping, issue Été/Summer 2012, no. 71, GEORG VON HOLTEY had written the following on pages 40/41 in his article ‚HANDSCHRIFTEN DER UHRMACHER DES HOHEN JURA IN IHREN UHREN AUS DEM FRÜHEN 18. JAHRHUNDERT’ (“HANDWRITINGS OF THE WATCHMAKERS OF THE HIGH JURAS IN THEIR CLOCKS FROM THE EARLY 18TH CENTURY”): „Bisher sind keine Comtoise Uhren aufgetaucht, die eindeutig ins 17. Jahrhundert datiert werden können. Die frühesten Comtoise dieser Studie sind vermutlich die zwölf verwandten Uhren der beiden Brüder Pierre Mayet aus Fort du Plasne und Bellefontaine. Nur zwei dieser Werke sind datiert: 1709 ( oder 1702?) ( Abb.47 ). Jedoch können die mit genügender Sicherheit jeweils einem der beiden Uhrmacher Mayet zugeordnet werden.                                                                                                               Die Tatsache, dass zwölf Uhren aus diesen beiden Werkstätten, d.h 15% des studierten Ensembles, noch heute nach 300 Jahren erhalten sind, lässt vermuten, dass eine grosse Anzahl dieser Comtoise Uhren über Jahre hinweg hergestellt wurden. Damit ist man dann nicht mehr weit weg von der Feststellung, dass einige dieser „Pierre-Mayet-Uhren“ sehr wohl aus dem 17. Jahrhundert stammen könnten“. (“Up to now, no Comtoise clocks have appeared that are clearly dated to the 17th century can. The earliest Comtoise of this study are probably the twelve related clocks made by the two brothers Pierre Mayet from Fort du Plasne and Bellefontaine. Only two of these movementsare dated: 1709 (or 1702?) (Fig.47). However, they can be assigned with sufficient certainty to one of the two watchmakers Mayet. The fact that twelve clocks from these two workshops, i.e. 15% of the ensemble studied, survive today after 300 years suggests that a large number of these Comtoise clocks were made over the years. This is not far from the conclusion that some of these “Pierre Mayet clocks” could very well have come from the 17th century”.)

 

Of course, I wonder why only 2 out of 12 watches, all of which are said to come “with sufficient certainty” from the Mayet workshop, are signed. Why would a Mayet build both signed and unsigned clocks? I cannot understand why some of them could very well be from the 17th century.

Then Georg von Holtey writes on pages 42 and 43:                                                                      „ Die Uhren der beiden Brüder Pierre und Petit-Pierre Mayet sind sich in ihren wesentlichen Eigenschaften so ähnlich, dass die Annahme auf der Hand liegt, dass sie von einem gemeinsamen Vorbild abstammen. Dieser gemeinsame Vorläufer ist wahrscheinlich sehr nahe mit der uns bekannten Pierre Mayet Comtoise Uhr aus Fort du Plasne verwandt, einem Werk mit eleganter und technisch versierter, einheitlicher Handschrift, die es schwer macht zu glauben, sie sei das Ergebnis der Beiträge mehrerer verschiedener Meister. Als mögliches Szenario sei hier das folgende rein hypothetische Bild skizziert.                                                                                                                                                                              In  den späten  1670er oder frühen  1680er  Jahren  denken  die  beiden  jüngeren Mayet Brüder  Pierre und  Petit-Pierre  aus  Morbier  als  junge, etwa  25-jährige Uhrmacher darüber nach, wie eine robuste, ländliche Hausuhr aussehen könnte, die sich an die umliegenden Bauernhöfe verkaufen liesse. Ein Stundenschlag, und möglicherweise auch ein Halbstundenschlag, sind wichtiger als eine aufwendige Anzeige der Uhrzeit, ein Weckwerk dagegen ist nötig. Als Vorbilder kannten die Mayet von Gewichten angetriebene Turmuhren und wohl auch Laternenuhren mit ihren hintereinander angeordneten offenen Werken und von Schlossscheiben gesteuerten Schlagwerken. Der wesentliche Nachteil dieser Uhren für den ländlichen Gebrauch war, neben der für Staub anfälligen offenen Bauweise, ihre kurze Laufzeit von nur etwa 30 Stunden, die ein tägliches Aufziehen erforderte. Um die Laufzeit auf eine realistische Spanne von einer Woche zu verlängern, musste eine grössere Übersetzung durch Einfügen eines weiteren Zahnrades erreicht werden. Das erforderte erhöhte Gewichte von zweieinhalb bis drei Kilogramm und schloss damit einen Aufzug mit Gegengewichten aus. Man benötigte einen Schlüsselaufzug mit Seiltrommel, also nebeneinander liegenden Geh- und Schlagwerken, damit sie von vorne aufgezogen werden konnten.                                                                             Um diese Zeit hatte sich die Kunde des 1657 erfundenen Huyghen‘schen Pendels bis in den Hohen Jura verbreitet (14) und die Brüder Mayet fügten diese, den Gang ihrer Uhr wesentlich verbessernde Erfindung, zusammen mit der alt-bekannten, robusten Spindelhemmung ihrer Konstruktion hinzu................ Da kam das in den späten 1670er Jahren in London eingeführte Rechenschlagwerk den Brüdern zu Hilfe (15). Wie sie in so wenigen Jahren davon erfahren haben konnten, bleibt ein Rätsel. Jedenfalls - in dem hypothetischen Szenario fortfahrend - übernahmen die Brüder  diese neue  Technik nicht nur für ihre Uhr, sondern entwickelten und vereinfachten sie weiter zu der von ihnen erfundenen Version mit vertikal fallender, U-förmiger Zahnstange als Rechen mit Schöpfer und Sperrhebel. Es scheint, dass dieser spezielle Rechen nur in Uhren aus dem Hohen Jura und den Nachbargegenden verwendet wurde.“ („ The clocks of the two brothers Pierre and Petit-Pierre Mayet are so similar in their essential characteristics that it is obvious that they descended from a common model. This common ancestor is probably very closely related to the Pierre Mayet Comtoise clock we know from Fort du Plasne, a movement with an elegant and technically adept unified signature that makes it difficult to believe that it was the result of the contributions of several different masters. The following purely hypothetical picture is outlined as a possible scenario. In the late 1670s or early 1680s, the two younger Mayet brothers, Pierre and Petit-Pierre, from Morbier, were young clockmakers of around 25 years of age, contemplating what a robust country house clock might look like that could be sold to the surrounding farms. An hourly chime, and possibly also a half-hourly chime, are more important than an elaborate display of the time, but an alarm is necessary. The Mayet knew tower clocks driven by weights and probably also lantern clocks with their open movements arranged one behind the other and chiming mechanisms controlled by locking disks as models. The main disadvantage of these clocks for rural use, in addition to the open construction susceptible to dust, was their short running time of only about 30 hours, which required daily winding. In order to extend the running time to a realistic range of one week, a larger transmission had to be achieved by inserting another gear. This required increased weights of two and a half to three kilograms and thus ruled out an elevator with counterweights. A key lift with a cable drum was needed, i.e. going and striking mechanisms next to each other, so that they could be wound up from the front.

Around this time, news of Huyghen's pendulum, invented in 1657, had spread to the High Jura (14) and the Mayet brothers added this invention, which significantly improved the accuracy of their clock, together with the well-known, robust verge escapement, to their design ................ Then the rack striking mechanism introduced in London in the late 1670s came to the aid of the brothers (15). How they could have learned about it in so few years remains a mystery. In any case - continuing in the hypothetical scenario - the brothers not only adopted this new technique for their clock, but further developed and simplified it into the version they invented with a vertically falling, U-shaped rack as a rake with a gathering pallet and a locking lever. It seems that this particular rake was only used in clocks from the High Jurassic and neighboring areas.”) 

 

Auf Seite 44 schreibt Georg von Holtey dann noch: „ Es passt gut in das obige hypothetische Bild, dass Pierre Mayet, mit dieser neuen, viel versprechenden Uhr im Gepäck 1685 nach Fort du Plasne übersiedelt und dort eine Werkstatt für Comtoise-Uhren eröffnet.“ („It fits well into the above hypothetical picture that Pierre Mayet, with this new, promising clock in his luggage, moved to Fort du Plasne in 1685 and opened a workshop for Comtoise clocks there.“)

It may be that Pierre Mayet moved to Fort du Plasne in 1685, but he certainly did not open a workshop for Comtoise clocks, i.e. house clocks with a pendulum and rack strike mechanism, because around 1685 the MAYETS were still building tower clocks with folios and had no idea from the pendulum application.

                                                                                                                                           Before 1709 there is no evidence of Comtoise clocks in the High Jura, there is neither a corresponding clock as proof nor any written records that could prove the construction of Comtoise clocks. However, if signed and dated clocks from before 1709 turn up, the utmost vigilance is required, because the probability that these are counterfeits is much higher than that they are originals.

Hypothetical assumptions as to which Mayet might have thought or done what, when, where and with whom are unfortunately only assumptions that are now off the table again if it can be proven that the underlying data cannot be correct.

 

The last author (for the time being) to write about the Comtoise clock is LEONHARD VAN VELDHOVEN in 2014 with his book: MAYET MORBIER COMTOISE - Geburt und Entwicklung einer sagenhaften Uhr.- MAYET MORBIER COMTOISE - Birth and Development of a Legendary Clock. The title alone says that the Comtoise was brought into the world by Mayet. He also starts from assumptions and embeds the birth of the Comtoise in the general living conditions of the High Jura, caused by French history, geographical and climatic factors. The book is certainly worth reading for this reason alone, as a tremendous amount of information is provided not only about French history in general and franc-comtoise history in particular, but also the development of metalworking, enameling, time measurement and the pendulum be worked out.

 

For him, the development of the Comtoise clock runs from the tower clock to the tower clock model (miniature tower clock) and ends in the house clock - the Comtoise clock.

On page 239 he writes: „Es ist sehr wahrscheinlich, dass das Wissen des Pendels als Regler, das am ersten Weihnachtstag 1656 von Christiaan Huygens erfunden wurde, schon in den Siebzigerjahren den Haut-Jura erreichte.“ (“It is very likely that the knowledge of the pendulum as a regulator, invented by Christiaan Huygens on Christmas Day 1656, reached the High Jura as early as the 1670s.”)                                                                      On page 248 he writes: „ Es ist sehr wahrscheinlich, dass die Gebrüder Mayet in der zweiten Hälfte der 1670er Jahre, als die Ruhe nach dem Tumult der dritten ( und letzten ) französischen Invasion von 1674 wieder einigermaßen eingekehrt war, ein erstes Modell einer Turmuhr im Maßstab angefertigt haben, um die von vielen Legenden umrankte nouveauté des Pendels auszuprobieren. Eine Miniatur-Turmuhr ( später zweifelsohne verbessert ), die den Mayet bei der Akquisition von Aufträgen für Turmuhren enorm nützlich war.“  (“It is very likely that the in the second half of the 1670s, when some calm had returned after the tumult of the third ( and last ) French invasion of 1674, the Mayet brothers made a first scale model of a tower clock to illustrate the novelty of the pendulum, which is the subject of many legends to try. A miniature tower clock ( later no doubt improved ) which was enormously useful to the Mayet in acquiring commissions for tower clocks.“)

On page 253 he writes: „Wie dem auch sei, sie mussten etwas finden, was ihnen die Möglichkeit verschaffte, einer folgenden Krise besser die Stirn bieten zu können. Als die schlimmste Zeit vorbei war, haben sie wahrscheinlich ein Turmuhr-Modell im Maßstab auf den Tisch gestellt und miteinander darüber diskutiert, ob man daraus nicht eine ordentliche Hausuhr machen könnte.“ („Whatever the case, they had to find something that would give them a better chance of withstanding any crisis that might follow.“

 When the worst of it was over, they probably put a scale model tower clock on the table and discussed whether it could be made into a proper house clock.“)

 

On page 254 he writes: „Die Geburt der Comtoise war nicht einfach ein normaler Entwicklungsschritt, sondern ein tollkühner Sprung nach vorn für einige verzweifelte, durch Hungersnot und soziale Zerrüttung bedrohte Bauern-Schmiede, die sich nebenbei als Hersteller von Turmuhrwerken betätigten“  („The birth of the Comtoise was not simply a normal step in development, but a foolhardy leap forward for a few desperate peasant-smiths, threatened by famine and social disruption, who also worked as manufacturers of tower clock movements". )

 

The first movement built specifically as a house clock (i.e. more than just a miniature tower clock ), later called Mayet, Morbier or Comtoise, dated around or shortly after the year 1700).

                                                                                                                                                This mentioned miniature tower clock is illustrated on pages 249 and 250.

 

In the books of Siegfried Bergmann, both 2005 and 2012, this clock is also shown. 

If Siegfried Bergmann describes this clock as a "very early one-hand Comtoise clock with great similarity to the tower clock construction in Fig. 2. - Time: around 1690." Volume I 2012 page 31 Fig.4, at least Leonhard van Veldhoven already recognizes this on page 255 under the heading: „Die ältesten (zurzeit bekannten) Comtoise Uhren. In der Literatur werden einige Uhren genannt, die als Beweis dafür dienen sollen, dass bereits lange vor 1700 Comtoise Uhren gebaut wurden. Leider scheint, dass es entweder gar keine Comtoise Uhren sind, sondern (Akquisitions-) Modelle von Turmuhren ( wie die Mini-Turmuhr von Hans-Ulrich W. ) oder Uhren bei deren Datierung zumindest große Zweifel bestehen.“

(„The oldest (currently known) Comtoise clocks. Some clocks are mentioned in the literature, which should serve as proof that Comtoise clocks were built long before 1700. Unfortunately, it seems that they are either not Comtoise clocks at all, but (acquisition) models of tower clocks (like the mini tower clock by Hans-Ulrich W.) or clocks whose dating there are at least great doubts.”)

He has serious doubts about the clock, which Ton Bollen depicts in his book on images 1 + 2 and dates +/- 1685.

 

Leonhard van Veldhoven then writes about this on page 255: „ In das Buch Comtoiseklokken (L1) von Ton Bollen wurde eine neue unsignierte Uhr aufgenommen, die dort um 1685 datiert wird. Interessant ist, dass diese Uhr eine Ankerhemmung hat, damals eine absolute Neuheit, die erst 1670 zum ersten Mal in England in einer Uhr verwendet wurde. Diese Hemmung würde noch eine lange Zeit brauchen, bis sie zum Haut-Jura durchdringen konnte. Erst in den 1840er Jahren wurde sie häufig in der Comtoise verwendet. .................. Unter Berücksichtigung all dieser Tatsachen ( namentlich der Ankerhemmung und des Herstellungsortes ) liegt es auf der Hand, dass diese Uhr nach 1725 angefertigt wurde, als die Ankerhemmung etwas bekannter war und immer mehr Comtoise auch außerhalb des Haut-Jura angefertigt wurden.“

(„A new, unsigned clock was included in the book Comtoiseklokken (L1) by Ton Bollen, which is dated there around 1685. It is interesting that this watch has an anchor escapement, which was an absolute novelty at the time and was not used in a watch for the first time in England until 1670. This inhibition would still take a long time to penetrate to the Haut-Jura. It was not until the 1840s that it was widely used in the Comtoise. .................. Considering all these facts (namely the anchor escapement and the place of manufacture) it is obvious that this clock was made after 1725, when the anchor escapement was a bit better known and more and more Comtoise were also made outside of the Haut-Jura.”)

If Leonhard van Veldhoven is deeply convinced and also tries to prove that the Mayet deserves the credit of having placed the Comtoise clock in their cradle in the High Jura around 1700, then an earlier dated clock does not fit into the concept. Since he is convinced that the Comtoise clock must have served as a model for other clocks from other regions, this dating of 1685 must be wrong. So he justifies his dating - around 1725 - with the arguments *anchor escapement* and *place of manufacture*, which unfortunately I can't understand at all. On the contrary!

"Ton Bollen hat niemals behauptet, dass diese Uhr aus dem Hohen Jura stammt. Er beschreibt diese Uhr als aus Haute-Saône stammend.

Ich bin der Meinung, dass Ton Bollen vollkommen richtig mit +/- 1685 datiert hat.

Über diese Uhr später noch mehr, denn sie ist eines der wichtigsten Beweismittel, dass die ältesten Comtoise Uhren, zumindest das Urmodell/Basismodell,  gerade nicht von den Mayet gebaut wurden!"

Ton Bollen never claimed that this clock came from the High Jura. He describes this clock as being from Haute-Saône.

I believe that Ton Bollen dated correctly at +/- 1685.

More about this clock later, as it is one of the most important pieces of evidence that the oldest Comtoise clocks, at least the original/base model, were not actually made by the Mayet!

 

In my GESCHICHTE DER COMTOISE UHREN, Band II from 2009 HISTORY OF THE COMTOISE WATCHES, Volume II, I also had published in 2009 that Mayet attributed the creation of the Comtoise watch to Mayet. Needless to say, my history of Comtoise clocks would have been different if I had already known in 2008/2009 that the 1692 Mayet Comtoise mentioned by Ton Bollen does not exist.

What I can say, however, is that my story of the Comtoise clock would have been different if I had already known all that I was able to experience, learn and evaluate in the years after 2009.

Experiences based on seeing and examining numerous very early Comtoise clocks and other French wall clocks including their repairs/restorations, finding a Mayet tower clock that is still unknown to me, finding an English grandfather clock with Mayet escapement that was unknown to me until 2011, acquisition of two hybrids Comtoise/Lantern clockworks in 2021 and new insights into nuts and bolts.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

 

 

3.  PICTURES - MIRROR

 

In the previous chapter I showed you the various representations of the authors, now I would like to list the clocks shown, which should prove the existence of Comtoise clocks in the 17th century.

 

Due to copyright, it is unfortunately not possible to reprint illustrations from other literature here, unless with the appropriate permission of the author or the owner of the clock. So I can only give you hints in which literature and on which pages you can see the illustration(s). For those of you who own the cited literature, this will certainly not be a problem to look there as well!

 

These are the following clocks:

 

There are three movements in TARDY that are worth looking at, illustrated in 3me Partie, PROVINCES ET ETRANGER, on pages 280 and 281.

At TON BOLLEN we see a Haute-Saône work in his book from 1974 ( German edition from 2006 ) with figs. 1 and 2.

 

STEVE NEMRAVA does not have a Comtoise clock that he dates before 1700. However, he is the first to describe and depict so-called Morbier Lantern Clocks ( Comtoise Lantern Clocks ) in English-language literature, which he dates to the 17th century. But more about these clocks later in a separate chapter.

 

GUSTAV SCHMITT does not find any Comtoise clock that he dates before 1700. However, he is the first to describe and depict so-called Comtoise lantern clocks in German literature. But more about these watches later in a separate chapter.

 

However, MAITZNER/MOREAU also has the clockwork that Tardy shows on page 280, fig. b); the back of this movement is also shown in the two illustrations, photos 196 and 197 on pages 143/144. In addition, the hour wheel made of wood with star and hour scale is shown here with photo 198, but in a rear view. Otherwise there is no Comtoise clock before 1700 at Maitzner/Moreau.

 

In the 2005 edition of SIEGFRIED BERGMANN there is only one clock that is dated around 1700. Pages 20-23, Figures 3 to 3.4 In Siegfried Bergmann's 2012 edition there are two clocks, one of which is dated around 1690, the other, an identical clock already known from the 2005 edition, is dated around 1700. Pages 30 - 38, figures 4 - 4.3 and figures 5 - 5.4.

 

IN MY 2009 BOOK 'History of Comtoise Clocks' there are no clocks dated to around 1700 or earlier.

 

In the AUSSTELLUNGSKATALOG SCHOONHOVEN (SCHOONHOVEN EXHIBITION CATALOG) from 2004 there are two clocks, Fig. 1a and 1b and 1c on page 14, one of which is given as 1685/1690 (this clock is identical to the clock illustrated by Siegfried Bergmann in both editions, dated around 1690) , the other fig. 1 c is dated +/- 1700. This clock 1 c can also be found in Siegfried Bergmann on page 39 of the 2012 edition, but is dated around 1720 here.

The 2011 AUSSTELLUNGSKATALOG SCHONNHOVEN (SCHOONHOVEN EXHIBITION CATALOG) does not contain any Comtoise clocks that can be dated to around 1700 or earlier. All dates are after 1725.

 

In the book by LEONHARD VAN VELDHOVEN from 2014, the clocks already known from Siegfried Bergmann's literature appear; once the miniature tower clock from 1685/1690 on pages 249 and 250 with the illustrations F6o and F61 as well as with illustration F61 ( number can not be correct ) on page 259 below the clock dated around 1700, which can be found in Siegfried Bergmann and in the exhibition catalog Schoonhoven from 2004 is mentioned. 

 

The clock from the Geneva Museum is also shown, signed Moyse Golay 1693 cu Chenit. However, Leonhard van Veldhoven explains that this watch can only be a fake. Also because of my remarks (more about that in chapter: 1730) about the Mayet escapement, it must be clear that this clock cannot come from 1693, since the Mayet escapement cannot have existed at that time.

 

There are no Comtoise clocks dated before 1720 in the books from 2010 to 2019 Francois Buffard.

 

In the magazine CHRONOMÉTROPHILIA of the Swiss Society for the History of Timekeeping, issue Été/Summer 2012, no. 71, GEORG VON HOLTEY had no illustrations of clocks dated before 1700 in his essay „Handschriften der Uhrmacher des Hohen Jura  in ihren  Uhren aus  dem frühen 18. Jahrhundert“ (“Manuscripts of clockmakers from the Upper Jura in their clocks from the early 18th century”.)

 

TARDY has three movements worth looking at, illustrated in 3me Partie, PROVINCES ET ÉTRANGER, on pages 280 and 281.

Fig. a) Page 280 bottom left. Iron plate movement with one hand, cable pull, lever escapement and bell strike.

 

The clock is believed to have a locking-plate striking mechanism as there are 24 pins on the hour wheel which raise the striking mechanism release lever. The hammer foot is raised by pins of the lifting pin wheel. Anchor escapement not visible.

 

Unfortunately, it remains a mystery to me why Tardy assigns this movement to the Comtoise movements. To be honest, I have never held such a work in my hands, let alone seen it. So it would be very interesting to find such a movement, maybe from among the readership, to be able to look at it better.

 

Fig. b) Page 280 bottom right: Large rectangular forged cage (twice as high as wide) with bar plates, anchor escapement and rack striking mechanism, 2 hands movement. Coarse rectangular gearing, pointed triangular gearing of the hour wheel (compare clock fig. 1 by Ton Bollen). An early movement, which probably comes from the Haute-Saône.

 

Fig. bottom of page 281. A front and back view of a movement which is not forged but has cage pillars held together by nuts at top and bottom. The iron sinkers are secured both below and above by small iron wedges. No plugging the circuit board into the lower cage plate and securing it with screws through the upper cage plate. Strikes and repeats the hours and quarters, controlled by a locking plate. Lateral anchor. A work that still stands in the tradition of the 17th century due to the way the cage was manufactured and the plates were fastened, but which must be dated to after 1750 due to the use of the existing screws and striking mechanism. Tardy himself dates it "fin Louis XV." (Late Louis XV.) A movement which, due to its construction with nuts and fastening wedges, could be a prototype, basic model, for the Comtoise of the 18th century, a hybrid of a lantern clock and a Comtoise clock.

 

In Maitzner/Moreau 1985, page 14 with photo 17 shows a clock that was built in Pondevaux with elements typical of Comtoise.

 

Quote: "Horloge du type comtois, construite par Antoine Morand à Pondevaux, horlogeur du Roy, en 1722. Cage en fer, piliers en fer, sonnerie à cremaillière, poids, echappement à roue de rencontre".

( Clock based on the Comtois style, made by Antoine Morand from Pondevaux, the king's watchmaker, in 1722. Iron cage, iron plates, rack mechanism, weights, verge escapement )

 

Maitzner/Moreau apparently knew this watch, so they also describe the structure of the movement.

 

While working with Ton Bollen, we asked the museum in Pondevaux if we could look at and examine this watch by Antoine Morand, but unfortunately had to learn that it had been stolen from the museum a long time ago.

 

In their book, Maitzner/Morau quote from the Revue chronométrique N.681, June 1913: „ - à Pont de Vaux ( département de l’Ain ) un horloger célèbre sous Louis XIV, Antoine Morand, né le 30 janvier 1674, décédé le 6 septembre 1757, fabriqua en qualité  d’ „Horologeur du Roy“, l’horloge du Château de Versailles, installée dans le Salon de Mars, avec carillon et automates, à la gloire des victoires de Louis XIV. Cette horloge fut fabriquée à pont de Vaux en 1706“.        („in Pont de Vaux (department of Ain) a famous clockmaker under Louis XIV, Antoine Morand, born January 30, 1674, died September 6, 1757, manufactured as "Horologeur du Roy", the clock of the Château de Versailles, installed in the Salon de Mars, with chimes and automatons, to the glory of the victories of Louis XIV. This clock was made in Pont de Vaux in 1706.“)

 

Maitzner/Moreau goes on to say on page 15:

„La Mairie de Pont de Vaux conserve une horloge de Morand datée de 1722 et signée Antoine Morand à pondevaux, Horlogeur du Roy. (photo 17 – page 14 )“.

And now comes the crucial sentence:„Dans ces deux horloges, les rouages sont montés entre des piliers comme les horloges de Comté. Sonnerie à crémaillière, échappement à roue de rencontre. On retrouve ce type de montage jusque dans le région de Saint-Etienne ( département de la Loire ).“ („In these two clocks, the wheel sets are mounted between pillars like Comté clocks. Rack striking, anchor escapement. We find this type of assembly even in the region of Saint-Etienne (department of the Loire)“

The clock, which is certainly still in the Palace of Versailles today, was also made in the Comtois style.

Now I have one more reason to finally pay a visit to the Palace of Versailles to hopefully take a look inside this clock.

 

In Maitzner/Moreau, on page 15, photo 19, there is a clock whose cage pillars are provided with threads and nuts both below and above.

Description by Maitzner/Moreau:

"Photo 19 - Horloge comtoise à cadra diam 14.5 cm et fronton en étain, une aiguille, sigle réligieux".

( Photo 19 - Comtoise clock with 14.5 cm diameter face and pewter front piece, single hand, religious monogram )

 

One can clearly see that the cage pillars are threaded at the top and bottom, allowing large square nuts to secure the top and bottom cage plates. Since very early Comtoise clocks of the Haut Jura type usually have very high chimneys for hanging the pendulum, this chimney should be visible behind the pewter front piece. For me, this is not a Comtoise watch from the High Jura, as there is no cable movement.

Unfortunately, Maitzner/Moreau do not give a description of the structure of the movement. From the perspective I interpret this clock as coming from the Massif Central, 1st half of the 18th century.

 

In TON BOLLEN's book "COMTOISE KLOKKEN" from 1974 ( German edition from 2006 ) with Fig. 1 and 2 we see a Haute-Saône movement, which is already a step further than the movement from Tardy just described above. In the book by Leonhard van Velthoven there is another picture of this movement by Ton Bollen, page 255 top right, an oblique view from the back. 

 

The cage of this clock is forged at the bottom and secured by screw nuts at the top. In picture 1 you can see the screw nuts very well, but where you would expect the typical fastening screws of the circuit boards, you can only see very small pins. This cannot actually be screws, because they would be far too small for that. I think these are pegs as well as the two at the bottom of the board that plug into the cage plate. Of course, this means an improvement in terms of the durability of the entire construction compared to fastening with wedges. Wedges and plates can come loose, bolts, top and bottom trunnions will not come loose, even if the bolt nuts should come loose or be missing entirely, the weight of the cage top plate would prevent the structure from falling apart. This movement was assembled as follows: First, the two front plates of the going and striking mechanisms are inserted into the forged cage, which is open at the top, secured by pins in the lower cage plate. Then the upper cage plate is put on so that the pins of the two boards already engage in the holes in the cage plate, the screw nuts at the front left and front right are unscrewed, but only so far that the cage plate can still be lifted to the rear while the boards are fixed at the same time . Now you can insert the complete wheel set of the striking mechanism and align it accordingly, if necessary screw the rear right nut a little into the thread.The front and rear striking mechanism plate must be fixed for the period of inserting the going train including the rear going train plate. Then, after placing the cage plate and completely unscrewing the nuts, you can loosen the fastening of the striking mechanism, since all plates and the wheels and levers between them are now installed in the cage. 

 

The next step on the movement to the Comtoise movement as it was then built almost 200 years ago is an all forged cage in which the 4 plates are secured by mounting screws through the cage top plate. It is no longer necessary to fix the striking mechanism during assembly, as the two sets of wheels can be assembled and disassembled completely independently of one another.

 

The production of small fastening screws is of course more complicated than the production of larger threaded nuts. A very simple rule: the older the watch, the fewer screws, especially fewer fastening screws. The rule also applies: Clocks from different times also have different types of fastening screws, i.e. in particular different screw heads. So there is also a genealogy of screws. But more about that later in the corresponding chapter on screw production.

 

So for now we can state:

 

1. The 3 plates of the lantern clock movement are secured in a cage with wedges. 

 

2. In a cage, the boards are now secured with wedges due to the need to put the 4 boards next to each other for an 8-day running time with cable hoist and weights. 

 

3. In a cage, the lower ends of the cage pillars are now forged due to the necessary juxtaposition of the 4 plates for an 8-day running time with cable hoist and weights and the upper ends of the cage pillars are secured with nuts.

 

4. In a completely forged cage, the sinkers are now secured with fastening screws due to the need to put the sinkers next to each other for an 8-day running time with cable hoist and weights. In this way, a development from the lantern clock cage to the comtoise cage is conceivable. Conceivable, however, only through the use of fastening screws.

 

However, this Haute-Saône movement seems to have another special feature that points to the English relationship.

 

The normal Comtoise striking mechanism, as every collector knows it, consists of four wheels one above the other. 1st wheel - main wheel, 2nd wheel -  star wheel, 3rd wheel brake wheel,  4th wheel -  fly.

 

However, this Haute-Saône movement has another small wheel between the 3rd and 4th wheel, i.e. 5 wheels one above the other. The striking mechanism does not have a bow rake, but rather the vertically falling rake. The rake is still guided, i.e. held in position, by a lever which passes through the upper cage plate. So what is the purpose of the additional 5th wheel?

 

Barlow's version of the rack mechanism has 5 wheels, one of which serves as the forerunner wheel, i.e. the rack is released and falls onto the hour scale while the forerunner wheel turns halfway at the same time. A brake pin on the leading wheel prevents the gear train from running off. At the top of the hour, the brake lever is then released so that the gear train can run and the gathering cam on the 3rd wheel transports the rake one notch, i.e. one stroke, on a complete revolution. 

Comtoise clocks are said to have such constructions, and I remember that a collector once showed me photos of his clock at a clock fair many years ago. I had already mentioned this in volume II text volume of my history of the Comtoise clocks.

It is possible that the clock movement illustrated by Ton Bollen is one of Barlow's striking constructions. Ultimate certainty could of course only be found if this movement was found again. In any case, Barlow's striking construction would indicate a date of +/- 1685 rather than 1725.

 

The movement has another peculiarity, which in my opinion also indicates a rather early than a late date. The toothing of the hour wheel is pointed. If all of the wheels in a set of wheels were geared in this way, then problems with the necessary power transmission would be inevitable. At the end of a set of wheels, ie when no further wheels have to be moved, this toothing is not problematic. This toothing is certainly much easier to produce because it is less precise and therefore cheaper than the sawn and filed teeth of the wheels.

 

Since the range of very early Comtoise clocks in the literature is very small, I have to go into these illustrated clocks and evaluate them from my point of view.

 

In both its 2005 and 2012 editions, SIEGFRIED BERGMANN depicts a clock that he describes as "one of the first one-hand Comtoise clocks - made around 1700". Edition 2005 pages 20 - 23, Fig.3 - Fig.3.4. Edition 2012, pages 34 - 38, Fig.5 - Fig.5.4 Text largely identical, but in 2012 with the addition that the bell is signed JEAN DUBOIS AU PUY. Measurements are also different, probably in 2005 the total height including the sawn cast brass attachment was mistakenly used for the calculation of the volume.

 

This clock was not made in the High Jura.                                                                                  

 

This clock was also not made in Haute-Saône or Haute-Marne, because the verge movement and the shape of the rake clearly speak against it. Although it is a curved rake, its form differs from the rakes used in Haute-Saône or Haute-Marne. Also, the arithmetic is made of brass, not iron. I am not aware of any brass made rake from a Comtoise of Franche Comté, i.e. neither Haute-Saône nor Haut-Jura, from the period 1710-1750. In addition, I do not know of any brass rakes in the 18th century. The type of hands is not what I would expect from a late 17th century clock, it is much too elaborate for that, too detailed. 

This clock was also not made around 1700, because the screw types used, in particular the teardrop-shaped screw heads visible on the back, and the fact that this clock strikes the hour with a repeater speak against it. The first Comtoise clocks of the Haut-Jura type (formerly Mayet Comtoise) after 1710 do not yet have an hour strike with a repeater. This peculiarity of striking the hour with a repeater was introduced by the Haut-Jura Comtoise between 1740 and 1750, after which it became standard.

 

For me, this clock was made around 1740/1750 in the Massif Central or possibly the Loire region. The brass rake and the stronger influence of a clockmaker in the manufacture of the wheels and pinions speak more for the Loire region. The drives with their pinions seem to be made from one piece, which a master of his trade is more likely to make than a blacksmith watchmaker, no matter how good. There is a discrepancy between the perfectly crafted brass wheels, iron pinions and turned iron parts (rear cage pillars and pins and feet) and the rather primitively crafted cast brass attachment. In addition to clockmakers and blacksmiths, other suppliers were certainly involved, certainly the bell foundry Dubois, who possibly also supplied the brass for wheels and decorative parts.

 

In Siegfried Bergmann's book from 2005 on pages 78 + 79 with the figs. 45 to 45.4 a Haute Saône Comtoise clock is shown, which probably also dates from the early 18th century, certainly from the period 1720 to 1730.

 

Cage dimensions: 190mm high x 210mm wide x 110mm deep.

 

Hook escapement, small anchor spanning 4 teeth of the escape wheel, pin wheel in the striking mechanism, typical large scythe rake, with the fall of which the gathering cam also begins to turn.

 

In the 4-volume edition of 2012 by SIEGFRIED BERGMANN, another clock is presented that is said to have been manufactured around 1690. Pages 30 - 33, Fig.4 - Fig.4.3 He writes: "Fig 4 Very early one-hand Comtoise clock with great similarity to the tower clock construction in Fig.2 -time: around 1690." If Siegfried Bergmann then before on page 28 to Fig. 2 writes: " Tower clock from southern France - around 1700 - ................ The Mayet brothers took tower clock constructions as a model for their first Comtoise clocks." then this probably means that the 'very early one-hand Comtoise clock closely resembling the tower clock construction in Fig. 2' was made by the Mayet brothers.

 

All known Mayet tower clocks are wrought iron, and it took about a year and several smiths to produce such a clock. By 1683 the Mayet had no knowledge of pendulum use. The later tower clocks of Orgelet and St. Nizier originally had the foliot,

 

In all well-known Mayet tower clocks, the Mayet put the trains of gears next to each other and for this small tower clock of all things, the trains off gears were then set one after the other? 

A few other things, such as the pendulum suspension, the flat bell (which can of course be replaced), but most importantly the screws used (threaded screw for fastening the hour hand and fastening screws of the plates with round heads), speak for a different origin and later creation of these Clock. I date this clock to between 1740 and 1750.

 

                                           

4. LANTERN CLOCKS

 

In the 15th century wall clocks for use in the house were developed for the first time, the so-called Gothic house clocks. The tower clocks of the Middle Ages had served as a model, so that the movement structure of these clocks was a reduced version of the tower clocks, the tower clocks were miniaturized, so to speak. Tower clocks and Gothic house clocks were made by the same manufacturers, namely blacksmiths.

If the tower clocks had 2 wheels plus escapement and had to be wound every 6 hours, the Gothic house clocks now had 3 wheels plus escapement for a longer running time and only had to be wound every 12 to 15 hours. Only very wealthy monasteries, aristocrats or rich merchants could afford these watches, which were the ultimate status symbol at the time.

These Gothic house clocks took the form of a cathedral spire, often adorned with their numerous architectural Gothic style elements. The going train and striking mechanism were built into the movement cage one behind the other. Verge action with folio was the escapement of the clock, both tower clocks and house clocks.

You could influence the accuracy, i.e. walking ahead or behind, by moving small weights on the balance beam. If the small weights were placed closer to the fulcrum, the clock would go faster; if they were placed closer to the end of the bar, the clock would go slower. Not very practical, because many of the people who could even afford these clocks moved frequently between their different residences, and the clock naturally traveled with them. Everything had to be reset at the new location.

 

In the 15th century the foliot was replaced by the rim foliot. It was now no longer possible to regulate by shifting the small weights on the balance beam, but by changing the winding weight. Heavier weight - the wheel ratchet rotates back and forth faster, lighter weight - the wheel ratchet rotates back and forth more slowly. Once the right weight was found, there was no need to readjust if you *moved* to another location. Of course, there was still a great deal of inaccuracy with this escapement.

 

In the second half of the 17th century, the wheels made of iron were increasingly replaced by wheels made of brass, and towards the end of the century the first movements made entirely of brass appeared, i.e. movement cage and wheels made of brass. Now it were clockmakers who worked with brass and gradually replaced the blacksmiths who made clocks made of iron. In the cities it was now the clockmakers who produced clocks, in the country it was still the blacksmiths who produced simpler, i.e. especially cheaper clocks for their rural customers.

The clock parts could be cast from brass, simple blanks in the sand or with molds that the clockmaker could then work on.

These first clocks made of brass based on models from the continent originated in England, then appeared as lantern clocks ( clocks made of brass - horloges en laiton ) first in Normandy and finally spread throughout France. It should be noted that it wasn't the shape that was new, because it was already built in France, but the material for the cage.

The escapement was the rim foliot already used in Gothic house clocks, which of course was then gradually replaced from about 1660 in a transitional period by the verge escapement with a short pendulum. These clocks were mainly made by clockmakers in the big cities, such as Paris and Lyon, but also by blacksmiths in the provinces, such as in the Massif Central, in Normandy or in the Loire region. After the invention of the hook escapement and rack strike mechanism in England, these innovations were then adopted by the clockmakers and smiths of Normandy and became standard during the extensive production of lantern clocks in the 18th and early 19th centuries, think of the lantern clock manufacture of Pont- Farcy. These new English inventions probably spread beyond Normandy and Paris immediately after the annexation of Franche Comté by France in 1678, so that a clock with a hook escapement and rack striking mechanism could be created in the Haute-Saône.

The two wheel sets with hook escapement and rack striking mechanism are also installed next to each other between the front and back plate in English movements, which were held in place by movement pillars/spacers, wheel sets, however, with a running time of 8 days. The traditional movement structure of lantern clocks continued to be used in England well into the 18th century for 'simple and inexpensive' longcase clocks, these typical movements in a cage with a running time of 36 hours and locking plate striking mechanisms are no longer called 'lantern clock movements', but 'bird cage movements’. 

In terms of function, an English grandfather clockwork and the Haute-Saône clockwork shown by Ton Bollen (photos 1-3) with 8-day running time, hook escapement and locking plate striking mechanism are identical. The fundamental difference consists only in the separation of the wheel sets of going train and striking train in the Haute-Saône movement and no separation of the sets in the English grandfather clock movement. Of course, the front and rear plate of a wheel set must be fixed so that the wheels can run smoothly. This fixation, instead of spacers/movement pillars in the English plate movement, is now taken over by the lower and upper plates of the cage in the Haute-Saône movement.

The advantage of separate wheel sets for repairs/maintenance lies in the simpler assembly and disassembly of the same, i.e. time/cost savings.

English movements were intended for use in a wooden case, i.e. protected from dust. 8-day clockworks, such as the Haute-Saône clockwork or the later Haut-Jura clockwork, were hung on wooden brackets on the wall, but no complex wooden protection against dust had to be built around the movement, because two metal doors and a metal rear wall could be inserted directly into the metal cage. So for the producers of these early clocks, for the blacksmiths, this was much easier than building or procuring wooden cases. The importance of dust protection can be seen from the fact that most of the very early Comtoise watches had sliding lugs installed

 

The Haute-Saône movement, dated +- 1685 and illustrated by Ton Bollen, was considered the Origin-Comtois for decades, at least by Ton Bollen and myself. It is definitely a direct precursor of the Haut-Jura Comtoise movement, so I no longer speak of Mayet type Comtoise clocks ( for the first Haut-Jura movements ), but of Haut-Jura type Comtoise clocks, since the Mayet does not have been the Inventors of the Comtoise movement and are not the only clockmakers who used the Haute-Saône Comtoise type as a model for the Haut-Jura type.

In any case, the Mayet did not invent the Comtoise clock in the 17th century, or the type of clock that developed in the High Jura. The Mayet family was certainly involved in the development, along with numerous other families whose names we all find as signatures on the early Haut-Jura Comtoise from around 1710. The name MAYET is found much more frequently as a signature on clocks in relation to other family names, which was probably due to the fact that the Mayet family clan was much larger than that of other families.

That the Mayet family clan was fundamentally involved, however, is evident from the very fact that the Mayet ( les sieurs Mayet ) developed an escapement that bears their name. ( see chapter: 1730 )

The technical skills of the blacksmiths existed, the individual components, such as the verge escapement, hook escapement, locking plate striking mechanism, rack striking mechanism and pendulum use were certainly known in the High Jura around 1690, but this does not mean that a functioning clock can only be made by assembling these components receives.

Knowledge and ability to build large forged church tower clocks were available. Knowledge and ability, small clockworks, which were no longer completely forged, were not available and had to be learned first.

However, if the authorities in Morbier around 1697 apparently registered clockmaking training, this seems to prove that the need for watchmaking training was recognized and encouraged!? Watchmaker training to promote the earning potential of the population!?

You can read more about the possibility of training in the clockmaking later in Chapter 8. IN THE YEAR 1730…..

 

The Haut-Jura Comtoise clock as a wall clock is not the further development of the tower clocks built by the Mayet in the Haut-Jura! In the second half of the 17th century, lantern clocks were already being built in many parts of France, which were then developed into a clock in a bolted iron cage in the Haute-Saône under the influence of technical innovations from England, which were then countered by the smiths of the High Jura at the end of the 17th century and at the beginning of the 18th century, with the further development of technical innovations and the more consistent use of fastening screws, the new clock type of the Haut-Jura Comtoise watch was developed, so that in the decade 1710 to 1720 a product was available that the other traditionally manufactured lantern clocks became oversized competition.

In addition to a wall clock type that already existed in Central and Western Europe, i.e. England, France, Germany, Italy, Flanders and the Netherlands, namely the lantern clock, the Comtoise wall clock developed in the High Jura at the beginning of the 18th century as a new independent clock type.

 

5. COMTOISE LANTERN CLOCKS

 

In addition to the Comtoise clock, which had developed in the High Jura, there are said to be so-called Comtoise lantern clocks, which are said to have developed from the Comtoise clocks in the 18th century.

Gustav Schmitt calls this type of clock: COMTOISE CLOCK ON FEET On page 582, 3rd edition 1983, he writes: „Parallel zu der Entwicklung der normalen Comtoise-Uhr erfolgte die Entwicklung der Comtoise-Uhr auf Füßen. Sie wurde nur etwa 100 Jahre lang gebaut und zwar im 18. Jahrhundert. Die Comtoise-Uhr auf Füßen ist erheblich weniger verbreitet als die normale Comtoise-Uhr.                                                                                                                                         Die Comtoise-Uhr auf Füßen hat einige Elemente der sog. Laternenuhr übernommen, die zur gleichen Zeit gebaut wurde, z.B. die Füße und die oberen Drehzapfen; aber das Hauptmerkmal einer Laternenur, die Lage von Gehwerk und Schlagwerk hintereinander, fehlt.“ („The Comtoise clock on feet was developed parallel to the development of the normal Comtoise clock. It was only built for about 100 years, in the 18th century. The Comtoise clock on feet is considerably less common than the regular Comtoise clock. The Comtoise clock on feet inherits some elements of the so-called lantern clock built at the same time, e.g. the feet and the upper pivots; but the main feature of a lantern only, the position of the going train and striking mechanism one behind the other, is missing.”) 

Pages 586 - 591 then show various 8-day cable-pull Comtoise clocks on feet.

 

Jeder Leser wird nun vermutlich annehmen, dass diese Comtoise Uhren auch im Hohen Jura gefertigt wurden. Es gibt keinerlei Hinweise, die darauf hindeuten könnten, dass diese Comtoise Uhren auf Füßen nicht im Hohen Jura gefertigt worden sein könnten. Dies ist leider vollkommen unverständlich, denn einige der bei Schmitt abgebildeten Uhren stammen aus der Sammlung von René Schoppig und sind identisch mit Uhren, die im Jahr 1985 in der Ausstellung: QUATRE SIÈCLES D‘HORLOGERIE FRANCAISE À POIDS im Museum CROZATIER von Le Puy-En-Velay ausgestellt und im Ausstellungskatalog abgebildet sind. Gustav Schmitt schreibt auf den Vorseiten seines Buch von 1983 auf Seite XI unten: „ Mein besonderer Dank gilt HERRN RENE SCHOPPIG für seine freundschaftliche und uneigennützige Mitwirkung bei der Bearbeitung der Periode von 1680 bis 1820, der wichtigsten Periode der Comtoise-Uhr, für die er ein wirkliche Kenner ist.“ Demnach stammt die Zuordnung der Comtoise-Uhr auf Füßen als im Hohen Jura gefertigter Uhrentyp von René Schoppig?  Es ist für mich schwer vorstellbar, dass Rene Schoppig seine Einschätzung bzgl. dieses Uhrentyps dann innerhalb von einem Jahr radikal änderte, denn im 

Ausstellungskatalog: QUATRE SIÈCLES D‘HORLOGERIE FRANCAISE À POIDS im Museum CROZATIER von Le Puy-En-Velay schreibt er auf Seite 72 unter der Überschrift: COMTOISES-LANTERNES AU XVIIIe SIÈCLE: „Hybride de l‘horloge lanterne et de l‘horloge franc-comtoise, la comtoise-lanterne eu une importance considérable dans la production des forgerons-horlogers du Massif Central surtout dans la deuxième moitié du XVIIIe siècle.“ ( „Hybrid of the lantern clock and the Franche-Comté clock, the Comtoise-lantern had a considerable importance in the production of blacksmith-watchmakers in the Massif Central, especially in the second half of the 18th century.“)

With Rene Schoppig, clearly no production in the High Jura, but in the Massif Central.

 

Unfortunately, he now refers to this type of clock, which Gustav Schmitt calls *Comtoise clock on feet*, as *COMTOISES-LANTERNES*, which every German would now translate as *COMTOISE-LANTERN CLOCKS*.

 

In his book: L'HORLOGE FRANCAISE À POIDS from 1984 he hadn't yet spoken of *COMTOISES LANTERNES*. In this book there aren't even any illustrations of these lantern clocks with an 8-day cable movement. However, he also describes and depicts the *HORLOGE LANTERNE CAMPAGNARDE, i.e. the RURAL  LANTERN CLOCK. Lantern clocks of the Massif Central going and striking mechanisms arranged one after the other with day movement.

The COMTOISE LANTERN CLOCKS then appear for the first time in the 1985 exhibition catalogue. They differ from the HORLOGE LANTERNE CAMPAGNARD only in that the COMTOISE LANTERN CLOCKS have 8-day weight driven movements installed. However, both types are lucratively manufactured side by side by the blacksmith clockmakers of Massif Central. If René Schoppig had not called this clock type COMTOISE-LANTERNE ( Comtoise lantern clock ), but following the logic of the designation LANTERNE CAMPAGNARDE, now also called LANTERNE-COMTOISE (comtoise-style lantern clock ), this unfortunate misinterpretation would - possibly only on the German side - the COMTOISE LANTERN CLOCK - did not originate as a Comtoise clock with lantern clock elements. In any case, he explicitly pointed out that these clocks did not come from Franche-Comté, but from the Massif Central region.

 

But once in the world, this designation - COMTOISE LANTERN CLOCK - will then be spread uncritically. While Gustav Schmitt calls them *COMTOISE-UHR AUF FUESSEN*  (*COMTOISE-UHR ON FEET*), Siegfried Bergmann calls them *COMTOISE LATERNEN UHREN* (*COMTOISE-LANTERNEN CLOCKS*). 

 

On page 385 of his 2005 edition Comtoise clocks, Siegfried Bergmann writes: „ 15.3 Comtoise-Laternenuhren  Die Uhrmacher der Franche-Comté waren zu jeder Zeit offen für neue Entwicklungen auf dem Gebiet der Uhren. Sie haben sich vertraut gemacht mit den am Markt verfügbaren Uhrentypen aus anderen berühmten Uhrenzentren, haben Uhren gekauft, zerlegt, begutachtet und Vor-und Nachteile der verschiedenen Konstruktionen gegenübergestellt. Und sie scheuten sich nicht, gute Ideen, wenn möglich von Ihnen selbst noch verbessert, auf die eigenen Produkte zu übertragen. So ist auch anzunehmen, dass die französische Laternenuhr der Anfang des 18. Jahrhunderts entstandenen Comtoise-Laternenuhr als Vorbild diente.                                                                                                                   Comtoise-Laternenuhren wurden parallel zu den normalen Comtoise-Uhren während des gesamten 18. Jh. hergestellt. Allerdings haben sie weit weniger Verbreitung gefunden.“          (“ 15.3 Comtoise lantern clocks The clocckmakers of Franche-Comté have always been open to new developments in the field of clocks. They have familiarized themselves with the types of clocks available on the market from other well-known clock centers, bought clocks, disassembled them, examined them and compared the advantages and disadvantages of the various constructions. And they didn't shy away from transferring good ideas to their own products, if possible even improving them yourself. It can also be assumed that the French lantern clock served as a model for the Comtoise lantern clock that was created at the beginning of the 18th century. 

Comtoise lantern clocks were made alongside the normal Comtoise clocks throughout the 18th century. However, they have found far less distribution.”)

 

In his 4-volume edition *COMTOISE-UHREN* by Siegfried Bergmann, published in 2012, nothing changes with regard to the statement made in 2005, but further examples of COMTOISE LANTERN CLOCKS are shown, see Chapter 15.3 Comtoise Lantern Clocks on pages 981 - 993

 

I would therefore like to state as a result that there are no COMTOISE LANTERN CLOCKS, because the designation COMTOISE LANTERN CLOCKS suggests that this type of clock was built in the High Jura,

 

NEITHER COMTOISE LANTERN CLOCKS NOR LANTERN COMTOISE CLOCKS WERE BUILT IN THE HIGH JURA!

HOWEVER, IN ORDER TO AVOID ANY AFFINITY OF THIS CLOCK TYPE WITH THE HIGH JURA, ONE SHOULD TALK ABOUT *LANTERN CLOCKS OF MASSIF CENTRAL*!

 

I consider the above statements to be important, especially the clarification that in the High Jura neither Comtoise lantern clocks nor Comtoise lantern clocks nor lantern clocks with 8-day cable movements were built, which would not have served as a model for the development of the Comtoise clock of the High Jura and could have emerged as a follow-up product to the Comtoise clock of the High Jura that had already been developed.

 

In his book *Franse Lantaarn Klokken, Bussum 1978, Ton Bollen depicts two lantern clocks in Figures 101 and 103, which he assigns to the Jura. Incidentally, these are the only two Jura lantern clocks in his work.

No. 101: A beautiful clock that looks like a lantern clock from the outside (pin, feet, verge escapement above the cover plate), but with a running and striking train next to each other. He describes it as follows: “Ijzeren lantaarnklok uit de Jura. Gesigneerd F. Lièvre op de belhamer, die voor het slaan buiten de klok komt. De klok is zorgvuldig gesmeed, ieder onderdeel is van ijzer, hel skelet is met de pinakels en de voeten geschroefd, +- 1665-1670. De losse slingerophanging en de minutenaanduiding wijzen op grote vakmanschap. F. Lièvre was al in 1602 uurwerkmakersleerling in Genève. Omdat der klok geen sporen vertoont van ombouw van balansgang naar slinger kunnen we aannemen, dat Francois Lièvre de lantaarnklok op de gezegende leeftijd van +- 70 jaren heft vervaardigt.“       („Iron lantern clock from the Jura. Signed F. Lièvre on the bell hammer, which comes outside the bell before striking. The clock is carefully forged, every part is made of iron, the skeleton is screwed with the pinnacles and the feet, +- 1665-1670. The loose pendulum suspension and the minute indication indicate great craftsmanship. F. Lièvre was already a clockmaker's apprentice in Geneva in 1602. Because the clock shows no traces of conversion from rim foliot to pendulum, we can assume that Francois Lièvre manufactured the lantern clock at the blessed age of +- 70 years.”)

 

Unfortunately, I cannot follow Ton Bollen's assessment at all, because I would never think of assigning this clock to the Jura. Here I prefer to follow Tardy, in whose DICTIONNAIRE DES HORLOGERS FRANCAIS I find the following entry on page 414: “LIÈVRE Francois de. Barcelonne près d'Abrun (sic) App. at Geneve, 1602.”

 

Francois de Lièvre was an apprentice in Geneva in 1602 and he comes from Barcelonne, which is near Ambrun / Embrun. Tardy probably mentions Ambrun here because this city, east of Barcelonne, is probably the most important city in this region.

 

Barcelonne is near Valence/Rhone, about halfway between Lyon and Avignon. If he is mentioned as an apprentice clockmaker in Geneva around 1602, then he must have been born around 1592/94. Apprentice with 8/10 years could fit. Whether he built this clock around 1665/1670 - then already at the blessed age of 75/80 years and not 70 years, as Ton Bollen states - at about the same time as Fromanteel built his first pendulum clocks in London a daring hypothesis. The clock may have been built later, after 1665/1670, but then Lièvre would have been 80 or 85 years old. Unfortunately, the year of his death is not known. 

But regardless of whether the year of origin of the clock can be brought into line with its age, this clock definitely does not belong in the Jura for me, but rather on the Lyon - Avignon route.

 

Unfortunately, Ton Bollen does not specify what kind of striking mechanism is present in this movement. If the clock was built before 1680, it must have a locking plate striking mechanism. After 1680 ( Barlow's patent application for the rack striking mechanism dates from 1686 ), a rack striking mechanism could theoretically have been chosen, but this is extremely unlikely, because this invention was certainly not known in the French provinces before 1686/1690. In figure no. 101, which shows the striking mechanism side, one should actually be able to see the locking plate, if one were present. A locking plate is neither visible on the back of the striking mechanism plate, where one would first expect such a plate, nor integrated into the ground wheel. Theoretically, but unlikely, the locking plate could also be mounted on the front plate of the striking mechanism, i.e. not visible in the photo, as the dial would cover it.

The construction of a rack mechanism, then at the earliest around 1690 ( Lièvre would have been almost 100 years old by then ), is unfortunately not recognizable either. The clock has hour and minute hands, unlikely for a provincial clock from around 1665/70, but not impossible. 

The dial is not visible. Is it original from the period?

A clockmaker who allegedly builds a two-hand clock with the absolutely new gear system of the verge escapement about 10 years after its invention does not sign the dial like any other clockmaker would have done, but rather the bell hammer! The signature on the bell hammer is very unusual. The only thing that we can clearly recognize and that makes us think of a Comtoise clock is the fact that the going train and striking train are next to each other. This fact alone, next to each other wheel sets of walking and striking mechanism in a lantern clock cage, proves that the Mayet were not the inventors of the Haut-Jura Comtoise clockwork, if it is assumed or can be proven that this movement dates from the second half of the 17th century.  

                                       

No. 103. A small lantern clock that Ton Bollen attributes to the Jura. „Een primitieve lantaarnklok uit de Jura, +- 1730. De messing wijzer en de voeten doen denken  an  de  Comtoise-wandklokken  uit de Haut-Saône  en  de  Haut-Marne.“  („A primitive lantern clock from the Jura, circa 1730. The brass hands and feet are reminiscent of the Comtoise wall clocks from Haut-Saône and Haut-Marne.“ )  If we take away the mismatched brass hand, we are left with Haute-Saône and Haute Marne. The brass hand on this clock is too big, the tip of the original hand must have pointed exactly into the quarter division of the dial. 

Movement description No. 104: „ De werkzijde van den Lantaarnklok van foto 103., Het slaan op de bel wordt doorgevoerd door een groot sterrad op het grondrad van het slagwerk. Het uitlichten van de zaag doet sterk denken an de  toegepaste systemen in Comtoises. De stelling is gesmeed, de vazen ontbreken.“    („The movement side of the lantern clock of photo 103. The striking of the bell is carried out by a large star wheel on the ground wheel of the striking mechanism. The illumination of the saw is very reminiscent of the systems used in Comtoises. The scaffolding is forged, the vases are missing.”)

A 30-day chain-pull lantern clockwork, with *star and rake*, I would not attribute to the High Jura in the early 18th century solely because of the chain pull, but rather to Haute-Saône or Haute -Marne.

 

With No. 105, Ton Bollen then depicts a wall clock, which he assigns to Franche Comté. „ Een wandklok uit het Franke Comté, +- 1730. In deze wandklok is de Comtoise te erkennen. Het slagwerk liegt in tegenstelling met de Comtoise achter het gaandewerk. Het is een dagwerk met ankergang, de ophang-beugel is aan de zolderplaat bevestigt. Her skeletwerk is geschroefd.“ ( „ A wall clock from the Franche Comté, circa 1730. The Comtoise can be recognized in this wall clock. In contrast to the Comtoise, the striking train lies behind the going train. It is a daytime work with anchor escapement, the suspension bracket is attached to the attic plate. Its skeleton work is screwed.”)

 

The Comtoise of the Jura can indeed be seen in the dial, alarm disc and fronton, but not in the movement. Ton Bollen himself only speaks of a clock from Franche Comté, not from Jura as with the two previous clocks. Anchor action is given, but unfortunately nothing is said about the shape of the anchor. The most important features, such as screwed cage, lock plate striking mechanism, anchor escapement and wheel sets lying one behind the other speak for me against a clock from the High Jura.

 

Even after reading Ton Bollen's book, I have to conclude that there was no production of lantern clocks in the Jura, in the area in which the Haut-Jura Comtoise clock (formerly Mayet type Comtoise) has developed from the beginning of the 18th century.

 

Fromanteel was the first to bring the innovation of the pendulum from the Netherlands to England after 1657/1658. The type of house clock commonly used in England at that time was the lantern clock, whose regulating element - the rim foliot - was now replaced by the regulating element - the pendulum.

However, we must not assume that after 1658/1660 all lantern clocks were built with a verge mechanism and a short pendulum, since the pendulum made it possible to indicate the time much more precisely than the rim foliot; the rim foliot escapement lantern clocks continued to be made in London for another 30 to 40 years, although at that time London was the world's premier clockmaking city and *more modern* clocks were being developed and sold.

For us today it is hard to imagine that in 2020 we will still be driving cars that have been built unchanged for 40 years and have the technology of 1980. In the 17th century, however, the old coexisted unchanged with the new for a long time. The new models with verge escapement drive and pendulum were more expensive than those with rim foliot. The production chains for the manufacture of the clocks, such as suppliers of castings, pinions, wheels, etc., were broken in, and since the demand for the cheaper clocks persisted, they continued to be built.

 

The new models with verge movement and pendulum worked more precisely than those with rim foliot, but who really needed a clock that was accurate to the minute in their daily routine? Lantern clocks with rim folios were still being bought, even if they sometimes had a rate deviation of 15 or 30 minutes a day.

When the anchor escapement in connection with the long pendulum came up in the 1670s, it must have been similar. Most clockmakers followed their established paths and continued to build their clocks with wheel unrest, because customers continued to buy predominantly the cheaper clocks. On many lantern clocks we find indications that they originally had a rim foliot as an escapement and were later converted to an anchor escapement and a long pendulum. Very few modifications were made in the 17th century, most certainly in the 18th century, when the concept of time and the need for a more accurate time display had changed.

In addition to the lantern clock with a verge escapement and a short pendulum, which continued to be built well into the 18th century, another type of clock was created at the same time, namely the long-case clock with a verge escapement and a short pendulum.

 

„The transition from the typical mid-seventeenth century lantern clock as described in Chapter 1, to the earliest surviving longcase clock is very remarkable and makes one wonder whether some intermediate stage has been lost. Some early writers (3) have stated that the first longcase clocks had thirty-hour movements but there is no evidence to support this statement.                                                                   Figure 2/1 shows the movement of the earliest known longcase clock, c.1659-60, signed *A.Fromanteel Londini*, who made all the very early examples which had survived. It has an extremely early conversion to anchor escapement with 1 1/4 seconds pendulum, probably done by Fromanteel and with ten years of it being made, but this will not described at this stage.                                                          The trains are between brass plates joined by eight square pillars riveted into the back plate and secured to the front plates by swivelling latches ( figure 2/2 ). The front plate is divided vertically so that each train can be dismantled or assembled independently. The gearing is of coarse pitch, as in lantern clocks of the period, and in order to obtain a duration of eight days five wheels were used in each train, a feature found only in the first few examples.                                                                 3. Notably H.Cescinsky and M.R.Webster, English Domestic Clocks, 1914, p.110.“

Figure 2/3 shows the head of the grandfather clock with the square dial, in which the squares of the winding mechanisms of the going and striking mechanisms can be seen at the lower edge of the dial ring at the hours V and VII.

I am citing this passage for you from Tom Robinson's 1981 book *THE LONGCASE CLOCK* as it is an extremely rare instance of an intermediate stage in the development from the lantern clock to the house clock movement of the 18th century English grandfather clock. Elements of the lantern clock and elements of the 8-day house clock of the English grandfather clock can still be seen in this clockwork from Fromanteel. This example shows impressively that the 8-day grandfather clock movement of the 18th century that we are all familiar with did not come from a single mould, but as a result of a development process that shows movements in intermediate stages. Intermediate stages that combine elements of the old design with elements of the new design. There were probably also other individual pieces, intermediate stages of lantern clocks and 8-day longcase/or wall clock movements, in circuit board construction, but none of them, as prototypes/development movements, have survived the long span of almost 350 years up to our time.

 

Due to his Dutch origins, Ahasueras Fromanteel worked with Christian Huygens and Salomon Coster in the Netherlands and brought the use of the pendulum to England around 1657/58. 

Fig. 84 on page 26 shows you how the conversion to a pendulum could have taken place in a lantern clockwork/chair clockwork with originally wheel unrest. 

Fromanteel then built the first clockworks with a pendulum ( verge movement and short pendulum ), which, however, had a running time of 8 days compared to the usual lantern clocks with a running time of approx. 1 day, and were built into grandfather clock cases. The 8-day running time not only made it necessary to mount 5 wheels instead of the 3 wheels of the lantern clockwork, but also to design the wheel sets of the going and striking mechanisms side by side to enable the weights to be pulled up from the front. 

Lantern clocks with rim foliots from before 1657/58 are also known from Fromanteel.

 

A major advantage of the lantern clock construction with wheel sets lying one behind the other compared to the longcase clockwork construction in plate construction with wheel sets lying next to one another is that the wheel sets can be assembled and disassembled individually. In order to obtain this advantage in his newly designed 8-day clockwork with pendulum, he designed the clockwork from a two-part front plate with a common back plate.                                                                     

„The front plate is divided vertically so that each train can be dismantled or assembled independently.“ that's what you read above in the quote from Tom Robinson's book.

 However, this inevitably led to the fact that the axes of the wheels, as in the construction of the lantern clocks, are also almost perpendicular to each other, that the winding square of the basic wheel appears at the bottom edge of the dial and resulted in an impractical winding of the weights using a crank key. If he had moved the axis of the base wheel upwards so that the winding square appears in the middle of the dial, the main plates would have been even longer, much higher than the dial itself its advantage - rare disassembly and assembly of individual wheelsets. In order to eliminate this disadvantage of the impractical winding up of the weights, the winding square edges had to move upwards, which was only possible if the wheels were no longer vertically above one another. In the first grandfather clock works from Fromanteel, which fortunately survived, one can still clearly recognize the lantern clock in terms of its wheel sets, which are easy to assemble.                                                                     

 

Within only about 10 years, the grandfather clock movement was developed in plate construction in England via this first intermediate station, in which the two wheel sets of the going and striking mechanisms were placed between the front and back plate and held together by 4 or 5 movement pillars. The individual wheels of the wheel sets no longer have to be on top of each other, so that the plate movement can be smaller than the first movement built by Fromanteel. In the first 10 to 15 years after 1658/59, the grandfather clock movement was built with a verge escapement and a short pendulum, and then, after the invention of the anchor escapement in the 1670s, predominantly with an anchor escapement and a long pendulum. Verge movement with a short pendulum continued to be used in other 18th-century clockworks.

If I tell you about this first Fromanteel grandfather clock movement, then only to show you that even with a clockmaking genius like Fromanteel, the clockwork concept ( 8-day movement with pendulum ) did not come from a single source, but was subject to a development process. This first clockwork built by Fromanteel can be found in the picture section on page 27 with fig. Two of these movements even have a three-part front plate.

 

If you understand the Haut-Jura Comtoise clock as a product of a development process, then it becomes clear that there were intermediate stages on the way from the beginning to the product, i.e. from the lantern clock to the Comtoise clock in the period from 1657/58 to 1700/1710 because nobody is likely to assume that the Haut-Jura Comtoise clock with verge escapement and long pendulum was a creation at the drawing board or the result of a Mayet family conference.

 

For decades every dedicated Comtoise clock collector has been looking for a Haut-Jura Comtoise which, as described in the Mayet legend, was built around 1680/1685, at least in the 17th century. Till today, no such clock has been found. It has not been found because I am convinced that it never existed.

 

After it was clear to me that the Mayet had not created the Haut-Jura Comtoise clock as early as the 17th century, as the legend claims, and that the Comtoise clock was born in Haute-Saône in the second half of the 17th century. It must have taken place at the end of the 19th century and must have served as a model for the clockmaking smiths of the High Jura around the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries. I now looked at Haute-Saône Comtoise clocks with different eyes and intensified my search for these clocks.

 

 

 

In contrast to England, especially London, comparatively few lantern clocks were built in France, primarily of course in Paris, during the first half of the 17th century, which naturally had a rim foliot as a regulator during this time.

 

The novelty of the pendulum was also known in Paris in 1658/59 and inspired clockmakers to use it in their own clocks.

 

Lantern clocks with a verge escapement and a short pendulum were then built in Paris in the 18th century, but also in Normandy and other regions of France, and later also with an anchor escapement, in some cases up until the middle of the 19th century. In Paris, the pendulum clock also developed into table clocks, e.g. the so-called religieuse, and also into wall clocks, e.g. the cartel clocks.

 

In the picture section on pages 32 and 33 you can see typical simple English and French lantern clocks from the 18th century. They are clocks with verge movement and a short pendulum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. MAYET TOWER CLOCKWORKS.

 

The Mayet could not have learned of the pendulum clock or pendulum until after 1685!

I felt compelled to draw this conclusion because a previously unknown Mayet  tower clockwork turned up in a small collection.

 

It is a beautiful tower clockwork, a movement that does not stand out due to its special construction, a movement that, in comparison with other tower clockworks from the same era, corresponds to the way it was built at the time, but in any case a clockwork that reflects the high level of the blacksmith's craft of its builders. This tower clockwork is approx. 125 cm wide, 50 cm deep and 65 cm high. It is driven by weights whose cords are wound on cable drums and are wound up with a large key. The movement consists of the going train wheel set on the left, the quarter hour striking train wheel set in the middle and the right hand side striking train wheel set. In the owner's house it stands in the middle of other tower clock mechanisms in the large living room, so that both he and we as visitors lived on the couch in the middle of the tower clocks.I have photographed this tower clockwork in all its details, but unfortunately the owner withdrew his permission to publish the pictures of his clockwork after terminating the collaboration with Ton Bollen in September 2015. It is unfortunate that the pictures cannot be shown, but the clock does not prove the result of the work *The Mayet brothers had no idea about the pendulum around 1683*. Finding the clock prompted an in-depth investigation, which then also brought such a result. For this reason I had written above: "I thought I had to draw this conclusion."

 

It would be of little use to you as a reader of this work if I could now refer to small details of this tower clock work and only describe them.

 

However, I cannot be forbidden to publish the knowledge I have gained from the existence and investigation of the previously unknown tower clock mechanism, which results in the origin of the Comtoise clocks in the High Jura, especially since Leonhard van Velthoven already confirmed the existence of this tower clock mechanism in his book. On page 241 he wrote in his book MAYET MORBIER COMTOISE: „ca. 1682 - Ort unbekannt. Kürzlich ist durch Zutun von Ton Bollen (L1)  und Bernd Deckert (L12) eine noch unbekannte Turmuhr mit der Signatur       Fait par Jean Claude Mayet et ses fréres à Moubier aufgetaucht. Obwohl auf dem Uhrrahmen die Jahreszahl 1682 steht, kann die Uhr auch einige Jahre älter sein. Die Entdecker dieses spektakulären Fundes sind dabei, ein Buch zu schreiben, in dem unter anderem dieser Uhr viel Platz eingeräumt wird.“  ("approx. 1682 - location unknown. Recently, thanks to the actions of Ton Bollen (L1) and Bernd Deckert (L12), a still unknown tower clock with the signature Fait par Jean Claude Mayet et ses fréres à Moubier appeared. Although the year 1682 is written on the clock frame, the clock may be a few years older. The discoverers of this spectacular find are in the process of writing a book in which, among other things, this clock will be given a lot of space.”)                                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                                          Without even having the slightest knowledge of this clock, LvV already speculates here that the clock may also be a few years older. Already amazing! In addition, the year 1682 is not written on the clock frame, but 1683!

The most striking detail of this magnificent example of a wrought iron work from the Mayet workshop is the vertical spindle wheel with pendulum, which also bears the signature. This vertical spindle wheel tells us immediately that the movement was originally equipped with a foliot. In a foliot, the foliot ( balance beam ) is in a horizontal position above the spindle wheel, otherwise the foliot would not be able to swing back and forth. On the vertical axis of the balance beam are the two pallets of the spindle axis, which thus also engage in the vertical spindle wheel. 

How closely the spindle wheel is related to the foliot and the spindle wheel to the pendulum can be seen from the conversion, i.e. the foliot is replaced by a pendulum. (See also another example in the picture section on page 26, Fig. 84)                                                   The spindle axis is sawed through, i.e. the balance beam is removed. A new pin is then filed at the cutting point, as is already the case at the lower end of the spindle axis. The resulting spindle axis is now mounted horizontally in two holders to be manufactured in front of the spindle wheel and is given a guide arm, which then guides the oscillating pendulum. Now only a holder for the pendulum suspension has to be created. Most of the time you see a kind of gallows, often the gallows of the former foliot escapement/suspension of the balance beam, towering over the clockwork on which the pendulum is suspended. Here with this clock, however, a holder was only attached to the lateral bearing for the spindle axis, which protrudes beyond the frame of the entire cage of the tower clock, so that the pendulum can swing outside of the cage.

 

Since the overall height of the cage was 65 cm too low for the required length of the pendulum, the entire clockwork was jacked up in the living room. At the former location in a church tower - unknown to us - the height required for the pendulum was certainly available. The entire frame of the tower clockwork as well as the plates for the wheel sets attached to the frame from the outside are secured by wedge connections. Screws are not needed for this. During the conversion, during the modernization of this movement, the existing spindle wheel was used, so that the manufacturer's signature on it was retained. In many tower clocks, when the foliot escapement was replaced by an anchor escapement or pin escapement, the spindle wheels were scrapped as there was no longer any use for these wheels and the signatures on them destroyed. It is an absolute stroke of luck that this tower clock movement of the Mayet was modernized just a few years after its production, the spindle wheel was preserved, and the watchmaker who carried out the modernization also signed the cage frame, so that there are now two signatures.

 

On the spindle wheel we read:

 

"Fait par Jean Claude et ses freres horlogeurs a Moubier" (Made by Jean Claude Mayet and his watchmaker brothers in Moubier).

Unfortunately, the year of production is not specified, but there is another signature on one of the long sides of the movement. 1683 V.P.D.J. Bap. Arnaud P.D. 1683 V ( vait/ today fait / made ) P ( Par / by ) D ( Dieu / God ) J ( Jean ) Bap ( Baptiste ) Arnaud P ( Par / by ) D ( Dieu / God )

This tower clock made by the Mayers was modernized in 1683, i.e. equipped with a pendulum!

On page 13 of TARDY's Dictionnaire des Horlogers Francais we find the entry that interests us: “ARNAUD Daniel. Grenobel 1602-15. - - - - - Michael. Grenoble Aux Tres Cloîtres, 1703

 

There is evidence of a clockmaker ARNAUD in Grenoble as early as 1602, and also at the beginning of the 18th century.

 

TARDY did not know the signature on this Mayet tower clock, otherwise he would certainly have mentioned the clockmaker ARNAUD with the date 1683.

 

This modernization was not carried out by the Mayet itself, but by the clockmaker ARNAUD from Grenoble in 1683!

 

CONCLUSION!!!!

 

In 1683 the Mayet had no idea about the pendulum!

 

BUT IT'S NOT THAT EASY!

Unfortunately, we do not know when this Mayet tower clock was built. Apparently, older Mayet tower clocks were named but not marked with the year of construction. Apparently the year was signed later.

 

This clock was probably made in the 1670s, at a time when Franche-Comté was still ruled by the Habsburgs. It was not until 1678 that the Franche Comté was finally incorporated into the French state by Louis XIV. Jean Claude Mayet was born in 1646, so in the mid-1670s he was around 30 years old and certainly a seasoned *powerful* blacksmith who had built this tower clock with foliot with his younger brothers. In any case, the signature from 1683 proves that the owner of this clock found out about the pendulum, about a more precise escapement for his clock, and commissioned the clockmaker Arnaud to replace the old foliot escapement with the new verge escapement with pendulum.

 

We do not know whether the Mayet, as the manufacturer of this clock, were even asked by the owner to exchange the foliot for the pendulum. Although it would be natural to be asked as a manufacturer whether you could modernize your own clock, the fact that the clockmaker Arnaud then finally carried out the modernization and not the Mayet unfortunately does not prove that the Mayet in the years 1682/1683 had nothing to do with the pendulums knew. Perhaps the location of this Mayet clock tower was simply geographically closer to Grenoble, closer to clockmaker Arnaud, so that the 'local' clockmaker was asked rather than the more distant Mayet.

 

We therefore do not know whether the Mayet knew of the pendulum as early as 1683.

 

A thorough investigation revealed that this tower clock must have been modernized at least twice. there are numerous *closed* former holes in the boards, indicating changes at the clockwork.

IN 1683 THE MAYETS MAY NOT HAVE KNOWLEDGE OF THE PENDULUM APPLICATION, because we know that in 1685 the Mayet built another tower clock intended for the belfry of the town of Orgelet. In 1685 this tower clock was still fitted with a foliot, which inevitably means that at the time this clock was made, probably started in 1684 and delivered in 1685, the Mayet could not have had any knowledge of the use of the pendulum. After a thorough examination of this clock in Orgelet, I am now certain that this clock still had a foliot escapement at the time it was built. Already in 2009 I had written in my HISTORY OF COMTOISE CLOCKS in chapter 4. Mayet legend on page 4: "The church tower clock of Orgelet from the year 1685 probably still had the foliot and was probably equipped with a pin wheel escapement after the middle of the 18th century, in the form we see them today.”

 

This tower clock is now freely accessible in the town hall of the city of Orgelet. This tower clock is equipped with a pin wheel escapement of Amant. Sometime after 1741 this watch was fitted with this escapement. The dial with one hand remained on the tower, and from then on the time was displayed super accurately with one hand. When the 'pin wheel escapement' movement was then replaced by a modern electric movement, the single-hand dial remained on the tower and still tells the time today. Luckily, the Mayet tower clockwork was not scrapped, but went to the clock museum storeroom in Besancon, to finally be displayed and exhibited in the town hall - open to the public - of the town Orgelet.

This Mayet tower clock movement from 1685 is an almost square cage consisting of 4 movements, i.e. the going train and 3 striking trains. A wheelset hourly striking train behind the wheelset of the going train. The quarter-hour striking mechanism to the right of the going train is linked to the other striking mechanism behind the quarter-hour striking mechanism. These two chimes ran synchronously, i.e. to strike the corresponding quarter chime every quarter hour, followed by the corresponding hour chime. Two locking plates of the two movements indicate this. Normally, the tower clock only chimed the hour, but by turning a lever, the quarter hours could also be struck with the corresponding hour chimes, i.e. a Grande-Sonnerie. This Grande-Sonnerie was probably only used on special days, such as major Christian holidays.

 

The pendulum swings in the middle of the clockwork and not, as in most tower clocks, outside the cage. The gallow necessary for the suspension of the foliot have been preserved and was then used to hang up the pendulum after modernization, i.e. replacement of the foliot with pin wheel escapement. This tower clock in Orgelet is signed on the frame: Fait à Morbier Par Jean Claude Mayet et ses frères Horlogeurs L'an mille six cent huicante cinq ( Made in Morbier by Jean Claude Mayet and his watchmaker brothers in 1685 )

The entire frame of the tower clockwork as well as the plates for the wheel sets attached to the frame from the outside are secured by wedge connections. Screws are not needed for this.

 

There is another signature on the frame, probably that of the modernization from 1819: I.H.I. 1819

 

In this context, it is interesting that in the archives of the town of Orgelet there is a document which, so to speak, attests to the order of the church clock from the Mayet on April 10, 1684, authenticated by the notary Perraud of Orgelet and witnessed by Messrs. Tardy and Chapuis. Jean Claude Mayet from Moubie ( Morbier ) received the order to supply a tower clock movement at a price of 633 livres. Shortly after July 25, 1685, the tower clockwork was delivered and installed. A little more than 15 months after ordering, the delivery took place. From this one can probably conclude that the Mayet as blacksmiths, Jean Claude Mayet, Pierre Mayet and brothers, i.e. probably all 4 Mayet brothers, needed a year to forge such a church tower clock. 

                                                                                                                                                  

If one could not conclude from the fact that the previously unknown tower clockwork, which was probably manufactured in the 1670s and converted to a pendulum in 1683, still had a foliot, that the Mayet had no idea about the pendulum in 1683, so however, when the tower clock mechanism with foliot from 1685 was delivered to the city of Orgelet, it can now be concluded that the Mayet in 1685 (and consequently of course in 1683 as well) still had no idea about the pendulum.

 

The visit to Lyon to look at another tower clockwork from Mayet's workshop in the SAINT NIZIER church is a lasting memory. What is remembered is not so much the tower clockwork, which after various conversions can hardly be regarded as a tower clockwork from the 17th century, but rather the reception by Monsieur Marc, who let us climb the stone Gothic spiral staircase to the tower clockwork. Surrounded by old walls and centuries-old dust on beams and in corners, past huge bellows, necessary for the large organ, which had to be brought into action by strong men, one finally stood up in the tower in front of the clockwork. The clockmaker Charmy from Lyon restored the clock for the first time in 1768, followed by Dussuc in 1826, before finally the clockmaker Hemmel from Lyon modernized the clock *from the ground up* in 1896, cf. Tardy, Dictionnaire des Horlogers Francais, Page 295. “Hemmel -Lyon. Il repara l'horloge de l'Eglise St-Nizier, 1896"

 

This tower clock of the Mayet remains interesting due to two signatures, one French and one Latin.

 

The French signature reads: Le pnt (présent) horloge a Esté facit à Morbier est destiné par Messieurs les confrères de la Confrèrie du très St. Sacrement de l'Autel, Érigé en l'Église St.Nizier A Lyon. L'an Seize cents quatre vingt quatre. (This clockwork was made in Morbier and is intended for the Lords of the Brotherhood of the Most Holy Altar, erected in the Church of St. Nizier in 1684)

The Latin signature reads: „Morberii in libero Burgundiae comitatum factum est horlogium ist .....anno Dui....4 sumptibus minorum confratrum confraterintas sanctissimi sacramenti erectae in ecclesia sancti Nisii Lugduni.  (Morberius, in the free county of Burgundy, this clock was made....in the year of Dui....4 at the expense of the younger brothers of the confraternity of the most holy sacrament, erected in the church of St. Nisius in Lyons.)

In the French text the year 1684 is clearly visible, in the Latin text only the last digit of the year is legible. Unfortunately, the numerous *modernizations* and changes to this movement have made the first 3 digits of the year disappear.

 

Since the year 1684 is mentioned in the French text and the year 1684 is also emblazoned outside on the tower, everyone probably thought that the year 1684 was also in the Latin text.

 

The two texts seem to contradict each other. The Free County of Burgundy existed until 1678 and was then incorporated into the French state by Louis XIV. Thus, the year 1684 as the year of manufacture could not be reconciled with the fact that Morbier was already on French territory in 1684. How could the Mayet sell a tower clock to Lyon that was still signed 'libero Burgundiae' (Free Burgundy)? Actually unthinkable! Louis XIV or his local governors would certainly not have accepted this.

 

BUT WHAT IF THE LATIN TEXT WAS NOT THE YEAR 1684 BUT 1674?

 

THIS WOULD MAKE SENSE NOW!

The Mayet Clock Tower was built and installed in 1674.

IN FRENCH TEXT: „Érigé en l'Église REFERS to St.Nizier A Lyon. L'an Seize cents quatre vingt et quatre NOT ON Le pnt horloge BUT ON très St.Sacrement de l’Autel.“

(„Erected in the church REFERS to St. Nizier Church in Lyon. The year Sixteen hundred eighty-four NOT ON the present clock BUT ON very Blessed Sacrament of the Altar.“).                 

Under the search term: 1684 La Confrerie Du Saint Sacrement you can find it on the Internet at: https://bracieux-histoire.blogspot.com/.../1684-la-confrerie-du-saint....

this entry:

„......... a esté envoyé et ratifié par tous les confrères......l  L présent Règlement sera lu tous les ans en...de confrérie, afin que chacun se souvienne de son petit devoir. Et ce jour qu‘on est assemblé au logis de celui qui sera élu Roy de la confrérie...... a esté envoyé et ratifié tous les confrères .....le jour de St.Sacrement premier juin 1684.“ („ .........has been sent and ratified by all the confreres......l This Regulation will be read every year in...of brotherhood, so that everyone remembers his little duty . And this day that we are assembled at the home of the one who will be elected King of the brotherhood ...... was sent and ratified all the brothers ..... the day of the Blessed Sacrament first June 1684.“)

June 1, 1684 is the anniversary on which the Brotherhood met to read the Bylaws and elect the Head of the Brotherhood.

1684 visible on the outside of the church on the dial does not indicate the year the clock tower from Morbier was installed, but rather the Brotherhood.

 

 

Also in the Latin text erectae refers to confraternitas sanctissimi sacramenti and not to horlogium.

 

This is my interpretation of the French and Latin signatures! There are certainly well-informed classical philologists or Romanists who can substantiate or refute it better. I look forward to hearing from readers about this.

 

However, the final clarification of this question will have no relevance for the origin of the Comtoise clocks in the High Jura, because regardless of whether my interpretation of the two signatures is conclusive, the fact remains that the clockwork of the Mayet in the church of St. Niziers ( installed in 1674 or 1684) was originally fitted with the foliot. 

 

However, another simple consideration should make it clear that the tower clock mechanism in St. Niziers cannot actually have been installed in 1684, because the Mayet are unlikely to have been installed after April 10, 1684, when they received the order to build the tower clock in Orgelet, still had time to install the tower clock in St. Niziers for the remainder of 1684, as they were engaged in the manufacture of the Orgelet tower clock that had been ordered. Even before the order was received from Orgelet, i.e. from January to early April 1684, the installation would hardly have been possible.               

The winters in the High Jura were long and hard - the so-called. Little Ice Age in Europe - with ice and snow from October to April, so that it was very unlikely that the transport of the large forged clock parts from Morbier to Lyon could have taken place during these months of January to April. A poor road network with additional adverse weather conditions must have made transport by cart in winter impossible. In 1684 the tower clock in St. Niziers was most likely not installed for these reasons. The best time of year to transport the clock parts and install them was of course the summer of the year. It is not for nothing that the clock tower in Orgelet was installed on July 25, 1685. This date is documented by a source!

Then, in 1689, the Mayet had to supply another tower clockwork for the parish of Saint Claude. In the corresponding sales contract, it is now mentioned for the first time that the movement to be delivered had to have a pendulum. 

 

Jean Marc Oliver refers on page 144 in his book "Des clous, des horloges et des lunettes, Les campagnards moréziens en industrie ( 1780 - 1914 )" Comité des travaux historiqiues et scientifiques, CTHS Paris 2004, to a corresponding document which is in Archiv Départemental du Jura (2H143) and in which it says: "as savoir un grand orloge a pendule".

FROM 1689 THE MAYET HAD ARRIVED TECHNICALLY IN MODERN TIMES BECAUSE THEY HAD TO DELIVER A TOWER CLOCK WITH A PENDULUM. Nothing is known about the whereabouts of this clock, probably scrapped in the 19th century when it was exchanged for a 'modern' movement.

 

In concrete terms, this means that if the Mayet only had knowledge of the use of the pendulum from 1689, then there could not have been a Comtoise clock of the Haut-Jura type by Jean Baptiste Mayet Morez 1692 signed with the year.

 

In the exhibition brochure MET FRANSE SLAG of the Nederlands Goud-, Zilver- en Klokkenmuseum, 2004, Ton Bollen wrote in his treatise 'De historie van de Comtoiseklok' on page 5: “De oudste mij bekende en gedaterde Comtoise van het type Mayet bevindt zich in een particuliere collectie en is gesigneerd en gedateerd Jean Baptiste Mayet Morez 1692” (The oldest known and dated Comtoise of the Mayet type is in a private collection and is signed and dated Jean Baptiste Mayet Morez 1692).

 

 

The effects of this indication of the year *1692* by Ton Bollen can be seen in the various attempts at explanation by the various authors ( see authors' reviews ), myself included, because otherwise I would certainly not have written on page 11 of my HISTORY OF COMTOISE CLOCKS :„ Es gibt Werke Comtoiser Bauart mit Rechenschlagwerk, die auch aus der Zeit um das Ende des 17. Jahrhunderts stammen, die aber nicht mit Spindelgang, sondern mit Hakengang ausgestattet sind und die nicht direkt im Jura sondern in Haute-Saône, Haute-Marne Gebiet oder auf dem Plateau von Langres gefertigt wurden. es sind bisher keinerlei signierte und datierte Uhren dieser Provenienz aus dieser fraglichen Zeit aufgetaucht. Denkbar wäre es natürlich, dass die Schmiede-Uhrmacher des Jura von diesen Werken Kenntnis erhalten haben könnten, so dass sie die Neuerungen in ihren eigenen Werken umsetzten.                                   Die Schmiede des Jura fertigten eiserne Gerätschaften und Werkzeuge für die Landbevölkerung und verkauften diese selbst während ihrer Verkaufswanderungen, so dass sie regelmässigen jährlichen Kontakt zu anderen Menschen fern ihrer Heimat hatten. Wenn man also unterstellt, das die Schmiede-Uhrmacher des Jura ihre Kenntnis von der Pendelanwendung und dem Rechenschlagwerk bei ihren Besuchen in anderen Landesteilen, wie z.B. Haute-Saône oder Haute-Marne, erhielten, so kann dies auch frühstens um 1680/85 geschehen sein, weil anzunehmen ist, dass vorher die Kenntnis vom Hakengang in diesen Gebieten nicht vorhanden war.“ (“ There are movements of the Comtois type with rack strike mechanism, which also date from around the end of the 17th century, but which are not equipped with a verge escapement but with a hook escapement and which are not directly in the Jura but in the Haute-Saône, Haute-Marne area or were made on the Langres plateau. No signed and dated clocks of this provenance from this period in question have been found. It is of course conceivable that the Jura blacksmith-clockmakers could have become aware of these movements, so that they implemented the innovations in their own movements. The smiths of the Jura made iron equipments and tools for the rural population and sold these themselves during their sales trips, so that they had regular annual contact with other people far from their homeland. So if one assumes that the Jura blacksmith clockmakers learned about the use of the pendulum and the rack striking mechanism when they visited other parts of the country, such as Haute-Saône or Haute-Marne, then this can also have happened around 1680/85 at the earliest , because it can be assumed that there was no previous knowledge of the hook movement in these areas.“)

The findings about the tower clocks have now shown that they had not learned anything before 1688/1689.

 

In 1692 there could not possibly have been a Comtoise of the High Jura type signed Mayet and dated 1692!

 

I very much hope that Ton Bollen will explain 'publicly' that he was wrong about his statement from *1692*. He did so verbally to me during our collaboration prior to September 2015. He owes this clarification not only to the authors, but especially to *HISTORY*!

 

If it has always been said in the literature that the Mayet developed the Comtoise clock of the High Jura, this assessment is no longer tenable due to the new findings about the Mayet tower clocks.

 

In concrete terms, this means that if the Mayet did not yet have knowledge of the use of the pendulum in 1685, and only gained this knowledge in the years 1688/89, then they could not possibly have been responsible for the sole development of the Comtoise clock in the last decade of the 17th century. Signed and dated Comtoise clocks can be traced back to the first decade of the 18th century. 

 

So what happened in the last decade of the 17th century in the High Jura, so that within 10 - 15 years, i.e. in the first decade of the 18th century, there were suddenly Comtoise clocks of the High Jura type?

In the High Jura, the Mayet were not the only smiths to build tower clocks. However, the Mayet legend conveys the impression that they were the only ones and thus brought clockmaking to the High Jura. Tower clocks were also built in the 17th century in the Cart and Fumey and Malfroy and Morel families, all names reappearing as signatures on Comtoise clocks of the High Jura in the early 18th century. The Cattin brothers are also among the tower clock builders, but only in the 18th century.

 

But this also invalidates the general claim that the Mayet brought clockmaking to the High Jura.

 

This assertion is also invalidated by other sources reporting the manufacture of wooden clocks from Foncine ( clocks of the Fonciner Art ) and Fourgs and Saint Claude.

 

Since the Comtoise clock certainly required a smith to develop it, one can assume that the Mayet were significantly involved in its development, because numerous examples of early Comtoise clocks from the 18th century bear a Mayet signature, in any case much more frequently than other surnames of the high Jura. 

 

It wasn't until the 19th century that people realized what a success story one could write about a product from the High Jura that the story was written down and the Mayet Legend created. People began to become aware of the success story when none of the founding generation and possibly the following generation were left alive. Later generations wrote down what they knew from hearsay. Very many early watches from the 18th century bear a Mayet signature, the Mayet were a large family clan that left numerous signed clocks.

The name Mayet, which appears very often on Comtoise clocks from the first half of the 18th century, then led people in the 19th century to believe that the Mayet created the Comtoise clock and brought clockmaking to the High Jura.

 

In my opinion, this new insight into the *only* participation of the Mayet clan in the creation of the Comtoise clock in the High Jura should now also be taken into account in the previously generally accepted designation of early Comtoise clocks, which are referred to as Mayet type Comtoise clocks.

 

 Since the Haute-Saône type and the Haute-Marne type are also generally spoken of when it comes to Comtoise clocks, I think it is only logical to replace the term Mayet type with the term Haut-Jura ( High Jura ) type. 

 

Due to the close coexistence of families on a piece of land, often in several houses, which developed in the High Jura due to the inheritance law of *Mainmorte* (the dead hand), so that small hamlets had developed, there was traditionally a stronger cohesion within the familys. In the language of the time, one spoke of *feu* (fire). The *Chef du feu* was the head of the family, of the various households/hearths that made up the hamlet. He was the beneficiary, the serf who was allowed to use the land on the basis of the inheritance law (Mainmorte). In these family clans (this would be how we use it today), people often married or married one another, so that on the one hand the property of the family, which could well consist of money and expertise (acquired through the sale of home-made products), and to the landlord who owned the land in 'subordination', was not subject to tax, remained in the family. Money is married to money. This principle has probably always existed. The population density in the High Jura was not high, other clans had the same problems. The clans were also linked to each other through numerous marriages.

When Louis XIV made FRENCH the Franche-Comté, he had not abolished the inheritance law (Mainmorte) and the associated conditions for the people that had existed since ancient times, although this type of bondage no longer existed in his France. The peasants were often tenants on the land they worked and were therefore dependent on their landlords, but they could leave the land with their belongings. The serfs under the Mainmorte were serfs who sometimes could not even call their shirt and shoes their own. The country had been bled dry by famine and the plague, and entire areas would probably have been deserted if the serfs had not been kept on their land by force. 

 

In the country there was no guild system, which regulated and controlled the crafts in the big cities. The inheritance law of the Mainmorte did not regulate and control the homework, the additional income, the farmer-mechanics. The pressure of the farmer under the Mainmorte was great, because the yields were moderate due to the altitude and the climate. He also had to pay taxes or work on/for the landlord, but *freedom in trade* was great, because one was free and could produce something at home as needed. So the Mainmorte also offered opportunities, because during the long winters you were tied to the house and had the necessary time to produce something.

In such an environment of family clan relationships, the search for opportunities under the direction of the Mainmorte, of course everyone knows what is happening in the environment of the related clan(s). Technical developments cannot remain secret, new products cannot be produced and sold secretly, so that some clans may have contributed to the development of the Comtoise house clock. A few people will certainly have found individual solutions for certain parts, which then in turn served as the basis for further development of the product by other people. The Haut-Jura Comtoise was developed in the last decade of the 17th and the first decade of the 18th century. In view of the adverse climatic and poor economic conditions, which are responsible for a great deal of misery, hunger and death over the past two decades, it is very doubtful whether this development was pursued purposefully and continuously.

The Haut-Jura Comtoise clock was certainly not created as a completely new, planned product, along the lines of: things are so bad up here in the mountains that we have to invent something that we can sell. Such a development process proceeds insidiously over years.

 

Since the inhabitants of the High Jura had diverse contacts with other people in other parts of France because of the products they sold there (cheese, forged nails, farm tools and products made from natural materials), they also came into contact with other products that didn’t existed in the High Jura. 

There was no house clock made of iron in the High Jura. Lantern clocks were not built there. There was certainly knowledge of clock making, but it was wooden clocks (Foncine, Fourgs, Saint Claude) and forged tower clocks. Such an iron clock, e.g. a Haute-Saône clock in a screwed iron cage, could certainly also be built in the High Jura, because all the prerequisites for the construction of such clocks were in place. The conditions were even better, because there was iron, large and small forges, water power, workers.

Everything that was needed was there! The farmers, the farmer-smiths and the farmer-mechanics were certainly capable of such insights. 

 

Note by the way. In an upper section I spoke of "products made from natural materials". In chapter 11 you will read more about the climatic, economic and social conditions, among other things you will read that many farmers had their own small garden in which some vegetables were cultivated for their own use, but also the cultivation of hemp plants, which supplied the fibers from which ropes were made. In earlier times, the ropes that were often required (shipping, construction, etc.) could only be made from hemp. hemp ropes! Since the forests of Franche-Comté supplied the trees for the masts of French sailing ships, the sale of the ropes for the sailing ships was secured as an additional sale. We also traditionally find hemp ropes on the Comtoise clocks, as these were produced for shipping anyway.

Iron Comté ( Comtoise ) clocks from Haute-Saône or from Haute-Marne served the family clans as models for the further development of the Haut-Jura Comté (Comtoise ) clock. In the two decades from 1690 to 1710, Haut-Jura Comtoise clocks could have been manufactured, unfortunately no such clocks have appeared that we can clearly date as a Haut-Jura Comtoise clock from this period. We can recognize the first Haut-Jura Comtoise clocks from around 1710 (probably the oldest dated and signed Comtoise of the Haut-Jura type dates from the year 1709). However, the development is not yet complete at this point, because we find numerous different solutions for certain sub-areas before a uniform model is produced from 1740/50, the parts of which are then no longer produced by blacksmiths/watchmakers, but by home workers. It is the end product of blacksmiths/watchmakers who had evolved as entrepreneurs and only organized and supervise

 

7. ORIGIN-COMTOISE CLOCK

 

 

The Haut-Jura Comtoise Clock is by no means an evolution of tower clocks, either from Mayet tower clocks or from tower clocks of the 15th, 16th or 17th centuries by other clockmakers.

 

The Haute-Saône Comtoise clock is a further development of the lantern clock, which had already adopted the new elements coming from England, such as anchor escapement and rack strike mechanism, at the end of the 17th century.

 

The Haut-Jura Comtoise clock is a further development of the Haute-Saône Comtoise clock, which manifested itself in the first own clocks around 1710. The oldest dated and signed Comtoise clock of the Haut-Jura type dates from 1709.

 

Unfortunately, due to copyright issues, I cannot simply print the clocks shown in the literature here. I can only describe and draw conclusions and refer with references to suitable clocks illustrated in the literature. For those of you who own the cited literature, it will certainly not be a problem to look at the corresponding illustrations there!

If I refer to certain images that are included in the APPENDIX IMAGES, then it can only be the *key images*, i.e. the most important images. However, you can find more illustrations of clocks and their detail shots on the website of the Online Comtoise Clock Museum: 

 

                         

                                    www.morbier-clocks.de

 

 

The most important Comtoise clockwork, for me very close or at least the Origin-Comtoise clockwork par excellence, was that by Ton Bollen in his book from 1974 (German edition from 2006): Comtoise Klokken/Comtoise clocks with the illustrations 1 and 2 on the pages 69 and 70 Haute-Saône Comtoise work illustrated. In the book by Leonhard van Velthoven there is another picture of this movement, page 255 top right, an oblique view from the back. Ton Bollen writes on page 63:

„1. Een Comtoise +/- 1685. De klok is puur smedenwerk en geheel van ijzer vervaardigd. Op de vier hoeken van de zolderplaat zijn de vier moeren zichtbar, warmee de klok in elkaar geschroef is. Waarschijnlijk is de klok van een geschilderde wijzerplaat voorzien geweest en is de tinnen cijferring van latere datum. Deze Comtoise is tot op heden het enige bekende zeventiende-eeuwse exemplaar, dat bovendien nog met een ankergang uitgevoerd is.                                                                           2. Vooranzicht van afb. 1. Het ankerrad en en gedeelte van het anker zijn linksboven in de klok zichtbaar. De geleiding van de zaag vindt plaats door een uitsparing in der zolderplaat.“  („1. A Comtoise +/- 1685. The clock is pure blacksmith work and made entirely of iron. The four nuts are visible on the four corners of the attic plate, when the clock is screwed together. The clock probably had a painted dial and the pewter chapter ring is of a later date. This Comtoise clock is the only known seventeenth-century example to date, which is also equipped with an anchor escapement. 2. Front view of Fig. 1. The anchor wheel and part of the anchor are visible in the top left of the clock. The saw is guided through a recess in the attic plate.”)

                                                                                                                           

WHEN THIS CLOCK WAS BUILT IN HAUTE-SAÔNE,   

THE MAYET HAD NO IDEA ABOUT THE PENDULUM 

ABOUT THE PENDULUM APPLICATION AROUND 1688/89!                                          

The cage of this clock is forged at the bottom and secured by screw nuts at the top. In picture 1 you can see the screw nuts very well, but where you would expect the typical fastening screws of the plates, you can only see very small iron pins. This cannot actually be screws, because they would be far too small for that. I think these are iron pins as well as the bottom two at the base of the board that plug into the bottom cage plate. Of course, this means an improvement in terms of durability of the entire construction compared to fastening with wedges. Wedges and sinkers can come loose. Fixing screws and upper and/or lower pins do not loosen. Even if the nuts were to become loose or missing entirely, the weight of the cage top plate would prevent the structure from falling apart. This clockwork was assembled as follows: First, the two front plates of the going mechanism and striking mechanism are inserted into the forged cage, which is open at the top, and secured in their position by the lower iron pins of the plates. Then the upper cage plate is put on so that the upper iron pins of the two plates already engage in the holes in the cage plate, the screw nuts on the front left and right are unscrewed, but only so far that the cage plate can still be lifted to the rear. Now you can insert the complete wheel set of the striking mechanism and align it accordingly, possibly unscrew the rear right nut a little on the thread. Then the wheel set of the going train is inserted, the rear going train plate is inserted, the 4 nuts are completely unscrewed and tightened so that both wheel sets are now securely fixed in the cage. In the picture you can see that the guide arm of the rake faces up and is guided and held in place by a slot in the top cage plate. Dismantling or assembly of the front percussion plate can of course only be done without a rake.

 

The next step on the way to the Haut-Jura Comtoise movement, as it was then built for almost two centuries, is a completely forged cage in which the 4 bar plates are secured by means of fastening screws through the upper cage plate. It is no longer necessary to fix the striking wheel set during assembly, as the two wheel sets can be assembled and disassembled completely independently of one another.

 

It is noteworthy that this Haute-Saône movement has a rack mechanism with a single rack with teeth on both long sides. Although this rack type was adopted by the makers of Fourg wooden clocks in the early 18th century, it appeared in the first Haut-Jura Comtoise movements the U-shaped rack with the two toothing on the outer long sides of the U. The operation of the rack impact mechanism remains the same for both types of racks, only two parallel running bars, each with one row of teeth, were made from a toothed rack with two rows of teeth on one bar. The U-shaped rack provides a better view of the gathering cam and locking lever when adjusting spacing and engagements. Since both types of rake work without any problems, the simpler version with a rake rod with two rows of teeth will soon have been decided on, which also offered the advantage of a rake mounted directly on the plate. The dimensions of this Haute-Saône Comtoise movement are not known.

 

2. The collection of the Comtoise Clock Museum contains a Haute-Saône Comtoise clock, inventory no. 434 CUM, see pictures on pages 4 + 6, Figs. 14 - 26, which probably dates from around 1700/1710. These and similar clocks are very typical examples of early Comtoise clocks, which use the new construction concept of Comtoise clocks, i.e. forged cage with separate rod plates for going and striking mechanism side by side for 8 days, with the new English inventions of anchor, see Fig. 18, and rack impact mechanism, see Fig. 17. The anchor has the typical shape of the Clement anchor, the rack hammer mechanism has already been further developed into a arc-rake (crescent-shaped rake). The differences between the various rack impact mechanisms will be described in Chapter 8. This Haute-Saône movement also has a special feature in terms of striking, which is reminiscent of Barlow's rake, since the rake falls onto the hour scale with its scanning arm 10 minutes before the hour, and the wheel is only released on the hour. The striking mechanism has 4 wheels, so one wheel cannot be advanced. The wheel set of Barlow's rack and pinion mechanism consists of 5 wheels. The rake is released before full time and falls with the scanning arm onto the hour scale while the 4th wheel advances by half a turn. Release of the 4th wheel then on the hour so that the wheels can turn and the rake can be transported.

In the case of the Haute-Saône clockwork under consideration, the rake falls onto the hour scale with the scanning arm 10 minutes before full time, but the wheel movement with transport of the rake only occurs on the hour.

 

 

 

In the rack striking mechanism of the Haut-Jura movements, the racking and wheel run-off happen simultaneously.

 

Our Haut-Saône movement considered here could be described as an intermediate stage between the constructions of Barlow and Haut-Jura.

 

Cage dimensions: 222mm high x 188mm wide x 110mm deep.

 

Movement dimensions: 331 mm still x 188 mm wide x 180 mm deep.

 

Depth of spacers: 65 mm.

 

Plate Width: 25mm         Plate Thickness: 5.2~5.3mm

 

Length of the plates: 217 mm

 

Cage Pillar Thickness: 10.1/11.0mm

 

Cage Top Plate Thickness: 3.0~3.1mm

 

Bottom Cage Plate Thickness: 2.3-2.8mm

 

Fronton dimensions: 185 x 110 mm Thickness: 0.57 - 0.62 mm

 

Measurements of the dial: outside 178 mm and inside 93 mm diameter

 

Closer / Thickness: 0.57 - 0.62 mm

 

Hand Total Length: 90mm - Tip to Center Hand Lining: 62mm

 

Thick hands: 2.7 to 2.8mm

 

Dial Base Plate Thickness: 0.8-1.2mm

 

Rear panel thickness: 0.8 - 1.2 mm

 

Door Panel Thickness: 0.8-1.2mm

 

Plate markings.    Going train front *          Strike train front **

 

                               Going train behind ***   Strike train behind ***

 

Square plare screws, filed threads, marked according to the plates. see pictures on page 5, fig. 20.

 

Going train on the right, striking mechanism on the left. Arc-rake mounted on the front striker plate.

  

See pictures of this watch in the PICTURES ATTACHMENT, pages 4 + 5, fig. 14 - 26

 

The collection of the Comtoise Clock Museum contains a Haute-Marne Comtoise clock, inventory no. 435 CUM, see pictures on pages 7 + 8, figs. 27 - 35, which probably dates from around 1700.

 

Cage dimensions: 228mm high x 198mm wide x 120mm deep.

 

Movement dimensions: 290 mm still x 198 mm wide x 185 mm deep.

 

Depth of spacers: 55mm.

 

Plate Width: 27mm           Plate Thickness: 5.5mm

 

Length of the plates: 222 mm

 

Cage Pillar Thickness: 10.8/11.1mm

 

Cage Top Plate Thickness: 2.8-3.3mm

 

Bottom Cage Plate Thickness: 2.6-3.2mm

 

Fronton dimensions: not available Thickness:

 

Measurements of the enamel dial: 172 mm diameter / mounted later!

 

Size of the original dial ring: 171 mm on the outside and 91 mm on the inside

 

Hand Total Length: 75mm - Tip to Center Hand Lining: 53mm

 

Thickness Hand: 1.4 to 2.0mm

 

Dial Base Plate Thickness: 1.3~1.7mm

 

Thickness of the back panel: 0.8 to 1.0 mm

 

Door Panel Thickness: 0.8-1.0mm

 

board markings.      Going train front *             Strike train front **

 

                                   Going train behind ****   Striking train behind *** 

 

Square plate screws, filed threads, marked according to the plates, see Fig. 32, part of the pictures on page 8.

Going train on the left, striking train on the right.

Arc-rake mounted on the front movement plate.

The arithmetic falls on the hour with immediate start of the wheels and work of the gathering cam.

The fronton holder is set back a little because the originally mounted fronton made of tin or cast brass was several millimeters thick. The screw for fixing the fronton is correspondingly long. A thick fronton would then sit at the same height as the dial. 

 

For this reason and because of the existing 3 small holes through which the fastening screws for the originally mounted - presumably -  dial were turned, I also assume that it was a pewter ring.

The anchor has the exact same shape as the Clement anchor. see fig.27

If you imagined the two sets of wheels between two plates, which are connected by four holders, i.e. no (vertical) bar plates inserted in a forged cage, you would probably think of an English grandfather clock rather than a clock that would have been built in Haute-Marne .

Hook escapement, still in this typical V shape, with a long pendulum and striking mechanism with bow rake, are the technical innovations that reached the continent from England towards the end of the 17th century.

See pictures of this clock in the PICTURE PART pages 7 + 8 Fig. 27 - 35

 

4. Clocktype: Haut-Jura Comtoise, one-hand, around 1715/20. Lifting hole closer with punched signature: A P ( Alexis Perrad ) see pictures on pages 11 + 12, fig. 43 - 49.

 

Movement on the right, striking mechanism on the left, 8-day cable pull, striking the hour on the bell - rack striking mechanism with U-shaped rack, striking the half-hour en passant, 

dimensions of the clock / H height x W width x D depth:          cage: 228 x 202 x 136 

volume: 6.26 Lite 

movement: 320 x 202 x 155 

dial D outside: 200 inside: 123 brass          thickness: 0.6/0.7 

board width: 20 board thickness: 5 

distance between the boards or length of the axes without pins: 

dial base plate: 232 x 202 H x W     Material thickness: 0.9/1.2 

Rear panel: 232 x 202 H x W           Material thickness: 0.8/1.4 at corners: 1.8/2.4 

Side doors: 232 x 126 H x W           Material thickness: 0.9 /1,2

Material thickness cage plates: above: 2.9 - 3.2 below: 2.5 - 3.2 

pillars: 10 x 10 riveting: smooth/slightly raised 

Chimney: 88 H round head 

Fronton: 200 x 81 W x H                             Material thickness: 0. 4 - 0.8 

Decorative corners: 61 x 38 W x H            Material thickness: 0.4 - 0.6 

Lifting hole closer: 82 x 46 W x H              Material thickness: 0.5 - 0.7 

Minute hand:                   Hour hand:         Material thickness: 

Hand: 60 (middle Lining to tip ) Material thickness: 2.9 - 3.2 

Material thickness of: 

Winding wheel: 4.2       Star wheel: 3.9         Brake wheel: 3.0         Main wheel: 4 

Pendulum length: 1700                     All dimensions: mm millimeter 

Board screws: square heads. see fig.45 

Chimney fixing screws: square heads. see fig.44

Otherwise: round head screws and cheese head screws ( flat heads ) spindle bearing fastening screw upper cage plate: LENS SHAPE, which fits into the sink of the spindle bearing. 

( This is the only button head screw I have ever seen on an early Comtoise watch ) All screws on the clock are marked. 

No fastening screws for the pressure spring of the half-hour strike axle and the release linkage of the hour strike, but secured by locking pins

 

5. Haut-Jura Comtoise, signed. Antoine Morand Pondevaux 1711, see pictures on pages 13 - 16, figs. 50 - 59

Dimensions of the clock in height x width x depth:

Cage: 193 x 172 x 132 volume: 4.38 L

Movement: 292 x 172 x 135 Dial: D outside 150 D inside 85

Distance between the plates or length of the axles without pins:

dial base plate:

Fronton: 170 x 100 decorative corners: 70 x 42

Minute hand: Hour hand: 55 (total 90) thick: 2

Material thickness:

Boards:

Cage plates: : top: 2 bottom: 2

Pillar: 10 x 10 Rivets: Ground flat

Front panel: 1 Rear: 1 Doors: 1

Dial: 0.9

Fronton: 0.9 Alarm disc: 0.9

Pendulum length: Height of chimney: (all dimensions in mm)

 

 

 

Although Ton Bollen already illustrated a Haute-Saône Comtoise clock from around 1685, at least from the 17th century, in his book in 1977, in the decades that followed up to June 2021 I had not seen any other Haute-Saône Comtoise that I could date clearly in the 17th century, let alone before 1685. This fact also shows how extremely rare Haute-Saône Comtoise clocks from the 17th century are.

 

A single known Haute-Saône Comtoise clock of the 17th century in 2021 is of course thin evidence for the emergence of the Haut-Jura Comtoise clock.

 

The big challenge for me now was to find more Haute-Saône Comtoise clocks of the 17th century, or to find such movements that could be considered transitional forms or intermediate forms of a lantern clock and a Comtoise clock.

 

If I had been asked a few months ago if I could imagine ever finding a Haute-Saône clock older than the one in Ton Bollen's book of +- 1685, let alone ever seeing a Haute-Saône clock with a rim foliot , I would certainly have denied this after all the decades of searching. 

Such a Haute-Saône Comtoise clock with rim foliot has not only appeared, but is even available for viewing in the Comtoise Clock Museum. What luck! A real stroke of luck, because this clock was offered on a well-known Internet sales portal, and when I discovered the clock there, more than 100 visitors had already looked at this clock. If the clock had been sold and disappeared into a collection, decades might have passed before it became public again. I was on vacation when I found this clock and fortunately I was able to convince the seller in our e-mail correspondence to grant me the right of first refusal after inspection 3 weeks later. This clock can certainly be described as *ORIGIN-COMTOISE CLOCK*, at least until another, possibly even older, Haute-Saône Comtoise clock appears.

With Fig. 77 on page 23 and Figs. 78 - 83 on pages 24 and 25 of the picture section, I present you a clock whose external features, such as pewter dial and pewter fronton, single hand, suspension bracket and lower spacer, bell in the middle on top of the movement and in a forged movement case with movement doors on the side immediately indicate a Haute-Saône Comtoise movement. However, there is no gallows as a pendulum suspension, nor is there a pendulum rod behind the movement. There is also no slot at the bottom rear of the work cage plate for the pendulum to swing through. This clockwork does not have a pendulum, this becomes clear quickly.

Instead of a pendulum, this movement has a rim foliot.

Presumably nobody would expect to find a clock after almost 350 years that is still in the original condition of the year +- 1670. Of course there have been repairs and/or changes to this movement, but the basic substance shows a hybrid movement with parts from a lantern clock and a Comtoise clock. 

The hand has obviously been replaced as it is clearly not from the 17th century but from the 18th century. The original hand was significantly thicker than the existing one. The current bell is probably a 19th century example. The pewter dial may well be authentic but is likely to be an early 18th century example. The pewter fronton definitely dates from the 18th century, as it has the typical Rococo rocailles. This movement was probably modernized in the period 1730/1740 with a new dial, fronton and hands in the Rococo style. 

The small fixing screws (see fig. 83 pictures part page 25) of the pewter dial are hand-filed one-offs and show no signs of any further modification after the modernization in the early 18th century. However, changes can be seen in the upper holder of the spindle axis, because this is not original, but was replaced from old components of another clock. The spindle axis itself as well as the wheel detent are unchanged, no other changes to the going train  can be seen. In the wheel set of the striking, the wings of the porch were replaced, originally made of iron, now made of brass after repairs. Hammer and hammer pressure spring have also been renewed.

If you look at the axes, you will notice that they are conical, a typical sign of early works from the 17th century. The conical shape of the axis of the striking mechanism release is particularly obvious.

This Haute-Saône Hybrid Comtoise movement was of course created after 1660, when lantern clocks were still predominantly built. Lantern clocks usually had a running time of about 30 hours, the wheel sets were arranged one behind the other. However, the creator of this movement wanted to build a lantern clock with a running time of 8 days and thus created this hybrid clock. He placed the two sets of wheels of the lantern clockwork without the winding wheel - short axles of approx. 47mm length - next to each other, so that he also had 2 winding rollers - long axles of approx. 69mm length - for taking up the necessary cord for the 8-day drop of the weights. The two front plates are vertical plates, while the rear plates have been angled backwards at the bottom to accommodate the longer axles of the winding wheel. A plate thickness of 3 mm would result in a movement depth of 103 mm in a lantern movement (2 wheel sets and 3 plates) and in a Comtoise movement the depth of a wheel set (2 plates) would be 75 mm. If we compare these two dimensions with the usual dimensions of lantern clocks and early Comtoise clocks, then there are hardly any deviations.

The great peculiarity of this movement, apart from the rim foliot, is that it has these rear angled plates, because the construction would of course also have been possible with rear vertical plates and 75mm axles of all wheels as well as equipment with rim foliot.

As usual with lantern clocks, there are extremely few screws. Only the lock washer sits on a shoulder screw, everything else is fastened or secured by pins and wedges. The fronton and dial mounting screws are 18th century, the button head screw of the bell holder is 19th century. Thick forged cage plates, sometimes more than 3 mm thick, movement pillars of 10 x 10 mm, just like those found in the earliest Haute Saône or Haut-Jura Comtoise movements.

The movement has a suspension bracket, the spacer pins are missing, but the holes for them are there. The movement had doors, the corresponding holes in the cage plates are present. To the right and left of the fronton were originally small pinnacles, cones/vases mounted. The holes in the cage plate are in place, the threaded piece on which the pinacle was screwed is still in the right hole.

 

Below are various dimensions and data of this movement.

Cage: 203mm height x 181mm width x 103mm depth. 

 

Cage top plate: Thickness 2.7mm to 3.1mm Cage bottom plate: 2.7mm to 3.2mm

 

Pillar 10 x 10mm. (9.9mm to 10.1mm)

 

Clock: 300mm height x 181mm width x 158mm depth.

 

Pewter dial: 168mm outer diameter, 98mm inner diameter. 

 

Pewter dial thickness: 2.3mm to 2.9mm

 

Circuit boards are 19.5 mm wide and 4.7 to 5 mm thick.

 

The existing hand is 52 mm long and 1.5 mm thick. The original hand was probably about 4 mm thick (according to possible recording of the square hand).

 

The back sheet metal is 1.8 mm to 2.0 mm thick, the front sheet is 1.6 mm to 1.7 mm thick.

 

Thickness of the conical axis of the striking mechanism between 6.25 mm and 7.8 mm. Thickness of the conical axle of the lifting nail wheel between 5.1 mm and 5.9 mm. Thickness of the conical axis of the main wheel between 5.5 mm and 6.1 mm

 

The going train on the right is wound counter-clockwise. The hammer mechanism on the left side of the cage is wound clockwise. This can then be visually seen from the fact that the two weights hang close to the edges of the cage sides. This counter-rotating system of winding up the weights is borrowed from the lantern clocks. 

 

In the lantern clocks, the two winding wheels are arranged one behind the other. The weights are pulled upwards by pulling on a cord or chains. The front going gear is mounted on the right side - sprocket rotation counter-clockwise - and the rear striking mechanism is mounted on the left side - clockwise rotation of the sprocket. As a result, the two weights hang in the middle left and right. If both weights were hanging on one side, the suspended clockwork could shift on the wall, and the weights could also touch. Since Christian Huygens also invented the endless winding system for a cord/chain, only the base wheel/sprocket of the going train was turned on the lantern clocks, whereas the base wheel/sprocket of the striking mechanism could no longer be rotated. The pulley, on which the weight hung, distributed the pressure on both the going train and the striking train, and the weight also hung in the middle under the movement.

If you now install the two wheel sets of a lantern clock next to each other in a cage, you have to place the going train wheel set on the right side of the cage and the striking train wheel set on the left side of the cage, otherwise the two weights would touch/hinder each other in the middle.

                                                              

In the further development of the Haute-Saône Comtoise clock to the Haut-Jura Comtoise clock, the winding system of the basic wheels is changed in such a way that both sets of wheels are now wound clockwise, so that the left weight is hanging to the left of the center of the cage and the right weight is hanging to the edge of the cage.

 

The striking appearance of the weights hanging on the left and right sides of the Haute-Saône Comtoise movements clearly shows the relationship to the lantern clocks. cf. in the PICTURES PART page 4 also the clock of Fig. 14 and 15, sign. Jacquot a Vesoul.

 

It is certainly easier, more practical and safer for the user to wind the weights of a clock if both winders rotate in the same direction. In the Haut-Jura Comtoise clocks this is ( with extremely few exceptions of later examples ) standard from the beginning. Even in such Haut-Jura movements, in which the wheel sets for the going train are on the right and for the striking mechanism on the left, both wheel sets are turned counterclockwise.

 

Transitional forms or intermediate forms of a lantern clock and a Comtoise clock or another type of clock are likely to be extremely rare. In many cases they were one-offs and after almost 350 years it can really be described as a miracle to find such a hybrid clock. However, when such clocks are found, these clocks prove insistently that the clock types known to us are the result of a development process. In the following I would like to introduce you to 2 such hybrid movements that have both the properties of the lantern clock and the Comtoise clock.

 

A:  A large 17th century movement which has a distinctive feature of the Haute-Saône Comtoise rim foliot movement described above, namely the plates with lower widening for the fitting of a larger winding barrel. (see Fig. 89 picture part page 29 as well as Fig. 90 and 91 picture part page 30)

and 

B: An 18th century lantern clockwork modified to accommodate 2 winding cylinders for an 8 day running time. This lantern clockwork was designed in such a way that it could be used like a classic Comtoise clockwork. (see Fig. 95 - 98 picture part page 31)

                                                                                                                                                     Regarding A. Although this clockwork (see Fig. 89 picture part page 29 as well as Fig. 90 and 91 picture part page 30) had been restored with numerous new parts, I bought it because of the striking plates, since it is a typical hybrid movement between a lantern clock and a Comtoise clock can serve. Hands, dial with base plate and cast trim are new. Rear, doors and bell are new. Of the gear train itself, the change wheel and the hour wheel have been renewed. The spindle axis is new. I could also have stated that only the cage with the two sets of wheels is original from this clock, with a renewed spindle axis. This clockwork was probably restored in the 20th century and given its current form. Apparently all *old* screws were replaced by *new* screws, except for the 4 large nuts on the movement pillars. There are only metric screws with round heads or cylinder heads. 

The wooden parts used on the striking crown wheel, which acts as a windbreak (fly) (this *windbreak* was also one of the decisive reasons for buying this movement), have been renewed. The heavy, forged cage has reinforcements/bulges on the upper and lower ends of the cage pillars, which are visually reminiscent of the pillars of English or French lantern clocks made of brass.

With its distinctive large nuts on the upper movement pillars and the pillars with wider ends, the movement at first glance resembles a roughly forged cage of a lantern clock. However, the wheel sets next to each other then point the way in the direction of a later Comtoise clock. Not only the sets of wheels point in this direction, but also the hammer mechanism with its vertically falling rake. The rack strike mechanism alone qualifies this hybrid movement from the 17th century as a special rarity.

 

Since the movement has a rack strike mechanism, it can only have been made around 1680/1690. This special rarity also consists in the fact that the rake of this watch is U-shaped with double toothing (see Fig. 92 - 94 pictures on page 30). Edward Barlow in England is said to have been the inventor of the rack mechanism, but his rack was certainly the arched rack, as we all know it from the English plate movements that we find in grandfather clocks.

In the case of the Haut-Jura Comtoise clocks, the vertically falling rake occurs in the earliest specimens, while the arc-shaped rake also occurs, but much more rarely.

 

The really great feature of this hybrid movement between a lantern clock and a Comtoise clock is this vertically falling rake, then also in the U-shaped design, from a time when there were no Haut-Jura Comtoise clocks, i.e. from the time at the earliest around 1680 and at the latest around 1690, i.e. around 20/30 years before the first appearance of the Haut-Jura Comtoise around around 1710.

 

Unfortunately, we do not know who is the inventor of the vertically falling rake with a single toothed rack. Unfortunately, we don't know who is either the inventor of the vertically falling rake with a U-shaped rack. However, we now know that both types of racks already existed when the Mayet and other clockmakers/smiths began to build the first house clocks.

 

In the magazine CHRONOMÉTROPHILIA of the Swiss Society for the History of Timekeeping, issue Été/Summer 2012, no. 71, GEORG VON HOLTEY wrote on page 43 in his essay: „Handschriften der Uhrmacher des Hohen Jura in ihren Uhren aus dem frühen 18. Jahrhundert“  („Manuscripts of clockmakers from the High Jura in their clocks from the early 18th century”):  „Jedenfalls - in dem hypothetischen Szenario fortfahrend - übernahmen die Brüder diese neue Technik nicht nur für ihre Uhr, sondern entwickelten und vereinfachten  sie  weiter  zu der  von  ihnen  erfundenen  Version  mit  vertikal fallender       U-förmiger Zahnstange als Rechen mit Schöpfer und Sperrhebel. Es scheint, dass dieser spezielle Rechen nur in Uhren aus dem Hohen Jura und den Nachbargegenden verwendet wurde.“  ("Anyway - continuing in the hypothetical scenario - the brothers not only adopted this new technique for their clock, but further developed and simplified it into the version they invented with a vertically falling U-shaped rack as a rake with a gathering cam and a locking lever. It seems that this particular rake was only used in clocks from the High Jura and neighboring areas.”)                                                                                                    It is of course extremely difficult to attribute this hybrid movement to a specific area. It is more the product of a 17th century blacksmith trying his hand at clockmaking, from eastern France, perhaps Haute-Saône or Haute-Marne, than western France, as the quality of the Hybrid movement is matched by the high quality of lantern clocks in Normandy or Paris.

 

Below are dimensions and details of this hybrid movement.

 

Cage: 250 mm high x 258 mm wide x 179 mm deep, these dimensions without the top 4 screws of the movement pillars.

 

Upper cage plate: thickness 1.8 mm to 2.0 mm 

Lower cage plate: 3.8 mm to 4.2 mm, 

front left is a piece of the cage plate up to 8 mm thick.

 

Pillar approx. 8mm x 8mm. (Differently thick between 7.8 mm and 8.5 mm). The large visible nuts on the movement pillars are approximately 20mm x 20mm and between 6mm and 10mm thick. The coarse thread would correspond to approx. M8.

 

Clock: 395 mm high x 260 mm wide x 200 mm deep, the mounted dial and cast bangle with cock are reproduction parts.

Plates are between 19 mm and 25 mm wide with a thickness of 5 mm

 

The rear factory panel is 1.8 mm to 2.0 mm thick, the front panel is 1.6 mm to 1.7 mm thick.

 

Going train: 

Thickness of the main wheel axle between 5.0 mm and 5.5 mm. Crown wheel axle thickness between 3.9 mm and 4.5 mm. 

The distance between the plates is 99 mm at the bottom and 83 mm at the top. 

The winding wheel has square edges at the front and rear, so that the weight could be wound from the front as well as from the back of the movement.

Striking train: 

thickness of the star wheel axle between 4.1 mm and 4.8 mm. 

Crown wheel axle thickness between 3.2 mm and 3.8 mm. 

The distance between the plates is 90 mm at the bottom and 81 mm at the top. The winding wheel has square edges at the front and rear, so that the weight could be wound from the front as well as from the back of the movement.

The front left plates ( striking mechanism ) has 2 small cams below, which are stuck in holes in the cage plate. This plates is then secured in the upper cage plate by a screw, like a Comtoise clock. 

The front right plate (going mechanism) has 2 small cams at the top and bottom, which are stuck in holes in the cage plates.

The two rear plates each have 2 small cams at the top, which are inserted into holes in the cage plate. At the bottom, these plates are then secured by 2 screws in brackets that are forged onto the cage plate. The center plate, which supports the hand train, is secured at the top in the cage plate with a screw, and at the bottom of the cage plate with a screw in a screwed-on angle foot.

The Haute-Saône movement with ratchet and the large movement with U-shaped rake clearly show that the Haut-Jura Comtoise movement did not fall out of the sky as a finished product and was not created on the drawing board, but was developed in intermediate stages over several decades.

 

On B: Lantern clocks were built in France throughout the 18th century, in Normandy in Pont-Farcy even up to the middle of the 19th century. The Haut-Jura Comtoise clock was always a strong competitor to this production and finally caused the end of this type of clock in the 19th century. 

The lantern clock hybrid movement presented here is the creation of a lantern clock manufacturer to help their own lantern clockwork by adding winding rollers to accommodate longer cords to a longer running time of one week. The wheel sets of the going and striking mechanism correspond to the usual movement construction, because they are arranged one behind the other. 

Not typical, however, are the winding wheels, which each correspond to the total depth of both sets of wheels. For this purpose, the front and rear plates were widened in the lower area, they were put on 2 legs, so to speak. The winding wheels to the left and right of the going and striking mechanisms can now be wound up using the square edges with a crank key.

 

Below are dimensions and details of this hybrid movement.

 

Cage: 165mm high x 157mm wide x 123mm deep, 

these dimensions exclude the top and bottom trunnions of the movement pillars. The total depth including the pendulum suspension and the pointer axis is 185 mm.

 

Upper cage plate: Thickness 1.8 mm to 2.2 mm 

Lower cage plate: Thickness 2.2 mm to 2.6 mm

 

Pillar approx. 10 mm x 6 mm. Feet and spigots of the pillars above/below 8 mm long.

 

Dimensions of the movement including the bell (dial not available) 260 mm high x 157 mm wide x 185 mm deep.

 

Plates are 15 mm wide and 3 mm thick.

 

Movement: 

The distance between the front and middle plate is 41mm. Schlagwerk: 

The distance between the middle plate and the back plate is 43mm. 

The distance between the two-legged front and rear plates for the winding wheels is 83 mm.

The recording depth for the winding cord on the winding wheel is 3 mm. The pawl and pawl spring are separated from the winding cord by a brass cover. This size of the winding wheel corresponds to the usual dimensions in a Comtoise movement.

The movement has hook escapement, 1/2 hour strike en passant and hour strike on bell. Rack striking mechanism with arc- rack. Boards are secured by wedges in the top cage plate.

This hybrid movement is presented here as an example of a lantern movement with 8-day cord pull based on a Comtoise movement, which probably dates from after 1750 and probably from Pont-Farcy in Normandy. This attempt was probably not commercially successful, because such a hybrid movement is extremely rare for collectors. (see picture section on page 31, Fig. 95 - 98)

 

8.  RACK STRIKING MECHANISM

    VERTICAL FALLING RACK   

     AND

     ARC-RACK 

 The arc-rack was invented in England around 1670 by Barlow. Everyone knows the typical shape of the arched rack, which was then used in the English grandfather clock movements of the 18th and 19th centuries and has also been installed millions of times in modern mechanical clockworks to this day. 

A vertically falling rack was used for the Comtoise clocks of the Haut-Jura type, which were then built in the millions for over 200 years. There are two types of vertically falling rack. 

1) the rack has a U-shaped formed rod with teeth on both outer longitudinal sides.                                                                                    2) the rack has a single rod with teeth on both longitudinal sides. 

The U-shaped rack is only found on the earliest Haut-Jura Comtoise models, but is then replaced after just a few years by the single rack, which is then used in 99.99% of all Comtoise clocks ever made. The U-shaped rack then no longer occurs in Comtoise clocks, but the arched rack is occasionally used from time to time.

The advantage of the rack hammer mechanism compared to the locking plate hammer mechanism is that the impact sequence in the rack hammer mechanism can be triggered again and again, whereas the hammer mechanism in the locking plate hammer mechanism can only be triggered once, and each new triggering results in the next number of impacts. The rack strike mechanism is therefore also referred to as a call strike mechanism, because you could, for example, call up the beat sequence again and again by pulling a cord (very practical at night from the bed using a cord pull via deflection rollers). It was not until the middle of the 18th century that the automatic repetition of the full hour strike after one to two minutes was introduced in Comtoise clocks.

The arc-rack, as used in Haute-Saône Comtoise clock or also in Haut-Jura Comtoise clocks, does not correspond to Barlow's rack. The English rack from Barlow is positioned with its fulcrum on the side of the striking mechanism and therefore requires a pressure spring that allows the rack with its scanning arm to fall onto the hour scale. The fulcrum of the arc-rack in the Haute-Saône and Haut-Jura Comtoise clocks is no longer positioned on the striking train side but on the going train side, so that the rack’s own weight causes it to fall onto the hour scale when triggered with the scanning arm.                                                                                                                                                  

                                                                                                                                         The Barlow version of the rack with a pressure spring does not appear (apparently) on Comtoise clocks. This rack striking mechanism also works with a forward wheel, i.e. a few minutes before the strike is triggered on the hour, the rack with the pressure spring already falls onto the hour scale with its scanning arm, and the forward wheel usually rotates half a turn before it is stopped again . When the impact is triggered on the hour, the stopped starting wheel is released so that the rotating wheel with the gathering cam can also transport the rack. The rack is mounted on the striking mechanism side.

 

In the earliest Comtoise clocks of the Haut-Jura type from around 1710, the U-shaped vertical rack  and the arc-rack are predominantly found. I estimate that only about 10% to 20% of the clocks had a arc-rack, which then becomes extremely rare after the formation of a Haut-Jura Comtoise unit type around 1740/50. 99.99% of the clocks built then had the vertically falling rack with a single toothing rod.

This computational version must have formed within 40 years of its invention. There seem to have been wooden clocks with a vertically falling rack, which were also made in Fourgs in the High Jura at the beginning of the 18th century. More of that below.

On page 21 of his study, published in the journal CHRONMÉTROPHILIA of the Swiss Society for the History of Timekeeping, issue Été/Summer 2012, no. 71, Georg von Holtey writes: „Fast alle frühen Comtoise Uhren haben ein Rechenschlagwerk, wobei der Rechen in den meisten Fällen in der Form einer vertikal fallenden Zahnstange ausgeführt ist. Nur zwölf von 80 untersuchten Uhren vom „Mayet Typ“ haben einen langen sichelförmigen Rechen, der auf der Seite des Gehwerks drehend gelagert ist. Diesen findet man besonders bei den Uhren der Meister Pierre Claude Mayet aus Morbier, Jean Guidevaux und Blondeau, aber vereinzelt auch bei anderen Uhrmachern.“  (“Almost all early Comtoise clocks have a rack mechanism, with the rack in most cases being in the form of a vertically falling rack. Only twelve out of 80 clocks of the "Mayet type" examined have a long arched-shaped rack, which is pivoted on the side of the going train. This can be found particularly in the clocks of the masters Pierre Claude Mayet from Morbier, Jean Guidevaux and Blondeau, but occasionally also in other clockmakers.”)

 

Only 12 of 80 clocks examined! I find that twelve arc-rack ( crescent rake ) clocks is quite a lot!

 

On page 28 of his study, two very early clocks by the master Pierre Claude Mayet are described, both of which have a crescent-shaped rack. How early are these clocks? From the period 1710-1720/25 or later? From which period are the other 10 clocks that also have a crescent-shaped rack? If all clocks with a crescent-shaped rake date from the period 1710-1720/25 rather than from the period 1725-1740?, then this is an important indication of the influence of the Haute-Saône clocks with crescent-shaped racks on the development of the Comtoise clocks of the Haut-Jura type. In the first few years there were more arc-racks like the model from Haute-Saône, later almost only the vertically falling rack after the standard model of the Haut-Jura type began to form.

 

The use of the vertically falling rack, whether U-shaped or single rack, seems to have had advantages over the arc-rack for the makers of Comtoise clocks in the High Jura.

 

What could that benefit be? The conception of the Comtoise clockwork consisted of the fact that the wheel sets of the going train and striking mechanism had their own plates (bar plates) and could therefore also be assembled and disassembled individually, in contrast to the two-plate movements. Barlow's rack hammer mechanism could have been used, since the rack's pivot point is in front of the hammer mechanism, and thus the wheel sets of the walking and hammer mechanism are separated, but with 5 wheels vertically one above the other, the movement cage would have had to be made larger (higher). When using the arched rack, whose wheel set only requires 4 wheels one above the other, the rack must be stored on the front walking mechanism plate because of the pivot point, which again had the disadvantage that the going mechanism and striking mechanism could not be assembled and dismantled independently of one another. Regardless of whether the going train or striking mechanism was being assembled or disassembled, the other wheel set was always involved. Only the vertically falling rack offers the advantage of independent assembly and disassembly of the two sets of wheels. The U-shaped rack can only be mounted on the hammer mechanism side. The very quick replacement of the U-shaped rack with the individual toothed rack with teeth on both long sides brought another decisive advantage, since the vertically falling rack now forms a coherent component directly with the bar plate - for production, assembly and maintenance. Only advantages!

More than 5 million purchase decisions for this very successful clock prove impressively that the decision to go with this detailed design for this striking mechanism variant in the overall development of the Comtoise clock was the right one.                             

 

On page 146 of Maitnzer/Moreau there are 3 illustrations with wooden watch movements (manufactured in the High Jura).                                                                         

 „Photo 201. Vue arrière du mouvement de la 2ème époque, axes en bois, roues en laiton, montrant la crémaillière, detentes à ressorts - ( pages 14 voir „aux Fourgs.“ („Photo 201. Rear view of the 2nd era movement, wooden axles, brass wheels, showing the rack, spring detents - (pages 14 see „aux Fourgs.“)    („Photo 202 Rear view of the 1st era movement, wooden axles and wheels, rack, spring detents, side anchors.“)

 

„Photo 203 Vue de 3/4 avant du mouvemenbt de la 2ème époque. L‘on remarque de limacon et le doigt de la crémaillière. ancre de côté.“ („Photo 203 Front 3/4 view of the movement of the 2nd era. We notice the snail and the finger of the rack. side anchor.“)

the associated textual explanation can be found on page 14 within the list of other manufacturing centers. - LES AUTRES CENTERS DE FABRICATION..........

„ – aux Fourgs ( près du Château de Joux-Pontarlier ), petit village à 1000 mètres d’altitude, où les horlogers paysans, environ 22 en 1870, fabriquaient, depuis 1715, les pièces chez eux et se retrouvaient chez Côte dit Jacques, pour terminer en commun ces mouvements Comtois. Ils travaillaient „en famille de Bourg“, il est possible qu’au 18ème siècle il se fabriqua ici des horloges en bois, comme a Saint-Claude, car à la fin du 19ème siècle, il se faisait encore des engrenages en bois pour les métiers à tisser, taillés dans du hêtre plané, ou dans de l’érable, que l’on devait laisser de nombreux mois à tremper dans le purin, afin de durcir et de l’empêcher de se fendre. Le bois obtenait ainsi la resistance du métal. A la fin du 19ème siècle, ces horlogers se transformèrent en „faiseurs de molettes“ pour couper le verre, en en „faiseurs de rouleaux et de rouages“ à facon pour les mouvements à musiques de Sainte-Croix ( Village suisse célèbre pour cette spécialité ), tandis que les femmes tissaient la paille pour en fair des chapeux.

Sur les mouvements en fer provenant des Fourgs on trouve les noms suivants: Francois CLÉMENT-TISSOT – COTE dit JACQUES – COTE – COTE DES COMBES –

Le dernier fur Francois CLÉMENT-TISSOT dont son petit-fils, Monsieur Charles TISSOT, me fournit ces renseignements (35)“

 Seite 412

„(35) L’évolution écononmique d’une commune rurale „Les Fourgs“ 1827 – 1939 par Simon CARREZ

„Les Fourgs“ du Professeur J.TISSOT Doyen honoraire de la Faculté des Lettres de Dijon – Besancon 1873“

(„ – in Les Fourgs (near the Château de Joux-Pontarlier), a small village at an altitude of 1000 metres, where peasant clockmakers, around 22 in 1870, had been manufacturing the pieces at home since 1715 and met at Côte dit Jacques, to complete these Comtois movements together. They worked „in the Bourg family“, it is possible that in the 18th century wooden clocks were made here, as in Saint-Claude, because at the end of the 19th century, wooden gears were still being made for the weaving looms, carved from planed beech or maple, which had to be soaked for many months in liquid manure, in order to harden and prevent it from splitting. The wood thus obtained the resistance of the metal. At the end of the 19th century, these watchmakers turned into "knob makers" for cutting glass, into "roller and cog makers" for the musical movements of Sainte-Croix (Swiss village famous for this specialty ), while women wove straw into hats.

 

On the iron movements from the Fourgs we find the following names: Francois CLÉMENT-TISSOT – COTE dit JACQUES – COTE – COTE DES COMBES –

 

The last fur Francois CLÉMENT-TISSOT whose grandson, Mr. Charles TISSOT, provides me with this information (35)“)

 

Page 412

The economic development of a rural community "Les Fourgs" 1827-1939 by Simon CARRE

"Les Fourgs" by Professor J.TISSOT Honorary Dean of Humanities of Dijon, - Besancon 1873"

If you look at the wooden movements, a wooden cage with a common wooden front plate for the going and striking mechanisms and two removable rod plates on the back, the similarity to the iron Comtoise movements of the High Jura is obvious, especially through the use of the vertically falling rack. The rack of these clocks consists of a toothed rack with notches on both sides.

The vertically falling rake is what is actually astounding about these wooden movements, because it is obvious that the invention of *the vertically falling rake* did not fall from heaven and does not only appear in the Comtoise watches of the Haut-Jura type. Supposedly *wooden Comtoise works* had been made in Fourgs since 1715, so here too it started in the early 18th century as in Morbier. The clock makers in Fourgs copied the vertically falling rack from the clock makers in Morbier around 1710/15 and then immediately developed their movement, with a vertically falling rack but not with a spindle escapement like the Morbier movements, but with an anchor escapement like the Haute-Saône movements ? Not likely, because the earliest Comtoise movements of the Haut-Jura type had a vertically falling, but U-shaped rake. The vertically falling rack with a toothed rack with teeth on both sides was not introduced until a few years later.

 

Did the clock makers in Morbier copy the vertically falling rack from the clock makers in Fourgs around 1715/1720 and then immediately develop their movement further and replace the previously U-shaped rack with a single toothed rack? Little likely. With clock production starting almost simultaneously in Fourgs and Morbier, there is no time to process the knowledge gained through *copying* into your own clocks ready for production.

It can be assumed that both clock types were influenced by the movements from Haute-Saône, since they certainly existed before 1700.

In Morbier, the verge escapement was preferred to the anchor escapement, as experience with the verge escapement in the construction and use of tower clocks after 1689 was probably already there.

The clockmakers from Fourgs took over the anchor escapement from the Haute-Saône clocks. However, both opted for the rack hammer mechanism and not for a locking plate hammer mechanism. In Fourgs, the vertically falling rack with a single rack was preferred for the production of the wooden clocks. In the earliest Comtoise clocks of the Haut-Jura type, the vertically falling rake was also drawn, albeit in the variant of the U-shaped double rack, the single rack (known from the Haute-Saône work of the late 17th century, illustrated by Ton Bollen ) was preferred to the locking plate striking mechanism.

 

 

The prototypes of Haute-Saône clocks with arched racks and also with a single rack existed! 

I still had that in my book/working text in 2018. *Origin of Comtoise clocks* written here:

„Doch gab es auch Vorbilder mit U-förmiger Zahnstange? Bekannt ist mir kein Vorbild einer anderen Uhr mit solch einer U-förmigen Zahnstange!“  (“But were there also models with a U-shaped rack? I am not aware of any other watch with such a U-shaped rack!”)

so I can now fortunately prove that the U-shaped vertically falling rack already existed in the 17th century (see Fig. 92 - 94 picture part page 30), although I cannot assign this clock work to the Haute-Saône.

 

The U-shaped rack provides a better view of the catering cam and locking lever when adjusting spacing and engagements.

 

Finding a Haute-Saône movement with a U-shaped rake would of course be possible, but would only prove that a Haute-Saône clockmaker already knew this U-shaped rake, but unfortunately would not prove that the U-shaped rack was also invented in Haute -Saône.

Today, in 2022, it is clear that the U-shaped toothing rod of the rack was not developed by the smiths/clockmakers of the High Jura.

 

                                                                                                   

9.  IN 1730.....

 

 

in 1730 the clockmaker CLAUDE DU CHESNE died in London!

 

What does this fact have to do with Comtoise clocks? See the pictures on pages 9 + 10, Fig. 36 - 42

 

The collection of the Comtoise Clock Museum in Düsseldorf houses a grandfather clock movement with Mayet escapement, signed: Claudius Du Chesne Londini.

 

An English grandfather clock of the best quality from the very early 18th century, with an hourly strike on a bell, a quarter-hour alarm strike mechanism on 6 bells and a Mayet escapement with a 4.5 kg pendulum lens.

 

It is almost a small miracle that this clockwork remained undiscovered by Claude du Chesne for decades and is now available as a very important building block for this investigation into the origin of the Comtoise clocks as an inventory clock of the Comtoise Clock Museum. How could this happen?

 

I had bought this clock in 1971 or 1972 in the Netherlands from a dealer in Tilburg, a bridge keeper who also ran a lucrative business in English grandfather clocks. An interesting movement in a non-matching oak case at a low price. The movement had a vertical escapement wheel, like any other movement. At the time I bought it, I didn't know that it was a Mayet escapement. In 1971 or 1972 I still had no idea about a Mayet escapement, as I had just started trading in antique watches while studying at university.

 

The clock was installed in my parents' house and was for sale. The clock had a tiny blemish, as the top left decorative corner of the dial was missing. "I'm going to have it refilled sometime," I had already thought to myself while shopping. However, this decorative corner was never recast, and there were plenty of other clocks for sale, so that nobody ever showed any interest in buying this not very attractive clock. This clock was a real grandfather clock, it stood and stood for decades.

After my mother passed away, I cleared out my parents' house in 2010/2011 and when I disassembled this grandfather clock with the Claude du Chesne movement, I couldn't believe my eyes when I discovered this Mayet escapement. For 40 years this sweetheart had slept soundly there in the stairwell on the 1st floor. Of course, this clock was immediately added to the collection of the Comtoise Watch Museum, which at that time had already existed for 10 years. After deciding to work on this book, the existence of the Mayet escapement in this English movement made by a French watchmaker became a very important building block in clarifying the origin of Comtoise clocks in the High Jura.

 

In Baillie, Watchmakers And Clockmakers Of The World, Reprintrd 1966 we read on page 90: „DUCHESNE, Claude. London 1689. CC.1693-1730. Paris an.1689. His equitation clock desc.in Gallon, „Machines et Inventions“, Vol. IV. Two fine cal. And mus. Clocks Dresden M.l.c. and br. clocks. Regulator mt C.A.& M. l.c. clock Virginia M.“

 

In Britten, Old Clocks & Watches And Their Makers, Republished 1971 From the Sixth Edition 1932 we read on page 738: "Duchesne, Claude, in Long Acre ( of Paris ); C.C. 1693; square full-repeating bracket clock, inscription on back plate, „Claudius du Chesne, in Long Acre“; long-case clock in lacquer case, Agence de Commerce Etranger Ltd.; John Wesley’s long-case clock by him, arch dial, age oft he moon, walnut case, is still preserved in the Wesley Museum, City Rd. In the Green Vaulted Chambers oft he Treasury at Dresden is a pair of long-case clocks in walnut case signed: „Claudius du Chesne Londini fecit“; they started about 12 ft.high; the dials show the phases of the moon, the months, and days oft he month, which are written in French; both clocks chime any play tunes before striking the hour; on the dial of one is a list in Dutch of he tunes played, and the repertory oft he other consists of „Air Polonais No. 1“, „Air Polonais No. 2“, „Air Italien“, and  „The King enjoys his own“. Fine bracket clock ( Mr. J.Drummond Robertson ), see pp.569 and 570;  1690-1720. Johannes, Amsterdam; fine clock, about 1750, Mr. Lawrence Bentall ( see pp. 521, 554 ).“

 In Tardy, Dictionnaire Des Horlogers Francais, Paris, 1972  we read on page 194:„DUCHESNE Claude. Refugié à Londres en 1693. Sur une montre: Claudius Duchesne Londini. DUCHESNE Pierre.Paris M. Fg.Saint-Germain, 1675. Grande Cour du Palais, 1687 – 1700. En 1701, on envoie ses filles aux Nouvelles Catholiques pour se convertir. Ensuite on leur donne 5 ou 6 pistoles pour convaincre leur père.  In présente, en 1726, à l’A.R.S. une pendule à équation.   Sur une pendule du Musée des A.D. Paris:  Du Chesne.   Sur une pendule du Musée de Besancon: Duchesne à Paris.“ („DUCHESNE Claude. Refugee in London in 1693. On a watch: Claudius Duchesne Londini. DUCHESNE Pierre.Paris M. Fg.Saint-Germain, 1675. Great Court of the Palace, 1687 – 1700. In 1701, his daughters were sent to the New Catholics to convert. Then we give them 5 or 6 pistoles to convince their father.   In present, in 1726, at the A.R.S. an equation clock.   On a clock in the Musée des A.D. Paris: Du Chesne.   On a clock in the Museum of Besancon: Duchesne in Paris.“)

In *CLOCKMAKERS OF BRITAIN* 1286 - 1700 by Brian Loomes from 2014 we read on pages 165 + 166: „DU CHESNE, Claude. London. Also Duchesne. Signed Du Chesne. He came from Paris, where he was probably born in the 166os and where he must have been apprenticed, though the records are lost. He came as a Huguenot refugee here in 1685 with his brother Antoine, who was admitted to the French Hospital in London in April 1728 and whose keep was paid for by Claude till Antoine died later that month aged 65. He was made a Free Brother in the Clockmakers‘ Company in September 1693.                                                                                                                       He was ‚of St Paul‘s Covent Garden‘ when he was married firstly on 1 June 1693 at St Dunstan‘s Stepney to Elizabeth Rossu, by whom he had a daughter. Elizabeth, baptised in 1706 at St Ann‘s Soho. Other children were: Claude ( born about 1699 ), who was apprenticed in 1711 to Henry Alexander of Weaver‘s Company ( but was described as a clockmaker when he married in 1721), Antoine, who was apprenticed in 1720 to William Richards as a Goldsmith becoming free in 1729 and married Anne Gagnon ( sister of Catherine Gagnon, who married clockmaker Stephen Rimbault ), Mary and Anne. Anne was married in 1721 at St Martin in the Fields to John Vale, who was also a clockmaker. He was godfather in 1694 and 1702 to two sons of clockmaker Samuel de la Fosse. In 1697 he signed the Clockmakers‘ Company oath of allegiance.                                                                                    He took several apprentices between 1716 and 1725: Richard Bullock 1715, Isaac Tierrelin 1716, John Talbot 1725. In 1718 he was often excused Company obligations ‚because he has five children and pleads inability‘ (to pay). In 1719 he was a witness to the will of Pierre Gobert. In 1720 he is recored as living in St Ann‘s parish, Westminster. He died in 1730 leaving a will in which he mentioned his unmarried daughter, Mary, but stipulated that his ‚other children are capable of earning their own bread‘. One executor was Samuel De la Fosse, also a clockmaker. qv                                                                                                 Children baptised at St Anne‘s Soho by a wife named Anne were probably those of his son. Claude junior: 1724 Elizabeth, 1727 Claude, 1732 Thomas. Various types of clock are known, some very complex ( including a longcase of three months‘ duration and musical bracket clocks),signed variously ‚Claudius de Chesne Londini‘, ‚Claudius Du Chesne Londini‘, Claude du Chesne in Long Aker‘, Claudius Du Chesne Lang Aker‘,‘Claude du Chesne Dean Street Soho Londini‘,‘Claudius Du Chesne In Dean Street At Ann Soho‘. The Du Chesne business in London was pricipally in leather from the late 18th century to the mid 1900s. See article in Antiquarian Horology, March 2010“.                                                                                                                                                                  

We can draw the following conclusions from these three dictionaries and the watch with Mayet escapement:

 

The clockmakers with the name Duchesne were not provincial clockmakers, but belonged to the top ranks of European clockmakers at the turn of the 17th and 18th  centuries.

 

The Du Chesne family were Huguenots and were therefore persecuted by the Catholic Church at the end of the 18th century. The father, Pierre Du Chesne, remained in Paris, his daughters were taken to the "Nouvelles Catholiques" for conversion, while his two sons (or at least 2 of his sons) emigrated.

 

Johannes Du Chesne emigrated to Amsterdam, where he died in 1720.

 

Claude Du Chesne emigrated to London in 1693, where he died in 1730.

 

The name Du Chesne can thus be found in Paris, London and Amsterdam.

 

If there are still clocks signed by Claude Du Chesne in England that have Dutch lettering for the songs. "On the dial of one is a list in Dutch of the tunes played", one can conclude from this that the Du Chesne family was still in contact and even installed the brother's products, i.e. Dutch movements, in clocks made in England.

The family kept in touch, so that we were informed among ourselves "about new products on the market.“

 

This is the only way to understand that Claude Du Chesne installed a Mayet escapement in a grandfather clock in London.

 

The Mayet escapement was first mentioned in the literature by Thiout around 1741, but without giving a date of its origin. It must of course have been written before 1730, because Claude Du Chesne died in London in 1730. And the Mayet escapement was of course not created in 1729, but much earlier. Thiout also mentions the Chevalier de Béthune escapement, made in 1727. The difference between the Mayet and Béthune escapements is that the linkage connecting the two axles with the respective pallets forms a rigid connection in the Mayet escapement, whereas the Béthune escapement can be changed by a screw. If the engagement of the pallets in the Mayet escapement needs to be corrected, this can only be done by bending the rigid linkage. With the Béthune escapement, the pallets can be corrected using the existing adjusting screw. The Béthune escapement is therefore an improvement, i.e. simplification, in the handling of the Mayet escapement, which thus allows the conclusion that the Mayet escapement is older than the Béthune escapement.

 

Both the Mayet escapement and the Béthune escapement are hook escapements, i.e. retrograde escapements. In the rebound escapement, the tooth of the escape wheel is rebounded through the pallet. In the English grandfather clocks of the 18th and 19th centuries, which have a normal hook escapement, this can be seen, for example, in the small second hands, which, because they are located on the escapement wheel axle, swing back a little after each advancing second. Feedback means friction of the pallet on the sprocket, and friction is a source of inaccuracy.

Built by Claude Du Chesne in England with a Mayet escapement, this clock can certainly be dated to between 1710 and 1720 based on all of its characteristics.

 

As a native of France, Claude Du Chesne certainly found out about the Mayet escapement and installed one in an English grandfather clock movement corresponding to the time. What did he expect from it? Presumably he wanted to test whether the Mayet escapement had less escape wheel return than the hook escapements in use in England. He equipped the clock he built with a 4.5 kg pendulum, the movement weight is approx. 10 kg, the clock runs very quietly and very precisely. The retraction of the escapement wheel is very slight, so that the retraction of the second hand is barely perceptible to the eye. This retracting Mayet escapement should therefore work more precisely than the English hook escapement with stronger retraction of the escape wheel that was in use at the time. In 1715 George Graham invented his deadbeat escapement, a significant improvement in rate accuracy. From 1715 the problem was solved and Claude Du Chesne certainly knew that the accuracy of the Graham escapement was far superior to that of his Mayet escapement. So an application after 1715 would not have made sense, at least not in England.

 

The English longcase clock with Mayet escapement must therefore have been built before 1715 or at the same time as the Graham clockwork in 1715.

The Mayet brothers must have developed their escapement around 1710 at the latest, so that Claude Du Chesne could have known about it.

This movement with a Mayet escapement by Claude Du Chesne is further proof that clock manufacture in the Jura cannot have started in the 17th century, especially since the Mayet were not aware of the use of the pendulum until around 1688/89.

Around 1685, the Mayet were still building tower clocks without a pendulum, and almost 25/30 years later they are able to incorporate their own modified hook escapement into clocks. How was such a development possible in such a short period of time?

 

Unfortunately, Thiout only spoke of *Mayet escapement* when he was mentioned in 1741. Unfortunately, we still do not know whether only one or more of the 4 Mayet brothers were involved in its development. However, it should be clear that only a *trained* watchmaker or a gifted, self-taught craftsman could accomplish such a feat. We don't know one way or the other, but we can assume that at least one of the Mayet brothers started or had already received watchmaking training towards the end of the 17th century, because in his 2004 book, Des clous, des horloges et des lunettes. On page 151, Les campagnards moréziens en industrie (1780-1914), Jean Marc Olivier refers to a training and control register for the Morbier district, which had existed since 1697. Source of the archive Départemental du Jura 2C 1102-1169, in which in the period from 1697 to 1790 81 training courses as a watchmaker and 5 times training as an enameller are entered.

 

What does this mean?

 

In any case, it does not mean that from 1697 it was possible to train as a clockmaker according to certain standards and supervised by the authorities. This register is merely a listing of the notarized training contracts that have been concluded. Freedom of contract as we know it today did not exist at that time. Two partners, apprentice father and teacher, agreed rights and duties in the contract, and these rights and duties were officially registered by the district. Certainly every other contract of the time was also registered accordingly.

 

For the purpose of training as a clockmaker, a contract was sealed in front of a notary, in which it was then regulated what the clockmaker apprentice could or was allowed to learn and what remuneration had to be paid by the apprentice's family to the teacher. The teacher imparted knowledge, but also gave his apprentice a roof over his head, training with board and lodging. Just as there were good and bad, talented and less talented teachers, there were of course also good and bad, talented and less talented apprentices. After completing an apprenticeship, the apprentices therefore did not have the same level of knowledge in the clockmaking trade. They had the level of knowledge to build the movements that were built in the Master's workshop.

 

A talented Mayet apprentice could have learned the theoretical basics of the clockmaker's trade in an apprenticeship with a capable master, from which he (alone or together with his brothers) could develop his own escapement. All of this would fit in well with the times. Apprenticeship as a clockmaker around 1700, followed by an apprenticeship with his master until around 1710, in order to then build the first Comtoise house clocks of the Haut-Jura type and to develop the Mayet escapement after 1710, which was then developed in England by Claude du Chesne and was installed in a clockwork before/around 1715.

Georg von Holtey leads in his work on: Jean Baptiste Cattin ( 1687-1767 ) in Chronométrophilia no. 65/2009 on page 40 the terms of an apprenticeship contract from 1767 to the effect that the father of the apprentice must pay "twelve pounds" (monnaie du royaume) for his son's five-year apprenticeship.

„Dafür verpflichtet sich der Uhrmachermeister ihm die Kunst seines Handwerks zu lehren, allerdings nur für den Bau von Gewichtsuhren mit acht Tagen Laufzeit und langem Pendel, die Stunden und Viertelstunden schlagen und ein Weckwerk haben.“ Im Originaltext heisst es: „ seulement pour les horloges tenants huit jours à poids“ ( Nur für 8 Tage Gewichtsuhren ). („For this, the master watchmaker undertakes to teach him the art of his craft, but only for the construction of weight clock with a running time of eight days and a long pendulum, which strike the hours and quarters of an hour and have an alarm." The original text says: "seulement pour les horloges tenants huit jours à poids” (weight clock only for 8 days).)

The teacher certainly improved his own income with the income from such a contract, but was nevertheless careful that sensitive knowledge was not simply passed on, but remained in his own family as a 'company secret'. General knowledge, which one could learn as an apprentice from one master or another, was passed on for a fee, special knowledge, which was only available in one's own workshop, in one's own family, also remained in the family. A good and gifted student progressed on the basis of what he learned, an average student might remain at the level of what he learned and then build many beautiful clocks during his working life.

If it was possible from 1697 to start a notarized watchmaking apprenticeship with a master, this did not necessarily mean that the master with whom you apprenticed had also completed an apprenticeship with a master.

For example, on the tower clocks of the Mayet before and up to 1685 we had read the signatures:

„Fait par Jean Claude et ses frères horlogeurs a Moubier“(„Made by Jean Claude and his clockmaker brothers in Moubier“)

 

„Fait à Morbier Par Jean Claude et Pierre Mayet et ses frères Horlogeurs L‘an mille six cent huictante cinq“ („Made in Morbier By Jean Claude and Pierre Mayet and his clockmaker brothers The year one thousand six hundred and eighty five“) 

The Mayet already referred to themselves as 'clockmakers', although they had not undergone any training. Not unusual, because it was often possible for someone who had made clocks based on their professional experience to call themselves a clockmaker.

 

Unlike in big cities, where the guild system determines the standard of training but also jealously guards one's own sinecure of one's own craft, there were no guild systems in the country. The manual skills were passed on from father to son and the owner of the craft business, e.g. the blacksmith,. was the *master*. In the High Jura, no young men could have completed training in a craft in guilds, since the young men were dependents according to a special inheritance law, the *Mainmorte*. Subjects, but also certain groups of society, such as the Jews, were forbidden to join a guild. Craftsmen living in the countryside also made contracts, and in the relevant notarial deeds blacksmiths or watchmakers or other craftsmen are then titled 'masters'. Possibly, education in the countryside was easier and faster anyway without the hierarchical constraints of the guilds. In the High Jura, at least in the area in which the inheritance law of the *Mainmorte* ( Dead Hand ) applied, there was freedom of trade, so to speak.

If it was possible from 1697 to start a notarized clockmaking apprenticeship with a master, this did not necessarily mean that there were not clockmakers in Morbier before or now in 1697.

Apparently, before the Haut-Jura Comtoise clock appeared, there was already another production of clocks in Foncine, i.e. there must already have been clockmakers, because Foncine is only a 'stone's throw' from Morbier. It is even said that clockmakers from Foncine were well known throughout the country and clockmaking in Foncine was so widespread and thriving that the Mayet brothers also came to Foncine to be part of the business. This fact that Mayet settled in Foncine is also known from other sources and happened after 1660, exact date (possibly in 1685) is not known, at least in the 17th century and not as the author M. Munier writes in the 16th century.

 

But this seems to be almost unknown. These must have been wooden clocks, comparable to the Black Forest clocks. We read about it on pages 134-138 in M. Munier, NOTICE SUR L'HORLOGERIE dans les montagnes du Jura. Revue Chronometrique, 1859-1861 (NOTICE ON CLOCKMAKING in the Jura mountains. Chronometric Review, 1859-1861)

 

"C'est donc à la suite de cette époque, et peu après elle, qu'elle s'implanta dans nos parages; aussi elle s'y généralisa tellement que, dès les temps les plus reculés, Foncine était en possession de fournir des horloges et des horlogers à toute la France. En effet, dans toutes les villes, partout et dès une époque très-ancienne, vous trouvez des horlogers sortis de ce pays; autrefois les horloges de cuisine n'etaient connues que sous le nom d'horloges de Foncine. Morez n'était pas encore né, car il y a moins d'un siècle que le lieu occupé par Morez était sans habitation. En 1666, un forgeron-cloutier, J.-B.Dolard, ayant acquis sur la Bienne du chapître de Saint-Claude le terrain nécessaire pour y établir une petite forge, vint la fair rouler avec quelques ouvriers qui l'avaient suivi. Ces hommes laborieux se logèrent près de l'usine, et leurs maisonnettes formèrent le noyau de cette commune aujourd'hui si florissante.

L'horlogerie était déjà si répandue et si prospère à Foncine dans le XVIe siècle que les frères Mayet, de Morbier, horlogers eux-mêmes, vinrent y établir une maison pour servir d'entrepôt au commerce d'horlogerie qu'ils voulaient établir sur une plus vaste échelle.“ („It was therefore after this period, and shortly after it, that it became established in our area; also it became so widespread there that, from the most remote times, Foncine was in possession of supplying clocks and clockmakers throughout France. In fact, in all cities, everywhere and from very ancient times, you find clockmakers from this country; formerly kitchen clocks were known only under the name of Foncine clocks. Morez was not yet born, for less than a century ago the place occupied by Morez was without habitation. In 1666, a blacksmith-nailer, J.-B.Dolard, having acquired on the Bienne from the chapter of Saint-Claude the ground necessary to establish there a small forge, came to make it roll with some workmen who had followed it.These hardworking men lodged near the factory, and their small houses formed the nucleus of this commune flourishing today.

Clockmaking was already so widespread and so prosperous in Foncine in the 16th century that the Mayet brothers, from Morbier, clockmakers themselves, came to establish a house there to serve as a warehouse for the clockmaking trade they wanted to establish in on a larger scale.“)

 

So, unless proven otherwise, we should assume that there were clocks and clockmakers in the High Jura that were well known throughout France before and during the time the Haut-Jura Comtoise clock was created.

In any case, the training contracts were registered in the Morbier district from 1697, not because of a lack of and a conscious encouragement of watchmakers, but simply because notarial contracts were now registered from that date.

It is said that in the period from 1697 to 1790 there were 81 training courses as a watchmaker and 5 training courses as an enameller.

Within 93 years, 81 watchmaker apprenticeships were registered, i.e. not 'a single full' apprenticeship contract per year! Of course, it has not yet been examined how many training contracts were registered in the years 1697 to 1720, for example. If the training contracts were evenly distributed over a period of 93 years, the fact that clockmaker training was registered from 1697 does not mean that there was suddenly a massive presence of Haut-Jura clocks in general and the large number of signed Comtoise clocks in particular in the Justify the time from 1710 to 1740/50. There is therefore a considerable need for research!

 

Do the Foncine clocks described in Munier's source exist? What do these clocks look like? Who can put such a watch in my hands?

 

From 1697 onwards, were only the notarized apprenticeship contracts registered in the Morbier district register, I believe, or was there some sort of guide from that period on what knowledge a watchmaking apprenticeship had to impart?

 

I do not believe that there was already a training regulation in the clockmaking trade set by the 'state' at that time, which was then entered in the register. In the 17th century, the watchmakers' guilds, which defined their own craft codes, had often only formed in the big cities! Here in the country in the village of Morbier, the state is said to have done this around 1700?

 There were clockmakers who called themselves masters and others called masters who had received the training from 'father to son', there were clockmakers who had completed an apprenticeship and then continued to work as journeymen in their master's company or also as journeymen built the types of clocks that they had learned during their apprenticeship, and of course there were also journeymen who went on wanderings after their apprenticeship with their master and thus brought knowledge and experience from other parts of the country back home with them ( or brought knowledge and experience from home to other parts of the country ).

 

Masters were those who built clocks in their own workshop and who offered training as a clockmaker in his workshop, although he himself had received the training 'from father to son' or built and has built clocks, so he could demonstrate the relevant experience. These 'masters' then signed their clocks with their name and location, possibly with the year. Signed clocks could be made by the master himself, but did not have to be completely made by the master himself, because journeymen and/or assistants (women and children) could be involved in the construction.

Of course, a journeyman could also build clocks in his own workshop, but not sign them, since he did not have master craftsman status. It was definitely the case that the masters paid attention to this, and this was also the case in the cities with the guilds that only the masters signed their products.

 

This would explain that in the development time and the 1st period of the Haut-Jura Comtoise clock there were about 20 - 30 known family names that we found as signatures on clocks at this time, i.e. on the clocks of the masters, and very many unsigned clocks at that time, i.e. on the clocks of the journeymen. Of course, the journeymen made clockworks that were identical in construction, just as they had learned from their masters. These unsigned comtoises of the journeymen must not be assigned to the signed comtoises of the masters. What reason should a master have for signing one of the clocks he built, but not signing the other clock he built. The only difference is only in the signature? Only in a hallmark or engraving?

 

This assignment, as published by Georg von Holtey in the CHRONOMÉTROPHILIA magazine of the Swiss Society for the History of Time Measurement, Été/Summer 2012 issue, no. 71, in his essay "Manuscripts of clockmakers from the High Jura in their clocks from the early 18th century", I think is wrong. Read more about this later in Chapter 13.

The inheritance law of the *Mainmorte* ( Dead Hand ) mentioned above, which on the one hand had an influence on the training system of the guilds in the cities, but on the other hand meant more freedom in the country than in the cities, said that land and soil together with all those standing on it buildings were property of the feudal lord/landlord. The owner, the farmer, only had the right to use the land and buildings. As a rule, he had to give part of the harvest to his liege lord/landlord and/or perform forced labor/lord services, such as ploughing, sowing and harvesting, on the liege lord's/landlord's land. He was tied to the land, the clod, and could not, for example, move, marry or take over the land from a deceased family member without the consent of his master. The youngest son of a farmer (l'ainé or le cadet) was entitled to inherit. Other sons, however, were bound to the country as serfs and could not simply 'emigrate'. The feudal lord/landlord often fetched such 'emigrants' back by force. Families grew and more annexes or houses had to be built, creating small hamlets where all family members lived together. However, since there were no guilds, the inhabitants of such farms/hamlets were relatively free to pursue secondary activities, i.e. domestic trades developed with which they could earn money in order to be able to buy the grain needed to improve their diet. Some earned so much with their household trades that they were even able to buy their freedom from serfdom, that they might even be able to buy land themselves from their liege lord/landlord and thus become 'free'. During the French Revolution, this form of inheritance law was also abolished, since all feudal rights were declared to have expired.

 

The inheritance law of the *Mainmorte* tied people to the land on which they lived, but it also enabled them to pursue sideline jobs. New products, such as the Comtoise house clock, quickly found interested imitators. This is the only way to explain the fact that within a few years there was a large number of clockmakers who manufactured identical signed and unsigned products and were able to sell them well.

 

 

10.  SCREWS - FIXING SCREWS ON HAUT-JURA TYPE COMTOISE CLOCKS.

                              

Not in any type of clock, such as the Gothic house clocks of the 16th and early 17th centuries and the lantern clocks of the 17th century, of course not in all tower clocks built up to the end of the 17th century, almost all of which were made by blacksmiths , but also not in Cartel clocks or Religieuse clocks, which were usually built by clockmakers, had screws, i.e. fastening screws, been used so consistently before. The Haute-Saône Comtoise clocks already have fastening screws, much more than with the lantern clocks, but not as consistently as with the Haut-Jura Comtoise clocks. Of course, this impression may be misleading and is probably very much influenced by the fact that there are not comparable numbers of Comtoise clocks from Haute-Saône as there are from 1710/1720 in the High Jura.

 

The screws and nuts used in Comtoise clocks play a key role in the clock's success!

 

The Haut-Jura Comtoise clock is by far the most modern clock of its time!

 

The later mass production of goods during industrialization in the 19th century, which was only possible with fastening screws, was already practiced here in the High Jura in the 1st half of the 18th century, but still individually, i.e. without standardization!

 

If we look at the screws of different clocks from different times, you can clearly see a development of the screws, so you have to say:

 

There is a genealogy of the fixing screws of the Haut-Jura Comtoise clock!

In the Haut-Jura Comtoise clocks, for example, we find fastening screws with square, round or teardrop-shaped screw heads. All of these different forms were certainly not used at the same time.

 

But in order to be able to understand all this better, the following questions should first be answered.

 

1. What types of screws are found on the first single-handed Comtoise clocks in the High Jura?

 

2. How is the state of the art of screw production presented in the literature towards the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th century?

 

3. Do practice and theory correspond to screw production in the High Jura?

 

4. How were the screws for the Comtoise clocks made in the High Jura?

 

 

 

1. What types of screws are found on the first single-handed Comtoise clocks in the High Jura?

 

a) The 4 rod plates are fixed in the work cage with 4 screws, which are screwed into the internal threads cut at the upper end of the plate.

 

b) The pendulum chimney is secured by 2 screws screwed into the upper cage plate, male thread (male thread) in female thread (female thread).

 

c) The bell stand is also screwed into the internal thread (nut thread) in the upper cover plate of the cage using the male thread at the lower end.

 

d) The bell itself is also secured by a nut, female threads in nut to male threads on the bell rod.

 

e) The front and back are usually attached to the cage pillars with 2 screws each.

 

f) The brass circle dials and the corner decorations/winding hole closers are fastened to the supporting plate with tiny iron screws.

 

g) The brass fronton is attached to a holder with a tiny iron screw, whereby the holder is either screwed with its external thread (male thread) at the foot into the female thread (nut thread) in the upper cover plate of the cage or is riveted directly into the cover plate.

 

h) The holder of the minute wheel is fixed with a screw on a support arm of the front plate (later then the middle iron plate of the cage), as well as the holder of the rear spindle axis bearing on the back plate.

 

i) The lower journal of the spindle wheel axle stands in a bearing chuck of a support arm, the end of which is provided with a square and external thread (male thread), which is inserted through a hole in the front or rear plate and then fastened with a screwed-on nut with an internal thread (female thread). becomes.

 

 

 

j) The upper journal of the spindle wheel axle is mounted in a bore in a brass holder, which is fastened to the top of the cage plate by a threaded screw (male thread), screwed into an internal thread (female thread) cut into the cage top plate.

 

k) The hour hand is secured by a nut with an internal thread by screwing it onto an external thread (male thread) of the fixed hand axis. Very very rarely is the hand still secured by a pin. In the lantern clocks, for example, the hands are almost always secured by pins.

 

l) The pressure spring for the hammer axis of the half-hour strike is fastened in an internal thread (nut thread) of the plate using a threaded screw (male thread).

Some of the above-mentioned fastenings, such as b),c),e),g),h) and k) could also have been carried out using rivets and pins, as was also common with other contemporary clock types.

 

Almost without exception, Comtoise clocks use screws, i.e. threaded screws (male thread) and female threads (female thread), as well as nuts with female threads (female thread).

 

In the further explanations, only threaded screws with external threads and nuts and bores with internal threads are spoken of, briefly only of screws and nuts.

 

2.) How is the state of the art of screw production presented in the literature towards the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th century?

 

In general usage one speaks of *cut* or *cut* thread. However, this designation of “cut threads” should be used with caution in connection with screws and threads in the 17th + 18th centuries and even well into the 19th century, as it means that something was *cut* here. Cutting would mean that something is cut off, removed from the material. Cutting would mean that one would have to have had appropriate tools for it.

 

Today we use appropriate tools to produce threads. I can cut a precisely defined thread profile (external thread) on a round rod made of metal with the help of a thread cutter, i.e. when turning the thread cutter, material is cut away by the cutting flanks so that the thread profile remains. 

 

I can cut a precisely defined thread profile into a hole in a metal plate with the help of a tap, i.e. when turning the tap, material is cut away by the cutting flanks so that the thread profile (internal thread) remains. Taps and taps are standardized so that the resulting external threads and internal threads always fit with the same sizes. Cut threads are usually sharp-edged and the threads are all the same.

 

When will there be tools that can be used to cut external and internal threads? 

 

The only way to clarify this question is to look at the relevant specialist literature, if available. Just searching for literature in which we could find out something about the fastening screw that interests us is already difficult, because hardly anyone has thought about fastening screws or their production. 

In any case, the standard work by Rudolf Kellermann and Wilhelm Treue seems to be: Die Kulturgeschichte der Schraube (The cultural history of the screw) Second extended edition and continued edition up to the 20th century VERLAG F. BRUCKMANN MUNICH 1962

 

If you read the book or just look at the table of contents, you will notice that you will find almost nothing about the fastening screw in the period from 1650 to 1750. Fastening screws were known, especially in the blacksmith's trade with the armourers, who made the knight's armor in the Middle Ages. Screws were also used by clockmakers, but the use of fastening screws was avoided as far as possible and riveted or secured with fastening pins.

 

The fastening screw, the threaded screw that interests us (we would speak of machine screws today) with the associated nut screw, not the wood screw or other screws, such as the Archimedean screw, actually only came to light with screw production in the second half of the 18th century performed at the beginning of industrialization. From the explanations I am able to learn about the development, the innovations, the inventions for the production of the fastening screw, but I do not find out what the state of the art was in general for the production of fastening screws in the period around 1700. It would certainly have been presumptuous that one would learn something concrete in the meritorious work by Kellermann/Treue about the status of the fastening screw in the High Jura around 1700.

 

Kellermann and Treue probably did not know that fastening screws were almost exclusively used in Comtoise clocks in the early 18th century, otherwise they would not have been able to explain on page 173:

 

 

„DIE SCHRAUBE ZWISCHEN HANDWERK UND INDUSTRIE.

Die vorstehenden Kapitel haben die Geschichte der verschiedenen Erscheinungsformen der Schraube von deren Anfängen bis in die Zeit des Merkantilismus, des Barock, des Rokoko verfolgt. In allen diesen vielen Jahrhunderten wurde die Schraube, wenn überhaupt, stets nur in wenigen Exemplaren von einem Handwerker angefertigt und verwendet, der wohl im allgemeinen über dem Durchschnitt seiner Kollegenmeister stand. Sie wurde bei verhältnismäßig wenigen Gelegenheiten, nicht selten bei der Verarbeitung von Kostbarkeiten benutzt und daher nicht allein werkgerecht geformt, sondern häufig zugleich auch im Kunststil der Zeit gestaltet oder verziert. Solange weder ein Bedarf nach vielen gleichartigen Schrauben bestand, noch Einrichtungen existierten, die es erlaubt hätten, große Mengen solcher Schrauben herzustellen, blieb dieser Zustand, das Gleichgewicht von Anwendungs- und Herstellungsmöglichkeit, erhalten.“                                                  (“THE SCREW BETWEEN CRAFTSMANSHIP AND INDUSTRY.

The preceding chapters have traced the history of the various manifestations of the screw from its beginnings to the mercantilism, baroque and rococo periods. In all these many centuries, the screw, if at all, was always made and used only in a few copies by a craftsman who was probably generally above the average of his fellow masters. It was used on relatively few occasions, not infrequently when processing valuables, and was therefore not only formed in a manner appropriate to the work, but was also often designed or decorated in the artistic style of the time. As long as there was neither a need for many screws of the same type nor facilities existed that would have made it possible to produce large quantities of such screws, this state of affairs, the balance between application and production possibilities, remained intact.”)

So I have to assume that novelties, inventions for the production of fastening screws, which were made in the second half of the 18th century, also came from this period, i.e. were unknown in the first half of the 18th century and before.

 „Bei kleineren und mittleren Schrauben wurden auch in der zweiten Hälfte des 18. Jahrhunderts die Gewinde fast ausschließlich *geschnitten*. Die hierzu verwendeten Schneideisen hatten noch keine eigentliche Schneide, sondern bestanden nur aus einer gehärteten Mutter. So wurde das Gewinde mehr durch Quetschen als durch Schneiden hergestellt; es war infolgedessen gewöhnlich recht unansehnlich.

Im Jahr 1785 verbesserte der Mechaniker Keir aus Camdantown das Schneideisen, indem er es zweiteilig machte und mit zwei Schneiden versah. Das vom ihm so gestaltete Schneideisen war in einem Halter untergebracht und konnte mit einer Stellschraube verstellt werden. Auf diese Weise wurde aus dem Schneideisen die verstellbare Schneidkluppe. Allerdings konnte diese erst in der ersten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts allgemein in Anwendung genommen werden, da Keir seine Erfindung zunächst geheim hielt und nicht vor 1825 bekannt gab.“    so beschrieben es Kellermann/Treue auf Seite 189 ihrer Arbeit.  (“The threads of small and medium-sized screws were almost exclusively *cut* even in the second half of the 18th century. The dies used for this did not have an actual cutting edge, but consisted only of a hardened nut. Thus the thread was made more by squeezing than cutting; it was consequently usually quite unsightly.

In 1785, the Camdantown mechanic Keir improved the die by making it in two parts and adding two blades. The die he designed in this way was housed in a holder and could be adjusted with an adjusting screw. In this way, the die became the adjustable die stock. However, this could only be used in general in the first half of the 19th century, since Keir initially kept his invention secret and did not announce it before 1825."     This is how Kellermann/Treue described it on page 189 of their work. )

 

These above statements need to be supplemented.

 

Since one is both talking about a cutting tool when using a hardened nut or a die to make a thread, it is important to know that the die was not invented by Keir in 1785, of course. The caliper is much older. Up until 1785, you should think of a clip as a holder for a split screw that only deformed the material and didn't really chip it.

 

Keir was the first to equip his caliper with cutting blades, which now cut away the material, i.e. really chipped away.

 

If one follows the development of tools, especially of course those tools with which threads could possibly be produced, one has to realize that theoretically the corresponding tools existed, but in practice they did not exist.

 

Lathes for cutting threads were already available towards the end of the 15th century. Threads were needed in many ways, e.g. on wine presses, book printing presses, coin minting, textile presses, on all kinds of war tools, on instruments of torture, such as thumbscrews (we still know the expression *putting the thumbscrews on someone*), such as leg screws and choking pears. All screws, but no mounting screws. Fastening screws were already in use at this time, you can find them on pieces of jewelery for women, on armor of knights. The most famous piece made for a knight is a prosthesis. Götz von Berlichingen's iron hand would not have been possible without the use of screws. However, all of these small mounting screws had to be hand forged and filed one by one. That this must have been extremely complicated can be seen from the extremely rare use of such screws. A fastening screw was only used where it was absolutely necessary, otherwise it was riveted or fastened or secured with pins and wedges.

                                                                                                                                                On the tower clock mechanisms, on the first Gothic house clocks, on the lantern clocks of the 17th century and well into the 18th century, all the necessary attachments and safeguards were made with pins and wedges, screws were only used in emergencies.

With the Comtoise clocks of the High Jura at the beginning of the 18th century it was exactly the opposite. Every part to be secured was secured with a screw, pins and wedges were only used very occasionally.

 

Now one might think that tools for making fastening screws were also available at the very time when the Comtoise clock was created in the High Jura. You can indeed have this impression, because 

“the various threaded ties gave the first time the Frenchman Charles Plumier in 1701 in Lyon in his work on the turning shop. In his *L'art de tourner* he mentioned the caliper, the screw tap and the die.” (Pages 177/178 Rudolf Kellermann and Wilhelm Treue. The cultural history of the screw) This was also nothing new in 1701, as Leonardo da Vinci already had left a drawing with a thread-cutting device in his notes around 1500, ill. on page 69 of the work by Rudolf Kellermann and Wilhelm Treue. 

Herbert Maschat writes in chapter 4.8 thread production on pages 159/160 of his book: LEONARDO DA VINCI and the technology of the Renaissance, Profil Verlag GmbH, Munich, 1989:

„ Vom einfachen Gewindeschneidezeug bis zur komplizierten Gewindeschneidemaschine auf der über auswechselbare Stirnräder Schrauben mit unterschiedlicher Ganghöhe erzeugt werden können, reichen Leonardos Vorschläge zur Herstellung präziser Gewinde. Von aktueller Bedeutung ist eine Skizze in den Madrider Manuskripten, da er hier ein Drehwerkzeug darstellt und beschreibt, das in dieser Form noch unverändert in den Werkstätten benutzt wird. Und der Drehstahl, der die Nut herstellt, muss notwendigerweise einen spitzen Winkel haben, wie in m o gezeigt wird, weil er den Grund der Nut punktförmig berühren muss. Der Zapfen, in dem er rund ist, berührt auch seinen Drehstahl in einem Punkt.55  Dieser Drehstahl ist schon mit allen wichtigen Schneiden und Winkeln versehen, die ein heute verwendeter *Drehmeißel* aufweist. Deutlich sind die Spitzen-, Span-, keil- und Freiwinkel am Schneidkopf erkennbar.“ (“ Leonardo's suggestions for the production of precise threads range from simple thread-cutting tools to complex thread-cutting machines on which screws with different pitches can be produced via interchangeable spur gears. A sketch in the Madrid manuscripts is of current importance, as it depicts and describes a turning tool that is still used in this form in the workshops, unchanged. And the turning tool making the groove must necessarily have an acute angle as shown in m o because it must touch the bottom of the groove pointwise. The spigot, in which it is round, also touches its turning tool at one point.55 This turning tool is already provided with all the important cutting edges and angles that a *turning chisel* in use today has. The tip, rake, wedge and clearance angles are clearly recognizable on the cutting head.”)

 

 

However, more than entire continents lay between theory and practice, aspiration and reality. Perhaps there were a handful of learned people who knew Leonardo da Vinci's notes, who also published their findings in books, such as Charles Plumier in 1701 in Lyon/France or Jacob Leupold in 1724 in Germany in his work: Theatrum Machinarum Generale, in which he depicted screws, dies and pliers and wrote:„ Die eiserne Schraube aber sei zehnmal kräftiger als die hölzerne oder *wird wohl 10 mahl weniger Platz einnehmen, denn eine höltzerne*. Ihrem Effect und Vermögen nach übertrifft die Schraube alle anderen Rüst-Zeuge oder Potentien..... weil sie in einem so kleinen und kurtzen Begriff verfasset ist und also durch eine Machine, die nur etliche Zoll im Umfang ist, mehr kann gethan werden, als durch andere, die viel Schuh und Ellen groß sind; dannenhero ihr Nutzen und Gebrauch mit keiner Feder genügsam zu beschreiben und also diese Erfindung vor eine der allernützlichsten in der Welt zu achten ist.“ ( Seite 178 der Arbeit von Rudolf Kellermann und Wilhelm Treue. Die Kulturgeschichte der Schraube ) . („But the iron screw is ten times stronger than the wooden one or *will probably take up 10 times less space than a wooden one*. In its effect and power, the screw surpasses all other equipment or potencies.....because it is formulated in such a small and concise term, and so more can be done by a machine only a few inches in circumference, than by others who are many shoes and cubits tall; then its usefulness and use cannot be adequately described with any pen and therefore this invention is to be regarded as one of the most useful in the world." ( Page 178 of the work by Rudolf Kellermann and Wilhelm Treue. The cultural history of the screw ) )              

Probably the first record of the knowledge that the fastening screw is one of the most important inventions of mankind.

 

The knowledge was theoretically available, but the practice was sobering! A good example of this is the well-known company JAPY from Beaucourt in watchmaking circles.

 

In their* cultural history of the screw*, Rudolf Kellermann and Wilhelm Treue write on page 262:„In Frankreich war es die heute noch führende Firma Japy Frères & Co., die sehr schnell aufblühte und für die Entwicklung der ganzen französischen Schraubenindustrie anregend und entscheidend geworden ist. Bereits 1767 errichtete Frédéric Japy in dem kleinen Dorfe Beaucourt am Jura nahe Belfort eine kleine Werkstätte zur Herstellung von Taschenuhren. Die Uhrwerke wurden damals noch mit der Hand gemacht, aber Frédéric Japy tat sehr bald den entscheidenden Schritt zur mechanischen Herstellung; er konstruierte eine Reihe von Maschinen, die sich praktisch und nützlich erwiesen und bereits vor der großen Revolution eine Produktion von 1000 bis 1200 rohen Uhrwerken jährlich ermöglichten. In den 90er Jahren nahm man dann die Herstellung von Wand- und Pendeluhren auf, wobei nun auch Holzschrauben gebraucht wurden, die von den Uhrmachern einzeln mit der Hand zurechtgefeilt wurden. Damit blieb die Schraubenfabrikation jedoch hinter der Arbeitsgeschwindigkeit und Genauigkeit der Uhrmacher etwa um soviel zurück, wie in jenen Jahrzehnten vor der Erfindung der mechanischen Spinnerei die Handspinnerei von der mechanischen Weberei überholt wurde. Der erste Schritt, um diesen Mißstand zu beseitigen, bestand gewissermaßen in der Abstellung von Uhrmachern ausschließlich für die Schraubenfertigung. Da nun aber viele andere Uhrenteile auf Drehbänken und anderen Maschinen hergestellt wurden, lag es nahe, derartige Maschinen auch für die Schraubenfabrikation zu entwickeln.“ (“In France it was the still leading company Japy Frères & Co. which very quickly flourished and became stimulating and decisive for the development of the whole French screw industry. As early as 1767, Frédéric Japy set up a small workshop for the manufacture of pocket watches in the small village of Beaucourt on the Jura near Belfort. Movements were still made by hand at the time, but Frédéric Japy soon took the decisive step towards mechanical manufacture; he constructed a series of machines which proved practical and useful and which, even before the great revolution, enabled the production of 1000 to 1200 crude movements a year. In the 90s, the production of wall and pendulum clocks began, using wood screws that the clockmakers filed individually by hand. However, screw manufacture lagged behind the working speed and accuracy of clockmakers by about as much as manual spinning was overtaken by mechanical weaving in the decades before the invention of mechanical spinning. To a certain extent, the first step in eliminating this deficiency was to have watchmakers assigned exclusively to the manufacture of screws. However, since many other watch parts were now being manufactured on lathes and other machines, it made sense to develop such machines for screw production as well.”)

 

Around the middle of the 18th century, watchmakers had lathes available on which the lathe tool could be forced to move with the help of a lead screw. Threaded screws could therefore be manufactured, but only individually. Hiring watchmakers exclusively for the production of screws is also and still is *INDIVIDUAL PRODUCTION* at JAPY.

 

In addition to the manufacture of threaded screws for clock movements, Japy also developed machines for the manufacture of wood screws (for the wooden cases of clocks) and his company experienced unprecedented growth. The screws produced set standards, and for a long time in England and Germany it was not possible to produce screws of this type, which were sold under the quality designation "French wood screw".

 

FINALLY, in 1797, the Englishman Maudslay succeeded in constructing a lead screw lathe on which it was now possible to manufacture more precise fastening screws more quickly. But although fastening screws were now being manufactured on machines in the 19th century, it must unfortunately be said that every screw and nut remained an individual product pair for a long time. Only in the second half of the 19th century did the situation improve significantly for many manufacturers of industrial goods due to the standardization of screws, and it was only the enormous need for screws for railway construction and the armaments of World War I that resulted in standardized threads for screws and Nuts, as we take it for granted today.

 

Rudolf Kellermann and Wilhelm Treue therefore write in their* cultural history of the screw* on page 246:„Allerdings bedurfte die Massenfertigung von Schrauben der Erfüllung gewisser Voraussetzungen, deren erste die Austauschbarkeit war. Noch in den 70er Jahren des 19. Jahrhunderts waren nach gegebenen Maßen angefertigte Schrauben und Muttern so ungenau, daß sie keineswegs ausgetauscht, d.h. daß sie nicht durch andere, mit den gleichen Maßen hergestellte Schrauben oder Muttern ersetzt werden konnten. Im allgemeinen paßte keine andere Mutter als die ausdrücklich zu dieser einzigen Schraube gefertigte.“ (“However, the mass production of screws required the fulfillment of certain requirements, the first of which was interchangeability. As late as the 1870s, bolts and nuts made to specific dimensions were so imprecise that they could not be interchanged, i.e. they could not be replaced by other bolts or nuts made to the same dimensions. In general, no other nut would fit other than the one specifically made for this single bolt.”)            

 

Further on page 252: „Es bedeutet keine Herabsetzung des menschlichen Genies, wenn man behauptet, daß die weltweite Anwendung vieler wichtiger Erfindungen nicht möglich gewesen wäre ohne die Entwicklung der modernen Schraube mit ihrer immer größeren Zuverlässigkeit, Festigkeit und Verwendbarkeit.“ ( "It does not mean a reduction in human genius if one claims that the global application of many important inventions would not have been possible without the development of modern screw with its ever greater reliability, strength and usability.“)

 

When you consider that it took almost 2 centuries to produce screws in such quantity and quality that people accept these ingenious fasteners as being as naturally present as if they had always been there. Nobody thinks about the endless problems that had to be solved. In today's everyday life, screws are just there, as if *they would fall from the sky*. Countless inventions of the 19th and 20th centuries would not have been possible without screws.

 

If you appreciate all this in connection with the development of the Comtoise clocks in the High Jura at the beginning of the 18th century, then you can only say that at this point in time 300 years ago an absolutely brilliant product was created.

 

The product "Comtoise Clock" was so ingenious that it could be built for almost two centuries and only disappeared from the market at the beginning of the 20th century.

 

It did not disappear because of technical obsolescence, but because the market was saturated and because customer tastes had changed as a result of the wide range of wall clocks, grandfather clocks and mantel clocks from other manufacturers in France and other countries.

 

If you were to give an engineer the task of constructing an inexpensive, maintenance- and repair-friendly, long-lasting functional clock with striking mechanism out of iron and brass, the result would probably be a Comtois-style clockwork.

 

The Comtoise clock from around 1710/1720 is actually 200 years ahead of its time because it already had all the characteristics of an industrially produced clock at that time, without the characteristics of industrialization also being present.

 

3.) Do practice and theory match in the manufacture of screws in the High Jura?

 

This question can be answered with an unequivocal NO.

 

Although tools for making threads already existed at this time, such tools were not used in the High Jura. Whether these tools were known is something that no one can probably answer today. A positive answer to this question would not change anything, however, because the screws used on Comtoise clocks only allow the conclusion that they were made by hand. Even if you had tools, you could only have used them to make screws one at a time. Screws made with tools would certainly have been a little more precise, but I doubt whether they would have been cheaper than screws made by hand. The tools would certainly have been very expensive, but women and children's labor was always cheaper. This brings us to question 4.                                                                                                            

 

4. How screws were made for Comtoise clocks in the High Jura? 

 

How did you make external threads and internal threads around 1700/1720? Threaded bolts with external threads and nut bolts with internal threads? Exactly these types of screws we find in large numbers on the first Comtoise clocks in the early 18th century.

When listing the screws found on Comtoise movements, screw types a) and b) are particularly noticeable. 

a) The 4 rod plates are fixed in the work cage with 4 screws, which are screwed into the internal threads cut at the upper end of the plate.

b) The pendulum chimney is secured by 2 screws screwed into the upper cage plate, male thread (male thread) in female thread (female thread).

 

Bei den frühen Haut-Jura Comtoise Uhren haben die 4 Schrauben zur Sicherung der Stabplatinen immer einen viereckigen Schraubenkopf, abgeflachte Seiten, punzierte Punkte 1-4, notwendig für die Zuordnung zum passenden Innengewinde der Stabplatine. Die Stabplatinen sind ebenfalls mit Punkten von 1-4 punziert. Die beiden Schrauben zur Befestigung des Pendelkamins weisen nur bei den allerersten Haut-Jura Uhren diesen eckigen Schraubenkopf auf, nach wenigen Jahren werden die eckigen Köpfe dann durch zylindrische, seltener durch tropfenförmige Köpfe ersetzt.

In the early Haut-Jura Comtoise clocks, the 4 screws for securing the bar plates always have a square screw head, flattened sides, punched points 1-4, necessary for the assignment to the matching internal thread of the bar plate. The bar plates are also hallmarked with dots from 1-4. The two screws for attaching the pendulum chimney only have this square screw head on the very first Haut-Jura clocks. After a few years, the square heads are then replaced by cylindrical, more rarely by teardrop-shaped heads.

In the High Jura there were already numerous blacksmiths in the 17th century, larger ones such as the Mayet, which were already producing tower clock movements, but also many small blacksmiths, who mainly produced forged nails for the construction industry in France. The nailsmiths made all sizes of nails, square, conically forged pins with square heads forged in the fire, see Figure 1, part of the picture on page 1. It is now very easy to make the blank of a screw from a small forged nail by just cutting the square forged shank of the Round off the nail and cut to the desired length. The thread is now filed into this round shaft by hand, a job predestined for women and children. Of course, the forged nail intended for the production was not hardened by the blacksmith, so that the shaft can be filed round more easily and the thread can also be filed more easily. This small screw was now hardened by the blacksmith (dipped red-hot in water) and then used as a *tapping tap*, in that the blacksmith screwed this hardened screw into the hole of the bar plate, which was then heated up red-hot again and into which a hole had previously been drilled . The threads of the screw (male thread) now cut the corresponding female thread (nut thread) in the hot bar plate.

Screw and rod plate were hallmarked according to their placement in the work cage. External and internal threads, male and female threads form an inseparable pair. Only this one pair is a perfect match! Other very similar screws sometimes fit, but never perfectly! We're talking about *threading*, but it should be clear that this process involves forming the threads rather than cutting them. The drill hole in which a thread is to be formed must of course also be of a size adapted to the thread, because the red-hot material is deformed. If the drill hole is too small, the hardened screw can only be screwed in with great difficulty, and the material may be bulged/arched as a whole. If the drill hole is too large, there is no material that can deform the thread of the hardened screw. It is of course conceivable that the blacksmith creates a tool with a hardened screw, so that he can screw this tool into the same bores more often and thus already pre-form a thread. However, the individually hardened screw still has to be screwed into the hot workpiece again.

 

Nuts with internal threads were made in the same way, e.g.

d) The bell itself is also secured by a nut, female threads in nut to male threads on the bell rod. The thread on the bell is filed, hardened, and then screwed into the hole in a red-hot flat iron rod. The piece with the incised/moulded thread is cut off the flat bar, the small square piece is deburred and filed smooth. Square nut with internal thread then fits perfectly on top thread of bell holder.

 

The situation is similar with the lower thread, with which the bell carrier is screwed into the thread of the cage top plate. Often one can observe that a bulge has formed around the thread in the cage top plate, a clear sign of material deformation. Material deformations can also often be seen at the upper ends of the bar plates.

 

It would also be conceivable to use a hardened nut with an internal thread as a tool to cut/form the external thread of a screw. However, since the internal thread of the nut could not really be cut, i.e. it was already formed and therefore not sharp-edged, the formed external thread of the screw will probably have been even flatter than if it was handled the other way round. It would also be much more complicated to pull or push the red-hot shank of a thin screw through the hardened nut. This way is theoretically conceivable, but probably too cumbersome in practice.

 

Initially, clock making was the domain of blacksmiths, as the clock parts all had to be forged from iron. The softer brass gradually replaced iron as the 17th century progressed, and the manufacture of smaller clocks now became the watchmaker's domain. As a rule, clockmakers worked in the city and found their customers there. The blacksmiths worked more in rural areas and continued to find their customers there. For clockmakers, who worked far more with brass, the use of screws was less of a problem than for blacksmiths. 

With a hardened threaded screw, you can make the necessary internal thread in the brass yourself by screwing it into the appropriately drilled hole, without it being necessary to heat the brass to red hot. The hardened iron forms the threads in the brass as steel.

 

However, the manufacture of Comtoise clocks in the High Jura continued to be the work of blacksmiths. However, the non-forged parts of the clock, i.e. the clock parts made of brass, were not made by clockmakers, but by semi-skilled workers at home.

 

However, the screws required for the entire clock could not be bought from one manufacturer, but each supplier also manufactured the required screws in addition to his clock parts. This is the only way to explain why there are numerous screws of a similar size but with different screw heads on a clock. After all, why should a manufacturer who made all the parts himself use different types of screws?

 

A larger forge manufactured the movement cages including the rod plates, because these had to be screwed into the cage with a precise fit. The blacksmith made the necessary fastening screws in his own workshop. As a blacksmith, he made the fastening screws with the characteristic square heads from the forged nail blanks with the square heads. Possibly he also made the chimney for the pendulum suspension, so that the corresponding square screw heads also appear.

The numerous nail smiths in the High Jura were of course the predestined suppliers for smaller forged or turned parts, because these smaller workshops often also had a simple tour, so that fastening screws with cylindrical or round heads were also manufactured, each screw being individually manufactured.

 

Numerous clockmakers/clock manufacturers bought a standard model as a work cage from a few larger forges (two, three or more than 5 such larger forges?) maybe even including the front and rear panels and the doors. Of course, these parts could also be made by any other smaller blacksmith.

 

Due to the *uniform cages* of fewer forges, there were also many *uniform clocks* that only differed from one another in nuances. Some of the manufacturers of Comtoise clocks, who also signed their clocks with their names, processed certain parts by decorating them, or they also used screws with specific heads, giving the whole product a more individual signature.

 

Clockmakers in the big cities had to make the screws for their movements themselves on lathes/tours, so that in the first half of the 18th century we often find screws with teardrop-shaped heads (compare picture 12, page 3, screw heads from Comtoise clocks). Pictures 5+6 Pictures on page 2 show you a typical movement of a Paris clockmaker from the time of Louis XV, who installed such teardrop-shaped screws. Such a screw to secure the pendulum bridge can also be found on the movement with Mayet escapement by Claude du Chesne. cf. Fig. 41+42 picture part page 10.                                                       If such fastening screws with these drop-shaped heads are found on a Comtoise work cage, one should assume that the client offered these screws to increase the individual signature (something different and/or something better than the neighbor ) has delivered to his cage supplier. These mounting screws are clearly made on a tour that was probably not in the supplier's forge. The more a standard model was produced from 1740/1750 onwards, the more the individual handwriting of certain watchmakers got lost.

Genealogy of the screws on early High Jura Comtoise clocks.

 

1) from 1710 to approx. 1730 exclusively fastening screws for the plates (sometimes also for the chimneys of the pendulum suspension) with square screw heads. After approx. 1730 there are more square screw heads alongside other types of screws

 

2) isolated fastening screws for the plates with teardrop-shaped screw heads in the period 1730 to 1750 in addition to other types of screws.

 

3) from 1740/50 screws with cylindrical or round heads are also used as fastening screws for the plates ( screw type of the standard model )

 

4) at all times individual screw heads, e.g. Cylindrical, round heads, even lens heads for other attachments occur alongside the square or drop-shaped ones for the plates.                              

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

The different types of screws thus provide important information for dating a clock. When there were two-hand clocks a long time ago, one-hand clocks were still being made. However, such single-hand clocks certainly did not have square screw heads for the plates. A clock from the period 1760/1770, all old, no new part, but an interesting signature, according to which this clock should be dated to the period 1730/40. If the signature and screw type don't match, then you should stay away from such a clock. In particular, signed clocks purchased years ago can be checked for screw types. In the future, the informed counterfeiter will also check that the signature and screw type match. The counterfeiters, and there are quite a few of them, eventually learn something new.

 

 

 

11.      Why the Comtoise clock was formed in the 

           High Jura?

 

In the following, it will be examined in which environment (geographically, economically, historically and socially) the first Comtoise clocks were created towards the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th century in the High Jura, and what insights can be gained from the provocative statements mentioned above revealed for the origin of the Comtoise.

 

First, let's take a look at a few passages from a source from 1822, namely the "Essai Sur L'État Actuel De L'Agriculture Dans Le Jura" ( Work on the Current State of Agriculture in the Jura ) by S. Guyétant, published in Lons-le-Saunier, then we get a deep insight into the life of the people in the High Jura, which gives us insights into the manufacture of Comtoise clocks in the past. For example, we read on pages 58 - 60.: 

„Dans la partie de la Haute Montagne où l'on ne cultive que l'orge, l'avoine et la pomme de terre, on cocoit que le produit des terres arrables offre trop peu d'importance pour que les habitants n'aient pas recours à des ressources plus certaines. Ensevelis dans les neiges pendant sept mois de l'année, la plus affreuse misère auroit été leur partage, si leur industrie ne s'étoit tournée vers les arts mécaniques. Ils s'y livrent avec d'autant plus d'activité que le sol est plus ingrat, et c'est un spectacle curieux pour l'observateur qui traverse le Jura du couchant au levant, de voir la misère disparaitre insensiblement des campagnes à mesure que la domaine de la culture se rétrécit, et de trouver enfin une aisance à peu près générale, quand il est arrivé sur les plateaux arides des Rousses ou de Septmoncel.“

 

„In the part of the High Mountain where only barley, oats and potatoes are grown, it is cocooned that the product of the arable land is of too little importance for the inhabitants not to have recourse to more certain resources. Buried in the snows for seven months of the year, the most frightful misery would have been their share, if their industry had not turned towards the mechanical arts. They devote themselves to it with all the more activity as the soil is more ungrateful, and it is a curious spectacle for the observer who crosses the Jura from west to east, to see misery disappear imperceptibly from the countryside as that the field of culture shrinks, and finally find an almost general ease, when he arrived on the arid plateaus of Les Rousses or Septmoncel.“

 

„En exercant des professions mécaniques, l'habitant de la Haute Montagne ne subordonne plus son existence aux caprices des saisons et aux vicissitudes du climat. Il sait qu'à l'exception des paturages, il ne doit pas compter sur les produits d'une terre qui reste, les deux tiers de l'année, sous l'empire des frimats, et qui est soumise ensuite, pendant la courte durée de la belle saison, à l'influence d'une température presque toujours froide et variable. Sa subsistance étant assurée par un travail manuel auquel il associe toute sa famille, femmes, enfants, vieillards, son économie rurale se borne à nourrir quelques vaches à lait qui lui fournissent, indépendamment des produits consommés dans son ménage, une quantité proportionnée de fromage d'une vente aussi avantageuse que certaine. Avec les engrais de son bétail, il fertilise un petit jardin et quelques parcelles de terre sur lesquelles il hasarde un semis d'orge ou d'avoine, réservant pour la culture du chanvre et du lin, les meilleures parties de son enclos.“

 

„By exercising mechanical professions, the inhabitant of the High Mountain no longer subordinates his existence to the whims of the seasons and the vicissitudes of the climate. He knows that, with the exception of pastures, he must not count on the products of a land which remains, two-thirds of the year, under the sway of frosts, and which is then subjected, during the short duration of the beautiful season, to the influence of a temperature that is almost always cold and variable. His subsistence being ensured by manual labor to which he associates his whole family, women, children, old people, his rural economy is limited to feeding a few dairy cows which provide him, independently of the products consumed in his household, with a proportionate quantity of cheese. a sale as advantageous as certain. With the manures of his cattle, he fertilizes a small garden and a few plots of land on which he ventures a sowing of barley or oats, reserving for the cultivation of hemp and flax, the best parts of his enclosure.“

 

„La simplicité de ces pratiques agricoles montre, en quelque sorte, la naissance de l'art chez les peuples pasteurs, et c'est la raison pour laquelle j'ai donné la première place, dans ce tableau de notre économie rurale, à la plus haute région du Jura. Mais en descendant les gradins de ce vaste amphithéatre, nous verrons l'industrie abandonner insensiblement les arts mécaniques, et se livrer davantage à l'agriculture, à mesure qu'un climat plus doux et un terrain moins ingrat, lui donnent plus d'espérances.

Dans la plus haute vallée du Jura, sur les montagnes qui la séparent du bassin de la Bienne, et dans le Grandvaux, l'agronome n'a pas d'objets plus importants à étudier que le mode d'entretien des betes à grosses cornes, le régime des fruitières, et la fabrication des fromages.

Comme les produits de cette fabrication sont une des principales ressources de ces cantons élevés, les vaches sont presque les seuls animaux qu'on y nourrit, et la richesse d'un propriétaire est estimée en raison des paturages qu'il possède, et du nombre de tetes dont se compose son troupeau.“

 

„The simplicity of these agricultural practices shows, in a way, the birth of the art among the pastoral peoples, and this is the reason why I have given the first place, in this table of our rural economy, to the highest region of the Jura. But descending the steps of this vast amphitheater, we will see industry imperceptibly abandon the mechanical arts, and devote itself more to agriculture, as a milder climate and less ungrateful terrain give it more hope. .

In the highest valley of the Jura, on the mountains that separate it from the Bienne basin, and in Grandvaux, the agronomist has no more important objects to study than the mode of maintenance of big-horned cattle. , the diet of the fruitières, and the manufacture of cheeses.

As the products of this manufacture are one of the principal resources of these elevated cantons, cows are almost the only animals which are fed there, and the wealth of an owner is estimated by reason of the pastures which he possesses, and the number of heads of which his flock is composed.“

 

Page 97

„L'habitant des plus Hautes Montagnes fertilise avec ces engrais, un jardin, une chenevière, et quelques champs où se cultivent la pomme de terre, l'orge, l'avoine et le lin.

Dans cette région où la neige couvre ordinairement la terre jusqu'au commencement de mai, la moitié à peu près des terres arables est en culture. L'autre moitié reste en jachère complète et prolongée, mais se couvre naturellement d'herbes fourragères qu'on fauche, dès la première année, à la fin de juillet ou au commencement d’aout."

 

„The inhabitant of the Highest Mountains fertilizes with these manures, a garden, a hemp forest, and some fields where potatoes, barley, oats and flax are cultivated.

In this region, where snow usually covers the ground until the beginning of May, about half the arable land is under cultivation. The other half remains in complete and prolonged fallow, but is naturally covered with fodder grasses which are mowed, from the first year, at the end of July or the beginning of August.

 

Pages 167 - 169

„L'habitant de nos montagnes est d'une taille ordinairement au-dessus de la moyenne, surtout dans la haute région. Sa conformation est belle, les muscles de ses membres sont bien prononcés, son embonpoint est médiocre. Il a le teint coloré, les dents blanches et les gencives saines, les yeux bruns et vifs, les cheveux chatains ou noirs. Sa physionomie très-expressive annonce la vivacité de son imagination et la promptitude de ses perceptions. Son tempérament est marqué par la prédominance des systèmes sanguin et musculaire sur le système lymphatique, et la puberté ne se manifeste guère avant l'age de dix-huit ans.“

 

„The inhabitant of our mountains is usually above the average height, especially in the high region. His conformation is beautiful, the muscles of his limbs are well pronounced, his plumpness is mediocre. He has a colored complexion, white teeth and healthy gums, bright brown eyes, chestnut or black hair. His very expressive countenance announces the vivacity of his imagination and the promptitude of his perceptions. His temperament is marked by the predominance of the blood and muscular systems over the lymphatic system, and puberty hardly appears before the age of eighteen.“

 

„Les femmes sont en général d'une taille moyenne. Leur figure sans etre belle, annonce la santé par son coloris et son embonpoint. La puberté s'annonce chez elles à l'age de seize ou dix-sept ans; leur tempérament est marqué dans l'age adulte par l'équilibre des systèmes sanguin et lymphatique, mais en approchant de la vieillesse le dernier de ces systèmes prend sur les autres une prédominance sensible.“

 

„The women are generally of average height. Their face, without being beautiful, announces health by its color and plumpness. Puberty is announced in them at the age of sixteen or seventeen; their temperament is marked in adulthood by the balance of the blood and lymphatic systems, but as they approach old age the latter of these systems assumes a perceptible predominance over the others.“

 

„On vit long-temps, en général, dans cette région du département, beaucoup d'individus, surtout dans les cantons les plus élevés, parviennent à l'age de quarte-vingt-dix ans, et il n'est pas rare d'y voir des centenaires.

Les deux sexes sont laborieux et doués d'une intelligence native bien supèrieure à celle des habitants de la Plaine.“

 

„We live a long time, in general, in this region of the department, many individuals, especially in the highest cantons, reach the age of ninety years, and it is not rare to see centenarians there.

Both sexes are industrious and endowed with a native intelligence far superior to that of the inhabitants of the Plain.“

 

„On remarque beaucoup plus d'industrie dans la Haute Montagne où les productions de la terre ne suffisent pas aux besoin de la population, que dans les autres parties de cette région où le sol est plus fertile et les cultures plus étendues.

Le régime des habitans est partout des plus sobres. Dans la Haute Montagne, il n'y a que les particuliers aisés qui mangent du pain de froment pur. Dans la plupart des familles agricoles il est composé de froment, d'orge on de seigle par partie égale, et quelquefois seulement d'orgée.

On fait usage aussi d'une bouillie préparée avec la farine de froment et du lait; on mange de la soupe maigre, du sérai, des pommes de terre, et dans la belle saison, des plantes potagères et surtout de l'oseille. Les jours de fete on associe à ces mets simples un peu de lard et de vache salée.

L'eau est depuis plusieurs années la boisson habituelle du peuple qui ne boit du vin que dans les cabarets ou aux fetes villageoises. Quelques familles préparent une liqueur vineuse avec les prunelles des haies, les pommes sauvages, les baies du genièvre et l'eau, mais cet usage est peu répandu.“

 

„There is much more industry in the High Mountain where the production of the land is not sufficient for the needs of the population, than in the other parts of this region where the soil is more fertile and the crops more extensive.

The diet of the inhabitants is everywhere most sober. In the High Mountain, only wealthy individuals eat pure wheat bread. In most agricultural families it is composed of wheat, barley or rye in equal parts, and sometimes only barley.

A porridge prepared with wheat flour and milk is also used; we eat lean soup, serai, potatoes, and in the summer, vegetables and especially sorrel. On holidays, these simple dishes are combined with a little bacon and salt cow.

Water has for several years been the usual drink of the people who only drink wine in cabarets or at village festivals. Some families prepare a vinous liqueur with hedgerow sloes, wild apples, juniper berries and water, but this use is not widespread.“

 

„L'habitant de la Basse Montagne ne se nourrit guère, surtout depuis quelque temps, que de pommes de terre cuites sous la cendre ou à lèau avec un peu de sel, de pain de mêlée, et de bouillie de mais. Il ajoute quelquefois à ces alimens qui sont la base de son régime, les gruaux d'orge et d'avoine, les légumes farineux secs, et les differens produit du lait.“

 

„The inhabitant of the Lower Mountain hardly eats, especially for some time, anything but potatoes cooked in ashes or in water with a little salt, melee bread, and maize porridge. He sometimes adds to those foods which are the basis of his diet, groats of barley and oats, floury pulses, and various products of milk.“

 

Pages 170 - 171

 

„Les habitations sont vastes et commodes dans la Haute Montagne. Elles ont la forme de pavillons carrés, ayant souvent de trente à quarante mètres de face et quelquefois davantage. Toutes ont un étage sur le rez de chaussée, et ce dernier est presqu'entièrement consacré au logement des animaux. Il y a une écurie pour les chevaux, une autre pour les betes à corne et à laine, et entre les deux se trouve la grange qui est pavée en grandes dalles ou pourvue d'un bon plancher.“

 

„The houses are spacious and comfortable in the High Mountain. They have the form of pavilions, often having from thirty to forty meters in front and sometimes more. All have a floor on the ground floor, and the latter is almost entirely devoted to housing animals. There is a stable for the horses, another for the horned and woolen beasts, and between the two is the barn which is either paved in large slabs or provided with a good floor.“

 

„La grange est séparée des écuries par des cloisons en planches percées de distance en distance d'ouvertures qui correspondent aux rateliers des bestiaux et par lesquelles on introduit le fourrage destiné à la consommation journalière. Ces cloisons sont soutenues par des piliers en bois qui s'élèvent jusqu'au faite du batiment et concourent à soutenir la charpente dont le poids est très-considérable et l'assemblage fort bien soigné.

C'est au-dessus des écuries et de la grange qu'on dépose les récoltes de fourrages et de grains. L'habitation de la famille se trouve communément à une extrémité du batiment, quelquesfois aux deux, et tout l'espace intermédiaire est occupé par les dépendances de la grange.“

 

„The barn is separated from the stables by plank partitions pierced at intervals with openings which correspond to the racks of the cattle and through which the fodder intended for daily consumption is introduced. These partitions are supported by wooden pillars which rise to the top of the building and help to support the framework, the weight of which is very considerable and the assembly very well cared for.

It is above the stables and the barn that the crops of fodder and grain are deposited. The family dwelling is usually at one end of the building, sometimes at both, and all the space in between is taken up by the barn outbuildings.“

 

„Le sapin et surtout l'épicéa fournissent la bois nécessaire à ces grandes constructions. Les murs en sont batis solidement en maconnerie et bien crépis à la chaux tant en dedans qu'en dehors, et les ouvertures des portes et fenetres sont toutes en pierre de taille.

Les maisons sont couvertes en petites lames de sapin qui remplacent la tuile, et qu'on nomme ancelles, tavaillons ou bardeaux. Ce genre de toiture est léger, propre et meme élégant, mais la moindre étincelle peut l'enflammer, et l'on rapporte avec raison à cette circonstance les ravages affreux que les incendies causent presque chaque année dans le haut Jura.

Les maisons de la Basse Montagne, bâties pareillement en pierre, sont infiniment moins vastes et moins commodes. La plupart sont étroites, peu éclairées, mal distribuées et sales dans leur intérieur…"

 

„The fir and especially the spruce provide the wood necessary for these large constructions. The walls are solidly built in masonry and well whitewashed both inside and out, and the openings of the doors and windows are all in cut stone.

The houses are covered with small strips of fir which replace the tile, and which are called ancelles, tavaillons or shingles. This type of roof is light, clean and even elegant, but the slightest spark can ignite it, and the frightful ravages that fires cause almost every year in the upper Jura are rightly attributed to this circumstance.

The houses of the Basse Montagne, similarly built of stone, are infinitely less spacious and less comfortable. Most are narrow, poorly lit, badly distributed and dirty inside…"

 

Page 172

„L'industrie, d'autant plus active dans le Jura que le sol est plus ingrat, a fait naitre une aisance à peu près générale dans la Haute Montagne où les arts mécaniques occupent presque toute la population. Après les labours et les semailles, les femmes suffisent aux travaux de l'agriculture, aux soins du bétail et de la laiterie. Pendant l'hiver, dans certains cantons, les hommes quittent le pays pour aller peigner la chanvre; d'autres en plus grand nombre se livrent au commerce de transport et parcourent la royaume en conduisant chacun, de deux à six chariots à un seul collier, et en faisant de cinq à sept lieus par jour. Ceux qui sont sédentaires battent les grains pendant la mauvaise saison, font des ancelles, réparent les harnois, les chars et les instruments d'agriculture, font du droguet ou de la toile. Les femmes filent le chanvre et le lin, soignent le bétail et fabriquent les fromages d’hiver."

 

„Industry, all the more active in the Jura as the soil is more barren, has given rise to an almost general ease in the High Mountains where the mechanical arts occupy almost the entire population. After the plowing and the sowing, the women suffice for the work of agriculture, the care of the cattle and the dairy. During the winter, in certain cantons, the men leave the country to comb the hemp; others in greater numbers are engaged in the transport trade and travel the kingdom, each driving from two to six single-necked wagons, and going from five to seven leagues a day. Those who are sedentary thresh the grain during the bad season, make tumblers, repair the harness, the chariots and the instruments of agriculture, make drugget or canvas. The women spin hemp and flax, look after the cattle and make the winter cheeses." 

Quote end.

After just a few years, there were signs of a division of labor by buying bells, cartouche dials and finally also enamel dials from Le Locle. The fact that an enameller from Le Locle, who settled in Morbier to manufacture the novel enamel dials for the Comtoise clocks, could be enticed away. The increasing production could only be achieved through the division of labor on the spot.

However, since the number of blacksmiths/clockmakers could not be increased at will, the way of working had to be changed in order to be able to increase production. The individual blacksmith/clockmaker no longer made all the parts himself, but had suitable parts made by local farmers, i.e. by unskilled workers, in homework. Of course, this beginning of a division of labor presupposes that a blacksmith/clockmaker turned into an entrepreneur who supervised the entire production, which he divided into individual work steps and then had them made in homework. Apart from organizational talent, this transition from craftsman to entrepreneur also required another decisive prerequisite, which was called: capital.

So before a blacksmith/clockmaker could become an entrepreneur, he first had to save up capital. With this capital he had to pre-finance the material that he made available to his homeworkers. In the best case, his homeworker would bring him the finished parts once a week; in the worst case, this could take a few weeks in winter when the homeworker is snowed in. Even so, the homeworker had to have enough supplies in his home to keep him busy no matter what the weather.

 

The weather, in turn, was the entrepreneurs' greatest ally, for they had a large untapped workforce to fall back on. The winters in the High Jura are long and hard. It is not uncommon for snow to bind farmers to their farms from November to April, sometimes into May. Although the cattle had to be looked after in the stalls, the farmers had significantly more idle time in winter than in summer, which was then available for sideline work. In their houses, they could work at their small workbenches and lathes, which were certainly kept going by footwork. But there were also small forge fires in the houses, the bellows of which were powered by water power, and there are even reports of running wheels powered by dogs, which supplied the necessary energy.

The area of ​​the High Jura is covered by snow for months, it freezes constantly and yet, if the frost is not too extreme, small springs always sprout from the ground, and mountain streams constantly carry water. This is not surprising either, since the Jura mountain range consists of limestone, which is so porous that water seeps away very quickly. Over the course of millions of years, a network of large and small underground water veins and reservoirs has formed, which ensures the water flow all year round. In the 18th century, this permanent flow of water from the small streams was the only usable energy available to drive machines, e.g. water wheels were used to drive millstones or hammer mills in forges. The retreating glaciers that covered the area during the Ice Age left clay clods behind, on which modest farming or animal husbandry can be carried out in the High Jura today. If the water-retaining layer of clay is missing, the rainwater seeps away very quickly and dry areas form, unless the porous limestone allows its subterranean water to come to light again in the form of springs. In all of these areas with limestone subsoil, there are diverse manifestations of karstification, such as sinkholes, chasms, swallowholes (a small river disappears into the subsoil), underground river and cave systems, stalactite caves, etc. The boundary between deciduous and coniferous woods is around 800 m Most of the places in the High Jura that are used for the watchmaking industry are in the softwood area.

 

Over time, the water of the Bienne has eroded a deep notched valley into the limestone, which, as Lequinio described in the case of the town of Morez, is so narrow at the bottom that there is just enough space for a street with 2 rows of houses . Not an ideal place for founding a settlement, but an ideal location with free energy due to the permanently flowing water.

People quickly recognized this location advantage and Lequinio reports on a sophisticated water management system in order to supply as many workshops and factories as possible with free energy. With this energy, hammer mills could be used to forge and cut iron and metals, from which the individual wheels, pinions and levers of the clock movements were then made, and only thanks to this energy was it possible to expand production.

The entrepreneur bought the metal from the blacksmith, possibly even entrepreneur and blacksmith being one and the same person, and he organized the production of the individual parts by his homeworkers. The clocks were then assembled from these parts and ultimately checked and made to run by a specialist. Within about 50 years, production had increased to such an extent that practically every house in the Morez area was home to a workshop, Lequinio told us, in which parts for these clocks were made. Within 50 years, the town of Morez (founded in 1776) had emerged from a small settlement on the Bienne, which had around 1200 inhabitants around 1800. Within a very short time, Morez has become the leading production and sales location for metalworking in the High Jura.

 

In other communities of the High Jura, the farmers-mechanics manufactured under comparable conditions in addition to their agricultural products, i.e. in particular cheese for sale in other parts of the country, consumer goods such as sickles and scythes, forged nails, wooden articles but also Comtoise clocks. All of these items made by farmer mechanics and items distributed by farmer transporters share some common features, namely:

1. The basic material (metal and wood) is available on site and/or is provided by the contractor.

2. The manufacture of many items requires the lathe, and this labor is performed by home-workers, while the finishing of the product is done by an entrepreneur.

3. The profit from the products is generated from the high level of manual work performed, not from the basic material.

4. The manufactured products are relatively small and light, but of high value, so it is worth long-distance transportation.

Another crucial reason for the success of small-scale industry in the High Jura was that the working craftsmen necessarily worked longer hours to produce the products than did other craftsmen in other parts of France. Inevitably ?

In the Middle Ages and also in the 18th century, the entire course of the year was regulated by the Catholic Church, i.e. there were a large number of public holidays on which people did not work. There were far more holidays than we can imagine today. In some cases, only half of the days in a year were worked. Agricultural yields were also low for many other reasons (taxes, serfdom, quality of the soil, etc.). The yields were more than enough to feed the population, and capital, which is needed for investments, could not be saved from the profits of agriculture.

 

In the High Jura, on the other hand, intensive agriculture was not possible for climatic and geographical reasons, extensive grazing was practiced. The milk was processed into storable cheese, which was sold and thereby helped to secure the livelihood. Jura cheeses that have been known for a long time include Le Comté, Le Mont-d'Or, Le Bleu du Haut-Jura, Le Morbier and Le Munster.

However, these products could not be sold in the Jura, so a transport system developed for the distribution of these agricultural products.

During the winter months, when many farmers were snowed in for months in their homes, handicraft production of high-quality goods developed, which could also be distributed by the already existing transport trade. In many cases, when their houses were snowed in and the roads impassable, the farmer-mechanics could neither attend church nor celebrate on the numerous church holidays and certainly also on Sundays, so that people inevitably worked on these days. This extra work was certainly also a reason for the prosperity of the High Jura, because you could not only make a good living from it, but also save capital for investments. It is not for nothing that Lequinio reports wealth in Morez, which is also manifested in the corresponding houses. S. Guyétant also describes the difference in the buildings between High Jura and plain, as we have read above.

However, if S. Guyétant traces the differences back to the different intelligences of the inhabitants of the High Jura and the plains: "Les deux sexes sont laborieux et doués d'une intelligence native bien supèrieure à celle des habitants de la Plaine.“ „The two sexes are industrious and with endowed with an innate intelligence higher than that of the inhabitants of the plane.", this must be strongly doubted. People were certainly not born with different levels of intelligence, rather the challenges caused by the different geographical and climatic conditions between the High Jura and the plains should have spurred on people's inventive spirit. It is not for nothing that the saying goes: Necessity is the mother of invention.

 

Clock production was limited to a specific area, centered on Morez/Morbier, where metalworking predominated, which had developed there thanks to the exploitable hydroelectric power of the Bienne.

Not only metal clocks, but also spatulas were produced. Clocks and spatulas have one thing in common, namely a gear train, which is made to run by a spring balancer or weight. If the process of a clockwork is divided into the same sections by an escapement, the process of the roasting turner clockwork is also regulated by a continuously rotating centrifugal escapement, as I will call it. In terms of production technology, it was a wash for the manufacturers, clocks and spatulas were ideal supplementary products.

At the end of the 18th century, this small metalworking industry developed into another branch of production, which experienced an unexpected boom in the 19th century and contributed significantly to the prosperity of the population, but also to the decline of the clock industry. We're talking about the eyewear industry. From the last quarter of the 18th century to the last quarter of the 19th century, Morez was the capital of the large clock industry ( Comtoise clocks, building clocks, frame clocks ) in France. Morez then became the capital of the eyewear industry for about a century.

 

Extremely solid Comtoise clocks, sometimes referred to a little disparagingly as iron cases, were successfully produced and sold through a perfectly organized division of labour. It was the result of a homeworker-based small-scale metal producing and processing industry rather than a true clockmaking industry. From a clockmaking point of view, these clocks were not produced by clockmakers, but by talented mechanics.

That this was the case can perhaps be illustrated with two examples that are also mentioned in these texts.

 

Had there been trained clockmakers in Morez willing to work as hired labourers, the hopeful investor who wanted to produce small pendulum clock movements in 1766, presumably comparable to the Paris clock movements of the time, would not have failed. The fact that he had to resort to Protestants from Switzerland clearly proves that small pendulum clock movements could not be made by talented craftsmen and certainly not by home workers; he needed qualified clockmakers.

 

"Un particulier, qui y avait établi en 1766 une petite fabrique de pendules, avait dû, ne trouvant pas dans le pays des ouvriers suffisamment habiles, en faire venir de Suisse“. („A private individual, who had established a small clock factory there in 1766, had to, not finding sufficiently skilled workers in the country, bring some from Switzerland“) we had read Ernst Girod's text.

Skilled clockmakers certainly existed, but as self-employed clockmakers producing and selling Comtoise clocks they could earn more than working for another entrepreneur as wage laborers to produce their movements.

The second example can also be found in this text when we read:"That same year, the famous clockmaker, Antide Janvier de St-Lupicin (1) came to hide in the hamlet of Chalettes de Morez, to escape the prosecution of which he was the object on the part of a powerful minister. There remained nearly a year and contributed powerfully to perfecting the manufacture of clockmaking by the lessons of principles that he gave with as much zeal as disinterestedness during his stay, to some workers his neighbors“. (It is about the year 1771).

When Antide Janvier, who belongs to the first guard of French clockmakers, gave basic lessons in the subject ‚CLOCKMAKING' to workers, probably homeworkers, this also clearly proves that trained watchmakers were scarce or non-existent.

Comtoise clocks from before 1770/1780 show some exquisite quality, coming from talented blacksmiths/clockmakers who had progressed from blacksmiths to clockmakers in the clockmaker sense, but not clockmakers who had been apprenticed to clockmakers. Or is it? You read about training and masters in Chapter 9.

 

Due to the height of the High Jura above sea level, many plants, especially wheat, could not be grown and one had to depend on the *import* of wheat. Since time immemorial, the inhabitants of the Upper Jura have not only been farmers who only ran livestock, but also blacksmiths and carpenters. Blacksmiths worked the iron, carpenters worked the wood. Blacksmiths and carpenters were the most important professions of the time, because they did everything that was built and manufactured and required expert processing of the material. The products of the *Agro-Forge* and the *Farmer-Mechanic* could then be sold in other areas of France or exchanged for wheat.                    

 

Iron and wood were available. Iron not directly in the High Jura, but in lower lying areas iron from bog iron ore (*RASENEISENSTEIN*), also called (*raseneisenerz*), was melted in kilns. ( You will find explanations on the Internet under the corresponding search terms ). The iron produced in this way was characterized by high carbon content, which had to be removed either by reheating and/or by forging. Finally, iron rods and iron sheets were made, which were then delivered to the smiths, which were in every town, as semi-finished goods. In some cases, the smiths then had to 'finish' the iron, i.e. hammer it (forge) in order to obtain the required quality. The fact that there were different qualities can often be seen from the sheet metal used for front panels, back panels, doors, even the cage panels. One finds clean smooth metal surfaces, but also wavy surfaces with different thicknesses at short distances from each other.

The complete manufacturing process from bog iron ore to the finished sheet iron is a lengthy process and would certainly reach the length of a book if explained in detail, but is not the subject of the investigation here.

 

 

This was the basis of the Agro forge before the start of clock production. Livestock farming provided the milk for cheese production and the forged nails (or sickles, scythes or utensils made of wood) the *currency* for imports. Smaller smithies made nails, larger smithies where several smiths could work together, such as the Mayets, Carts, Malfroys, Fumeys, etc. made tower clocks, or even forged iron cages that other smiths/clockmakers used to build Comtoise clocks.

But who still builds houses and needs construction nails, door hinges, anchors for beams, or which church tower still needs a tower clock mechanism, let alone a previously unknown product, such as a Comtoise house clock, when the whole country is starving and freezing?

During the *Little Ice Age* from the 15th to the 19th century, in the second half of the 17th century, not only in France, not only in the High Jura, but throughout Europe, due to the so-called. Maunder Minimum - an extended phase of reduced solar activity - average temperatures to the lowest level of the entire phase. Hardly conceivable today, back then the citizens of London could regularly skate on the Thames in winter, and in the Netherlands we can also regularly admire these winter joys in the paintings of old masters at this time. The emphasis is on regularly!

In 1668, Sweden and Denmark were at war with each other, and the Swedish army could easily march against Denmark across the frozen Baltic Sea.

The already difficult life in the High Jura became even harder around the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries, because hunger was often the order of the day.

 

Precisely in this phase of the last decade of the 17th century and the first decade of the 18th century, the first Comtoise clocks must have been created in the High Jura. Unfortunately, we have not yet found a Comtoise clock that can be clearly dated to this period. Even if the High Jura blacksmiths/clockmakers had been making house clocks during this period, they probably would not have been able to find buyers for these clocks, as everyone was struggling to survive with years of starvation due to the general economic misery.

Leaving, emigrating to try his luck elsewhere would only have been possible with the loss of all his possessions because of the prevailing inheritance law, *mainmorte* (the dead hand). Even this was often impossible, because escaped serfs were brought back by force by the feudal lord/landlord. You read about the inheritance law of *mainmorte* in chapters 6 and 9.

But starvation also raged elsewhere because of the extremely bad weather, and hundreds of thousands of people starved to death in France. By 1705/10, however, this period of terror was over and the first Comtoise house clocks appeared in the High Jura. Not just a single clock, but so massive that numerous clockmakers were producing clocks at the same time. Within 10 years, the Comtoise house clocks from the High Jura are a successful new product on the market. All known surnames of the High Jura can be found as signatures on the first Comtoise clocks from the early days up to 1740/50.

 

 

In my book, Volume II HISTORY OF COMTOISE WATCHES from 2009, I wrote on page 51: „In dieser Zeit war der Schmied/Uhrmacher der alleinige Hersteller der Uhr, d.h. alle Teile wurden von ihm gefertigt. Als Schmied bearbeitete er das Eisen und fertigte die benötigten Eisenbleche und Vierkanteisen, aus denen die Käfige, Rohplatinen, Rohtriebe und Kleinteile gefertigt wurden. Als Schmied hämmerte er die Messingbleche auf die gewünschten Stärken.“

( „During this time, the blacksmith/clockmaker was the sole manufacturer of the clock, i.e. all parts were made by him. As a blacksmith, he worked the iron and made the necessary sheet iron and square iron, from which the cages, blanks, raw drives and small parts were made. As a blacksmith, he hammered the brass sheets to the desired thicknesses.”)

 

10 years later, i.e. now in 2018, I have to change this sentence a bit:  „In dieser Zeit war der Schmied/Uhrmacher der alleinige Hersteller der Uhrenteile Als Schmied kaufte er die Vierkanteisen und Eisenbleche bei den Hammerwerken und schmiedete und schnitt aus diesen Halbfertigwaren die Käfige, Platinen, Pendelkamine, Rück- und Vorderseiten und Türen.“ ( „At that time, the blacksmith/clockmaker was the sole manufacturer of the clock parts. As a blacksmith, he bought the square iron and sheet iron from the hammer mills and forged and cut the cages, plates, pendulum chimneys, back and front sides and doors from these semi-finished goods.“ ) My other statements on page 51 of the 2009 book I only have to change with regard to the 'Mayet period’:

 

As a "smith" he also made the raw pinions, which he then worked on with a file as a "clockmaker" and painstakingly filed all the required lengths and toothings by hand. The required inner and outer diameters were scored into the brass sheets with a compass, the legs were scored, the tooth spacing was scored, and then finally the wheel and the teeth were sawn out or filed out with a saw. Simple lathes were certainly available, so that one could, for example, turn or file trunnions on drives, but lathes with dividing disks for milling out the gearing did not exist at that time. In addition, compasses, angle and length measures, files, saws and hammers were the most important tools of a 'clockmaker' of this time. The rest was a lot of skill, but also mindless monotony of sawing and filing. If we look at the handcrafted one-offs of the Mayet period (today, in 2018/2022, I am no longer talking about the Mayet period, but about the first period of the Haut-Jura Comtoise clock), we can still see the remains of the scratched circles on many of the wheels, for example and lines, on the sprockets maybe still bumps from filing. One can only be full of admiration for such perfect craftsmanship, which is in no way inferior to milled gearing.

 

The dials were simple brass rings into which numbers and lines were engraved with a graver, the decorative corners were sawn out of the same sheet metal. It can be assumed that one single part of these clocks of the early Mayet period (the early Haut-Jura Comtoise clocks) was not made in the Jura but was an imported part, namely the bells. There is no evidence of a foundry in the High Jura that could have supplied bronze bells.

 

Before the smiths of the High Jura began to make clocks, they were employed as manufacturers of forged agricultural implements. Nails were also manufactured on a large scale, which were sold all over France. These products had to be brought to the customers, so that there was an organized distribution and in this way one migrated to other parts of the country to sell these products and then of course, on this occasion, appropriate bells could be bought from foundries.

The fact that there were initially no brass or bronze foundries in the Jura can also be seen from the fact that cast brass cartridge dials for the Comtoise movements were imported from Paris.

 

Apparently, before the appearance of the Comtoise clock and in this 1st period, there was another production of clocks in the High Jura, which seems to be almost unknown. These must have been wooden clocks, comparable to the Black Forest clocks. We read about it on pages 134-138 in M. Munier, NOTICE SUR L'HORLOGERIE dans les montagnes du Jura. Revue Chronometrique, 1859-1861

 

"C'est donc à la suite de cette époque, et peu après elle, qu'elle s'implanta dans nos parages; aussi elle s'y généralisa tellement que, dès les temps les plus reculés, Foncine était en possession de fournir des horloges et des horlogers à toute la France. En effet, dans toutes les villes, partout et dès une époque très-ancienne, vous trouvez des horlogers sortis de ce pays; autrefois les horloges de cuisine n'etaient connues que sous le nom d'horloges de Foncine.........L'horlogerie était déjà si répandue et si prospère à Foncine dans le XVIe siècle que les frères Mayet, de Morbier, horlogers eux-mêmes, vinrent y établir une maison pour servir d'entrepôt au commerce d'horlogerie qu'ils voulaient établir sur une plus vaste échelle."

( „It was therefore after this period, and shortly after it, that it became established in our area; also it became so widespread there that, from the most remote times, Foncine was in possession of supplying clocks and clockmakers throughout France. In fact, in all cities, everywhere and from very ancient times, you find clockmakers from this country; formerly kitchen clocks were known only under the name of Foncine clocks....Clockmaking was already so widespread and so prosperous in Foncine in the 16th century that the Mayet brothers, from Morbier, clockmakers themselves, came to establish a house there to serve as warehouse to the clock trade which they wanted to establish on a larger scale.“ )

 

So what kind of clocks were produced here in Foncine that were known throughout France as 'clocks from Foncine'? If they had been made of metal, a few such clocks would have survived. So it can only have been a wooden clock. There are also reports of wooden clocks made elsewhere in the literature, e.g. in St-Claude or in Fourg.

Let's also remember the Mayet legend, which tells of a wooden church tower clock that the Mayet replaced with an identical iron one.

To date, apart from these indications, nothing seems to be known about an extensive production of wooden clocks in the High Jura, which of course does not rule out the possibility that they did not exist.

In any case, the probability that it existed is greater than vice versa.

However, it can be assumed that the solid, repair and maintenance-friendly Comtoise clocks very quickly replaced the production of wooden clocks in Foncine. The iron clocks with pendulums were more expensive, but they were more accurate and the subsequent costs for the buyer were lower, so that the quality product 'Comtoise clock' certainly conquered the market very quickly.

It would of course be extremely interesting to find wooden clocks that were definitely made in the High Jura.

 

 

12.  SIGNATURES ON EARLY COMTOISE CLOCKS 1700/1710 - 1740/50 or with brass, tin or cartouche dials and enamel dials up to approx. 1760

 

Source abbreviations:  

TB                    Comtoise Klokken, Ton Bollen, 1974

CUGS              Die Comtoise-Uhr, Gustav Schmitt, 1985

MC                   Musée Crozatier,Quarte Siècles d‘Horlogerie FrancaiseÀPoids, 1985

CUM                Comtoise Uhren Museum, Düsseldorf

OCUM             Online Comtoise Uhren Museum    www.morbier-clocks.de

CUBD              Geschichte der Comtoise Uhren,Bernd Deckert, 2009 Band 1 + II

CU05                Comtoise Uhren, Siegfried Bergmann, 2005

CU12/I-III       Comtoise Uhren, Siegfried Bergmann, 2012, Band I, II, III, IIII

MM                  Maizner Moreau, La Comtoise La Morbier La Morez, 1985

MFS2004         Met Franse Slag, Ausstellung, Schoonhoven 2004

VTTH2011      Van Torenuurwerk tot Huisklok, Schoonhoven 2011

GVH                 Georg von Holtey, Chronométrophilia No. 71, 2014

                          Handschriften der Uhrmachermeister des Hohen Jura

GVH1               Georg von Holtey, Chronométrophilia No. 65, 2009

                          Jean Baptiste Cattin ( 1687 - 1767 )

CH2016            Chris Hooijkaas, Speciale Comtoises en Lantaarnklokken, 2016

 

 

CATTIN          J.B.CATTIN AU FORT DU PLANNE, MFS2004  Fig. 5,

CATTIN          JEAN BAPTISTE CATTIN AU FORT DU PLASNE, GVH Page 32,

CATTIN          C L CATTIN AU FORT DU PLANE EN FRANCHE COMTE, 

                         CU12/1 page 220

CATTIN          MAXIMIN CATTIN, TB Fig 6

CATTIN          FAIT PAR MAXIMIN CATTIN AU FORT DU PLASNE, GVH1 Page 33,

CATTIN          MN CATTIN AU FORT DU PLASNE, GVH1, Page 34

CHAMPION  G I CHAMPION A PARIS, CU12/III Page 818, CU12/IIII Page 1184,

CDG                 CDG ( sur cartouche en laiton )  CUGS Page 38

DAUTEL         C.A.DAUTEL A PLOMBIER, CU05 Page 32 + CU12/I Page 72,

                          CUBD Tome I Page 283, CUBD Tome 1 Page 296

DUCHAUSSOY   DUCHAUSSOY A ST.IAME, VTTH2011, Page 20,

FAJAIRE         F. FARJAIRE A ST ETIENNE, CUGS Page 19, MC Page 42,

FAVERET        FAVERET A LAVIGNY, CH2016 Page 143,

FRANCOIS     CLAUDE FRANCOIS 1762, TB Fig. 18,

FRANCOIS     C.FRANCOIS LUXEUIL 1736, VTTH2011 Page 5,

FRANCOIS     FRANCOIS LUCEUL, TB Fig. 20,

FM                    FM ( fronton en laiton ), MFS2004 Fig.1c,

GRAND           D GRAND A MIGNOVILLARD 1784, CU12/I Page 213,

                          D GRAND A MIGNOVILLARD 1761, CU12/I Page 306,

GRAND           D GRAND A MIGNOVILLARD  POUR NICOLET 1780, CH2016 Page 67

GRAND           P.M.GRANDVAUX A VOITEUR PAR DESIRE GRAND HORLOGER A

                          MIGNOVILLARD 1775, CUBD Tome I Page 292,

GROS              JOSEPH GROS, VTTH2011 Page 13,

GUIETEANT GUIETEANT A MACON, CU12/II Page 437, CUBD Tome 1 Page 299,

GUYDEVAUX JEAB GUYDEVAUX 1747, GVH Page 10, ..... 1724 = GVH Page 29,

JANNIN           A.JANNIN A FONCIONE LE BAS EN COMTÉ, MM Page 16

AJJ              A.J.JANNIN, VTTH2011 Page 8, GVH Page 34 + C couronné

JEUNET     JEUNET A CLUNY, CU05 Page 80 + CU12/I Page 211

JEUNET     P.F.JEUNET A FONCINE, VTTH2011 retour de l’enveloppe

JOBEZ        LES FRERES JOBEZ, CU05 Page 42 + CU12/I Page 88,

IOUFFROY PIERRE SIMON IOUFFROY AU FORT DU PLASNE EN CONTEE

                      TB Fig. 26, CU12/I Page 78

IOUFFROY  IOUFFROY AU FORT DU PLASNE, VTTH2011 Page 8,

IOUFFROY  IOUFFROY EN CONTEE, MC Page 42,

IOUFFROY  FAIT PAR JEAN IOUFFROY AU FORT DU PLASNE, GVH Page 31,

LANCE         LANCE A FONCINE EN CONTE, CU12/I Page 94,

MARTINET JEAN BAPTISTE MARTINET AU FORT DU PLASNE, TB Fig. 27,

MAYET     I B MAYET A BELLE FONTAINE, TB Fig. 4, CU05 Page 42 +CU12/I Page 87

MAYET     I B MAYET A FONCINE, TB Fig. 25, CU12/II Page 489, CUGS Page 47,

                    MFS2004 Fig.2, VTTH2011 Page 4, MS Pages 40+44, GVH Page 33,

                    CUBD Tom 1 Page 5

MAYET     JEAN BAPTISTE MAYET A FONCINE, VTTH2011 Page 14, CH2016 Page 84

MAYET     JEAN BTE MAYET A BELLE FONTAINE, GVH Page 32

MAYET      I B MAYET A MORBIER, CU05 Page 82 + CU12/I Page 214, 

                    CUBD Tome. II Page 41, CUBD Tome I Page 194,

MAYET     I MAYET CUGS Page 572 + MC Page 46,

MAYET     J.MAYET ET FILS 1756, CUBD Tome II Page 39,

MAYET     C.P.MAYET A MORBIER, CU12/II Page 427,

MAYET     P.F.MAYET A MORBIER, CU05 Page 29 + CU12/I Page 67, MFS2004 Fig.6

                    CUBD Tome 1 Page 217,

MAYET     PIERRE MAYET A BELLE FONTAINE 1709, GVH Page 41,

MAYET     PIERRE ALEXIS MAYET A BELLE FONTAINE M DCC XXX JJJ AN

                   CONTE DE BORGONE, CU05 Page 369 + CU12/IV Page 961,

MAYET        P.CL.MAYET A MORBIER, VTTH2011 Page 16,

MAYET        PIERRE CLAUDE MAYET A MORBIER, CH2016 Page 49, GVH Page 28

MICHAUD  FAIT PAR I.MICHAUD HORLOGER A VIENNE EN DAUPHINE,

                      CU05 Page 81 + CU12/I Page 212,

MIDOL        MIDOL A BEAUNE 1748, CU12/II Page 491,

MIDOL        MIDOL A BEAUNE 1743, TB Page 24, CUBD BAND 1 Page 285,

MOREL       ALEXIS MOREL A BELLEFONTAINE, CU12/I Page 219,

MOREL       MOREL A MORBIER, MM Page 419 Bild XXI,

MOREL       MOREL A VALENCE, CUGS Page 28 + MC Page 81,

MOREL       MOREL A BAISSEY, VTTH2011 Page 22,

PERRAD     ALEXIS PERRAD A MORBIER, CU12/III Page 771

C.P.               ALEXIS PERRAD    

P.L.R.            P.L.R. ( sur cartouche en laiton ) CUGS Page 44,

RIBE             FAIT PAR JEAN BAPTISTE RIBE AU MONTET, CUGS Page 15

THOVVEREZ  ABEL THOVVEREZ A ILAY PRES POND, TB Fig. 10

VALLET       C J VALLET A FONCINE AN CONTE 1732, CUBD Tome 1 Page 203,

VERMOT GROS JEAN ETIENNE JOSEPH VERMOT GROS JEAN, CU05 Page 186 +

                       CU12/II Page 483

 

 

NOVISSIMA TIBI LATET HORA - LA DERNIÈRE HEURE VOUS RESTE CACHÉE

TB Fig. 5, CU05 Page 41 + CU12/I Page 84, VTTH2011 Page 8, MC Page 83

ESTOTE PARATI  -  ÊTRE PRÊT                         MM Page 16, VTTH2011 Page 8

SIC TIBI VITA FLUIT -  COMMENT LA VIE Y COULE,  CU12/I Page 22                                                                                                                                                                                            VTTH2011 Page 7

DE DIE ET HORA NEMO SCIT -  PERSONNE NE CONNAÎT L’HEURE ET LE JOUR  ( DE LA MORT )                 TB Fig. 6, CU12/II 496, VTTH2011 Page 21,

HAEC HORA MULTIS ULTIMA - POUR BEAUCOUP C’EST LA DERNIÈRE HEUR     VTTH2011 Seite 9

ULTIMA LATET HORA  -   LA DERNIÈRE HEURE EST CACHÉE

LOQUOR SINE LINGUES ET VOCIBUS  -  JE PARLE SANS LANGUES NI VOIX     VTTH2011 Seite 9

QUACONQUE HORA MORS METIT -  MESURES DE MORT CHAQUE HEURE    CU12/III Seite 81, MC Seite 43

SICUT HORA VITA TUA FLUIT -  TA VIE COULAIT COMME UNE HEURE

OMNIMOMENTO TIME MOMENTUM  -  CRAINDRE LE MOMENT À CHAQUE     INSTANT,      VTTH2011 Page 12

LATET ULTIMUS DIES ET HORA  -  LE DERNIER JOUR ET L'HEURE SONT CACHÉS

 

HORA FUGIT  -  LE TEMPS PASSE

TEMPUS ABIT MORS APPROPINQU  -  L’HEURE PASSE LA MORT S‘APPROCHE  

VIGILATE QUIA NESCITIS QUA HORA ..... Math.24   ATTENTION VOUS NE SAVEZ PAS A QUELLE HEURE.

 Le dicton complet est:

VIGILATE QUIA NESCITIS QUA HORA DOMINUS VESTER VENTURUS SIT

VEILLEZ CAR VOUS NE SAVEZ PAS A QUELLE HEURE VOTRE SEIGNEUR         VIENT         CUBD Band I Page 284

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

OCUM      ONLINE COMTOISE UHREN MUSEUM    www.morbier-clocks.de

In the online Comtoise Clock Museum there is a folder ORIGIN , to which only readers of this book have access with a PASS WORD for the time being. In this folder you will find about 50 signed Comtoise clocks that have not yet been published in literature. Additions and/or changes to the text will then also be posted here. The readers of this book will be informed by e-mail. The PASS WORD may only be used by you, passing it on to third parties is not permitted. In the event that the PASS WORD needs to be changed, you will be notified by email. Therefore, always make sure that your valid e-mail address is available to the author. E-mail address of the author Bernd Deckert: deckert@comtoise.de The author reserves the right to allow all visitors to the website access to this folder in a few years. This has been done meanwhile!

 In the ORIGIN folder you will find

 

BARTHELET A ST.POINT

JEAN JOSEPH BADOZ A FONCINE

FERDINAND BEAUD A ST.PIERRE 1749

JOSEPH BIGNET 1735

BLONDEAU A NOZEROY   +   BLONDEAU A NOZEROY 1741

JEAN BAPTISTE CATTIN AU FORT DU PLASNE EN CONTE + FAIT PAR JEAN BAPTISTE CATTIN AU FORT DU PLASNE 1734 + I BTE CATTIN AU FORT DU PLASNE + I BTE CATTIN DU FORT DU PLASNE  OMNIMOMENTO TIME MOMENTUM + I BTE CATTIN AU FORT DU PLASNE + JEAN BTE CATTIN AU FORT DU PLASNE

MIN CATTIN AU FORT DU PLASNE FE + FAIT PAR MAXIMIN CATTIN DU PLASNE ( 3 Uhren ) + MAXIMIN CATTIN AU FORT DU PLASNE ( 2 Uhren )

FAIT PAR MAXIMIN CATTIN AU FORT DU PLASNE  OMNIMOMENTO TIME MOMENTUM ( CAPUCINE TISCHUHR)

MINCATTIN AU FORT DU PLASNE

DAUTEL A PLOMBIER

D GRAND A MIGNOVILLARD 1761

C FRANCOIS A LUXEIL  1736

JEAN GUYDEVAUX 1730 + JEAN GUYDEVAUX 1747

PIERRE SIMON IOUFFROY AU FORT DU PLASNE EN CONTEE   ULTIMA LATET

PIERRE SIMON IUOFFROY AU FORT DU PLASNE EN CONTEE

IUOFFROY AU FORT DU PLASNE   NOVISSIMA TIBI LATET HORA

PIERRE SIMON IOUFROY AU FORT DU PLASNE EN CONTES

PIERRE SIMON IOUFROY AU FORT DU PLASNE EN CONTEE    ESTOTE PARATI

PIERRE SIMON IOUFROY AU FORT DU PLASNE EN CONTEE   

LES FRERES JOBEZ

PIERRE FRANCOIS MALFROY

ASPICE VEDEBIS HORAM VIGILATE   HAEC HORA MULTIS ULTIMA

PIERRE ALEXIS MAYET A BEL FONTAINE   SIC NOSTRA VITA FLUIT

I B MAYET A FONCINE

MAYET AU FORT DU PLANE

MAYET A MORBIER

PIERRE CLAUDE MAYET A MORBIER

PIERRE MAYET A MORBIER

PIERRE FRANCOIS MAYET A MORBIER

P.F.MAYET A MORBIER

MENON A VESOUL

P.MORAND PT DE VAUX

A.MORREL A MORBIER

PERRAD A MORBIER

A.P.  ALEXIS PERRAD

FAIT PAR JEAN BAPTISTE RIBE AU MONTET

JEAN BAPTISTE RIBE AU FORT DU PLASNE 1730

ABEL THOVVERREZ DU PONT DE LAME EN FRANCHE COMTEZ

F X VONIN A BEAUNE

+ approx. 25 PIECE UNSIGNED EARLY COMTOISE CLOCKS

                 

 

13. Originals, copies, reproductions, imitations, mariages, 

      fakes, etc.

 

In connection with Comtoise clocks one hears again and again of originals, copies, reproductions, imitations, replicas, imitations, replicas,  mariages, falsifications, fakes.

 

Original:

One speaks of an * original antique Comtoise watch * if all individual parts of this clock belong together from the time of its creation. There may of course also have been repairs to an original clock, but these are recognizable and should be accepted, since a functioning movement is subject to wear and tear.

 

Reproduction, copy, replica, replica, replicas:

Reproductions are made from an original Comtoise clock, which means that all parts and properties of the original are duplicated. These reproductions are also known as replicas, copies, replica, replicas.

Since the beginning of the 1970s, well over 100,000 Comtoise replicas have certainly been manufactured in Hungary/Netherlands, Korea, Germany and France, with individual productions having differences in parts and properties; some came very close to the original, others less, as more modern means were chosen, such as snap rings instead of cotter pins and the like. The *most faithful* replica of a Comtoise movement with anchor escapement was the Hungarian/Dutch one made by Sierimpex from 1972 to 1977 and by Deckert from 1981 to 2005 in Germany.

 

Imitation:

An imitation does not reproduce the original in all parts and properties. You can see differences to the original, often differences in material, manufacturing method and appearance.

Clocks were built that looked like Comtoise clocks, but were technically equipped with movements from German large clock manufacturers.

 

Mariage: ( marriage )

The term *Mariage* (wedding) is only used in clockmaking; it designates a clock whose parts come from various other clocks.

 

In numerous registry offices, Comtoise mariages (marriages) were created on the assembly line, with antique Comtoise clockworks being assembled with parts from other antique Comtoise clocks, or with new parts from repro production, such as ornamental plates, pendulums and dials.

 

How long is an antique clock considered original? When does the original become a mariage?

All repairs that served to keep the movement running, e.g. new bearing bushes, replacing worn-in wheel axle journals, replacing broken mainsprings, replacing individual teeth on wheels, repairing broken hands by soldering, etc. still retain the status of the original.

At the moment when identical spare parts from another clocks are used in a repair, whether today, 50 or 150 years ago, we have to speak of a mariage. It is certainly difficult in many cases to provide evidence of such structurally identical spare parts. However, if the parts are structurally similar, then verification becomes easier.

 

In earlier times, people brought their clock to the clockmaker not only for repairs, i.e. to restore functionality, but often also to improve accuracy, i.e. the existing escapement of the clock was replaced by a more precisely working escapement. Clocks were expensive, and you didn't just buy a new, better clock. It was

much cheaper to convert the existing clock.

We all know such examples of modernization.

After 1658/59, some English lantern clocks with rim foiliot were converted to verge movement and short pendulum, after about 1680 then only to anchor movement with long pendulum, some of those clocks that had just been converted to verge movement and short pendulum.

Many Religieuse and Cartel clocks of the 17th and 18th centuries, which were originally built with a verge escapement and a short pendulum, were later converted to an anchor escapement, often in the 19th century after 1840 to a Brocot escapement. All these changes have to be called mariages. At the time of the changes/remodeling of the clocks, these clocks were not considered less valuable by their owners, on the contrary. For us, however, these mariages represent an impairment today, worth less than the original, as we regard these clocks as antiques. In many cases, such formerly converted clocks are now restored to their original condition!

 

The theory is often put forward that even during the production period of the Comtoise clocks models were created that we now consider to be mariages, but were regarded by people at the time as completely normal clocks, since the clockmakers stocked parts such as cast head pieces and embossed brass plates , dials, hands, etc., to assemble the corresponding models for customers when ordering. So it could have happened that e.g. an enamel dial of an old type from 1825/30, e.g. small quarter hour indications, was installed 10 or 20 years later after a long sleep in the warehouse, when this type of dial had already been replaced by ones without quarter hour indications. This theory is usually justified by the fact that no changes could be detected in the clock. The clock was originally built this way, although 99.99% of all other clocks of this time bear the dials of the newer time. The same could also apply to embossed brass shields, i.e. a shield type, e.g. a dragon motif from the 1820s on a clockwork from the late 1840s. It would therefore also be conceivable to find a brass plate from around/after 1830 on a movement that is 10 years older. It should be noted, it must be so, because there is not the slightest indication of a subsequent change on the clocks!

The manufacturers of Comtoise clocks from the High Jura did not sell their complete clocks directly to the end consumer, but supplied their customers, i.e. clockmakers/dealers throughout France. So no individual parts were delivered from which the desired models were assembled on site, but complete clocks were delivered.

If the clocks had been assembled on site from individual parts, this would have meant that the clocksmakers/dealers would have had to stock the appropriate movements, decorative metal sheets and, in particular, personalized dials. The capital expenditure for this type of production would have been immensely greater than stocking a few complete models and ordering those models for which customers were willing to accept a delivery time from the manufacturer in the High Jura.

If it had been the case that clocks had been assembled locally from individual parts, then in the decades from the 1960s to the present day such individual parts as e.g. embossed decorative plates or undrilled personalized enamel dials or hands without squares would have appeared from some clockmaker's estate in the antique trade.

In any case, I can say that from 1967 - the year I bought my first Comtoise clock in France - to this day I have never found a stamped brass bezel without individual holes for attachment, never one or more enamel dials which would have been mounted on a dial base without any sign of attachment.

Such remnants of decorative brass embossed sheet metal, possibly even cast brass head pieces with a rooster or eagle, could still have existed at the end of the production period at the beginning of the 20th century by manufacturers in the High Jura, but we can assume that two world wars ensured that all metal parts were recycled. If the individual parts had been scattered throughout France in clockmaking workshops, then surely some of these individual parts would have turned up in the last few decades. I can remember that in the early 1970s I bought a whole box with 15 to 20 pieces of glass pendulum lenses from an antiques dealer in Foncine-le-Haut - so to speak in the center of the Comtoise clock production of the High Jura - which were certainly from the stock a former Comtoise clock manufacturer. They had survived the two world wars because they were not relevant to the war. There were no leftovers of any iron or brass parts from the Comtoise manufacture to be bought from this dealer.

In my opinion, the local clockmakers/dealers did not stock any individual parts for the individual Comtoise clock models, so that enamel dials or even embossed decorative dials could not be exchanged at the customer's request. Which does not mean that such an exchange did not take place. The exchange or replacement was then ordered for the customer by the local clockmaker/dealer from the manufacturer in the High Jura.

In many cases today we cannot identify clocks of this type, in which e.g. embossed decorative plates were replaced after many years, as mariages, unless a movement that can be clearly dated was then replaced with a decorative plate that was dated at the time the dateable movement was created the movement itself did not yet exist.

For example: A watch friend presented me a dated Comtoise movement signed *Chavin à Grenoble 1821*, which, however, had the well-known decorative plate with the goddess of victory Nike on a crescent moon, with the comment that this decorative plate was made in 1821. This would definitely be the case, because there was no evidence that this decorative panel could have been retrofitted. All screws, all drill holes would be correct, everything would be untouched.

My clock friend assumes that mariages have been created in the last 50 years and that marriages didn't exist in the 19th century. This is certainly the case with 99% of all mariages. But mariages also existed in the 19th century, and this clock clearly proves it.

Irrespective of the fact that the ornamental plate of the Nike on a crescent moon with laurel wreath and trombone in his hands was created around 1830, when the Greeks' struggle for freedom went hand in hand with the emergence of the Greek state and laurel wreaths were usually given on the occasion of a victory, i.e. after a fight ( year 1830 ) and not at the beginning of a fight (year 1821 ), the *untouched* Comtoise clock of the year 1821 with the ornamental sheet metal of the Nike on a crescent moon is quite explainable to me.

A customer bought from his local clockmaker/dealer a clock signed and dated 1821 by watchmaker Chavin à Grenoble, and with a decorative plate typical of around 1821. After 1830, this customer then sees the new 1830 model - Nike on Crescent - at his clockmaker's shop and asks his clockmaker to also mount this new model on his 1821 clock. The clockmaker now orders the *modern* ornamental plate from his manufacturer in Morez. The *outdated* trim panel is dismantled and placed over the *modern* trim panel so that all the drill holes for the fastening screws can be pierced congruently. After refitting the *modern* decorative panel, no changes can be noticed and it looks as if it was fitted back in 1821.

For me, this clock represents the prototype of a mariage, but a mariage,

which was not *deliberately* made and certainly does not correspond to the kind of mariages that are made today for financial gain.

 

The same situation will apply where a Comtoise clock bears a Nike and crescent bezel with the quarter hour dial resting on the bezel, as was common with the first stamped bezels in the period 1810 to ca. 1820. Then one would have to draw the conclusion that the metal plate with Nike and crescent could be even older than 1821.

 

However, if one supports the thesis that the clockmaker had numerous individual parts in stock, then it could also have happened that this clock could also have been made in the years 1821 to 1829 with dials showing quarter hours and Nike decorative plate with crescent moon. I do not support this thesis, as I have already explained above.

 

In the decades between 1970 and 1990, when Comtoise clocks were still fetching high prices, many mariages were created in connection with clocks from the period 1810 to 1820.

From 1810 onwards, the first Comtoise clocks with embossed decorative plates, which were attached under the enamel dials, appear alongside the Comtoise clocks with cast head pieces (sun head/eagle). The movements, dials and hands were the same for both Comtoise types. However, the sales prices were not the same, because dealers could achieve three to five times the sales price for a clock with a cast head pieces. The embossed decorative plates with a sun head motif were now removed en masse and replaced by a cast head pieces. Numerous foundries, mainly in the Netherlands and France, delivered numerous, really good replicas.

 

Since these conversions were done intentionally for the purpose of achieving a higher profit, there is of course a case of fraud which, if it had been reported and proven, would have resulted in a conviction of the seller under Section 263 of the German Penal Code.

Any Comtoise clock whose original condition has subsequently been altered is a mariage, regardless of when the alteration was made - after 1 week, after 10 years or after 100 years. A repro Comtoise clock can be on a par with a real antique Comtoise watch in terms of design and quality, only the time of manufacture makes the difference. If a Comtoise Mariage or reproduction is intentionally concealed from the buyer, the Comtoise clock becomes a counterfeit and the sale becomes a case of fraud, since fraudulent gain can be assumed.

          

However, if the seller does not know anything about the mariage or reproduction, he is certainly acting with gross negligence when he offers the clock as a genuine antique.

If you feel cheated by a seller and file a complaint, you will only be successful if the seller's intent can be proven or the seller has confirmed to you in writing, e.g. on the invoice, or assured witnesses that the clock is an original piece from the time.

                                                                                                                        

 

 

Anyone who believes that early Comtoise clocks of the Haut-Jura type are not fakes does not know the working methods and tricks of the counterfeiters!

Anyone who believes that they can judge for themselves whether it is an original or a fake must have not only specialist knowledge but also a healthy dose of self-confidence!

 

I can assure you that it is extremely difficult to spot a fake just by looking at it. I'm not talking about clocks where you can tell from afar that the hands are from another era, or the dial is a reproduction dial, or it's obviously metric screws, or, or etc.

In the case of numerous magnificent specimens, everything is optically correct, in terms of style everything belongs together, and yet these are counterfeits that are only recognized when you disassemble the clocks and take a close look at the dials and all parts and screws. I mean 'taking a close look' literally, because a lot of things that aren't right can only be seen under magnification.

At 2 collectors that Ton and I visited, we exposed three clocks as fakes. The fakes would also almost have passed as originals if collectors hadn't kept asking us, "is this really original?" We think we'd seen more fakes in collections, but we'd only voiced our concerns when we were also specifically addressed by the collectors. We also photographed clocks that we later classified as not 'definitely original' after looking at the photos.

 

A clock signed MAYET was only later recognized as a fake on the home computer due to enlargements of macro shots, more of that later.

Another clock was unmasked as a fake after the brass chapter ring had been dismantled, as the border of another, slightly smaller chapter ring became visible under the numeral ring.

On a third clock from another collector, the engraved signature: P.A.BROCARD A LA CHAPELLE DES BOIS EN CONTE was revealed to be a fake. The seller, a well-known dealer, then took this clock back, but unreasonably, because it was later offered again as an original piece on his website and today it probably hangs in a different collection.

The first two clocks mentioned above were not taken back by the seller, and the collector in Switzerland also did not want to take legal action in Germany. The seller of these two clocks argued that the number ring was different but would fit, and that the movement, with or without a signature, was definitely a Mayet movement. He would therefore have made the signature for this clock.

So there seem to be sellers who interpret the term 'original' pretty broadly. On a Comtoise movement, which is obviously very similar to clocks signed by a master due to various criteria, one could possibly also speak of handwriting, one can then simply write the corresponding name on it.

 

Such an attitude does not surprise me, because in the magazine CHRONOMÉTROPHILIA of the Swiss Society for the History of Time Measurement, issue Été/Summer 2012, no. 71, GEORG VON HOLTEY had written the following in his essay: „Handschriften der Uhrmacher des Hohen Jura in ihren Uhren aus dem frühen 18. Jahrhundert“ (“Manuscripts of clockmakers from the High Jura in their clocks from the early 18th century”) :

On page 11:  „ Neben der Beschreibung der gefundenen charakteristischen Eigenschaften in den von ihrem Hersteller signierten Comtoise Gewichtsuhren, eröffnet sich die Möglichkeit, an Hand der gefundenen Merkmale nicht signierte Uhren ihrem Hersteller zuzuordnen“ ( „In addition to the description of the characteristic features found in the Comtoise weight clocks signed by their manufacturer, the possibility opens up of using the features found to assign unsigned clocks to their manufacturer“)

On page 24: „Eine unsignierte Uhr kann einer anderen Uhr oder einem Uhrmacher zugeordnet werden, wenn sie die meisten Merkmale, darunter alle spezifischen Kennzeichen, gemeinsam haben“  ( „An unsigned clock may be attributed to another clock or clockmaker if they share most of the characteristics, including any distinctive marks“ )

The two bracketed numbers after the cited clock, or group of clocks, indicate the number of clocks signed by that clockmaker with the same characteristics in the set of Comtoise examined, while the second number indicates the number of unsigned but clearly attributed to the master called clocks. So (2.3) would mean that two signed clocks from this master were found with largely identical characteristics, and another three unsigned clocks could be assigned to the master based on their characteristics.”

 

On page 40: „Darüber hinaus erlaubt die erkannte Handschrift  eines Meisters, unsignierte Uhren mit der gleichen Handschrift diesem Meister zuzuordnen. In der hier beschriebenen Studie gelang es so fünfzehn der 27 unsignierten Uhren ihren Herstellern mit guter Sicherheit zuzuschreiben. Die Besitzer dieser Uhren sind damit nicht unzufrieden“.  ( “Furthermore, the recognized handwriting of a master allows unsigned clocks with the same handwriting to be assigned to this master. In the study described here, it was possible to attribute fifteen of the 27 unsigned clocks to their manufacturers with a good degree of certainty. The owners of these clocks are not dissatisfied with it”.)

 

It is unfortunate that Georg von Holtey drew this wrong conclusion, I believe.

 

Why would manufacturers like Brocard, Cattin and Mayet - one could list all known names - build identical or nearly identical movements, some of which are signed and the rest unsigned? I'm assuming a Cattin or a Mayet put their name on clocks they made as well.

 

For me, the unsigned, identical clocks were made by pupils/apprentices who later, as independent clock manufacturers, naturally built their own clocks in the way they had learned from their teachers.

 

A clock made and signed by a well-known master was certainly more expensive than an identical or almost identical clock from a journeyman who also built clocks. As is well known, selling is based on price, and a less well-off buyer will certainly prefer a cheaper unsigned clock to a more expensive signed clock.

 

In my opinion, identical, unsigned clocks could be assigned to a group of manufacturers who all came from one source, i.e. as apprentices from one workshop.

 

With this conclusion, von Holtey has of course offered an invaluable advantage to the fraudsters, i.e. the counterfeiters who have been ripping off bona fide collectors with signed early Comtoise clocks for many years.

 

With his work, it has now become much easier to provide the unsigned, identical clocks with the appropriate name of the great master.

 

Until now, it took a great deal of specialist knowledge to write the right name on the right clock, but now with Georg von Holtey you can easily find out which identical features are relevant for which manufacturer.

 

However, if one assumes that not every counterfeiter had or has sufficient specialist knowledge, then one should examine clocks in particular for which one would expect a different signature than the signature on the clock with regard to the identical features.

 

This means that the utmost care must be taken when examining all parts that are not directly related to the movement, i.e. checking the authenticity of signatures, dial, closures of the winding hole, decorative corners, hands and especially all screws used for dial assembly.

It is possible that there are now more counterfeit clocks from a manufacturer in circulation than there are genuine clocks left. Unfortunately, the majority of existing identical signatures is not a criterion for authenticity.

 

Unfortunately, Georg von Holtey did not exercise the utmost care in advance of his meritorious work, because he himself writes on page 14: "The face of the clocks, i.e. dial, hands, alarm disc, winding hole coverings, decorative strips, decorations in the spandrels and sawn-out brass attachments, is not very meaningful, since these parts are rarely specific to clockmakers and, moreover, have often been modified or even replaced.”

 

In my opinion, I can only classify this statement by Georg von Holtey as negligent, because only if I have checked with the utmost care whether the clock used for my investigation is really original can I also conclude that it was made for a certain manufacturer also gives identical features to its watches.

 

Since the signatures are not on the inside of the movement parts, but only on the outside of the winding pin, on brass fillets, possibly on the fronton or in the dial, you have to examine it very carefully to be absolutely sure that everything you see frontally is also original and originally belong together. Only when one can be really sure that these signatures from Brocard, Cattin and Mayet etc. are really genuine you can one also record the corresponding handwriting of the movement for that particular clockmaker. If one finds several identically signed watches that bring the same result after a thorough examination, then one can speak of a handwriting of a clockmaker or his workshop. If the clockmaker made the clock with the specific handwriting in his own workshop, he will probably have signed it. If a former pupil/journeyman made the clock with the specific handwriting in his own workshop, then he will not have signed it because he was not a master. This practice of signing or not signing only existed in the first decades of production of the Haut-Jura Comtoise clock, because from around the middle of the 18th century the 'individual' production largely stopped, because a standard model was now being produced with the help of home workers. The unit model no longer needed signatures!

 

In particular, examining all the screws used in the 'face of the clock' is extremely important. Old original screws can never have metric threads. However, when there are screws with a metric thread, the utmost vigilance is required immediately. In Chapter 10 you read about the individual screws. A small assortment of all common metric screws up to M4/M5 and/or the corresponding inch screws including a small screwdriver should be in your pocket when you visit a Clock Fair, so that you can easily test whether the magnificent specimen also offered original screws or possibly modern mass screws are available. There are modern mass screws of all sizes and designs, but not with filed threads. Modern threads may be a close fit, but never as accurate as the individual male and female threads on the original parts.

There are numerous counterfeits, i.e. clocks that were deliberately made to defraud Comtoise clock collectors. Fakes, of course, have no place in an investigation into the origin of Comtoise clocks.

However, counterfeits of Comtoise clocks that are not exposed as counterfeits can lead to misjudgments.

 

The ideal case for a counterfeiter is, of course, to find a clock that is complete in all parts and then only has to have the appropriate signature engraved. Old screws, old sheet brass, everything is old. Even a material analysis can only show that the material is old.

If you counterfeit clocks in this way, then of course you have to do it right and not, like the counterfeiter of a 'Pierre Petit Mayet', make such an obvious mistake that it is immediately noticeable. In 2014, a Mayet clock with the signature 'PIERRE PETIT MAYET A BELLE FONTAINE 1706' was offered on a Dutch internet sales platform. The youngest of the 4 Mayet brothers was called: Petit-Pierre Mayet, i.e. 'Little Peter'. However, if one writes 'Pierre Petit Mayet', this no longer means 'Little Peter' but derogatory 'Peterchen klein', similar to 'Hans' and 'Hänschen klein'. Just as one can study the manuscripts of the old masters, one can of course also study the manuscripts of the counterfeiter. It would be desirable, for example, to be able to examine this Pierre Petit Mayet clock with regard to the signature, possibly to be able to find other clocks as well, such as the clock from May 2014 offered on the Internet, which was signed PIERRE MAYET AV FORT DU PLANE EN CONTE. If the two signatures come from a counterfeiter and are identical in their design, then one can learn from them and then possibly find other signatures of the counterfeiter. It cannot be assumed that the counterfeiter carried out his work in a different way each time.

 

You can only tell whether a signature is fakes by whether it matches ( or not ) the signatures of the old master or the new counterfeiter.

 

Example: I compare a signature with 10 other known signatures from a manufacturer. I find that my signature to be judged matches 5 signatures, but also mismatches 5 signatures.

 

It cannot be assumed that a master signed with different types of letters of different sizes in different executions. The signatures are likely to have been the same.

 

Then I find a clock, i.e. watch no. 11, and my 11th signature does not match the two groups of 5 signatures.

 

What can this mean?

 

It can mean anything. Always assuming that it is old brass from the time.

 

1) My 11th signature is the only real signature. The other 10 are fakes by 2 different counterfeiters.

 

2) 5 signatures of a group of 5 are real, i.e. the other 5 signatures and my 11th signature are fake.

 

It is possible that there are now more counterfeit clocks from a manufacturer in circulation than there are genuine clocks left. Unfortunately, the majority of existing identical signatures is not a criterion for authenticity.

 

Only a material analysis of the sheet brass of all 11 signatures can perhaps provide information if new sheet brass was used.

 

One positive brass analysis in a group of 5 would mean that the 4 other signatures on old sheet brass are also fakes.

 

This group is now eliminated, the probability that the other signatures of the other group of 5 are most likely genuine has increased greatly.

 

The above example is of course very constructed, because it is hardly possible when purchasing a signed Comtoise clock to be able to access many illustrations of similar signed Comtoise clocks for the purpose of comparison.

 

But one can learn how each master signed. Master X always made his signature with punches, Master Y, on the other hand, engraved his signature and Master Z composed the letters of his signature only from line punches. A whole name can be punched with a single punch, which is just a line or a semicircle.

Chapter 12 can now help you a little, because it is a list of all signed Comtoise clocks found in the literature to date. You look for a name and then find it at the cited reference.

 

The ones in the online Comtoise Clock Museum www.morbier-clocks.de

 

You can now compare the signatures of the signed Comtoise watches shown in the HAUT-JURA COMTOISE password-protected folder with each other, but also with your own clocks or clocks that are about to be purchased.

 

The most common forged signatures will probably be MAYET, but of course CATTIN signatures as well, since clocks with these names are the most well-known and easiest to sell. Print out the signatures of all clocks so that you can place them side by side for comparison.

 

For example, if you place all Cattin signatures next to each other, you can compare DIRECTLY. It is not likely that clockmakers such as Jean Baptiste Cattin or Maximin Cattin signed in different ways. In the case of hallmarks in particular, the letters must be the same, even on different clocks. Uppercase and lowercase letters were also used. The upper case letters in Cattin are approx. 4 mm high, the lower case letters approx. 2.8 mm high. The counterfeiters certainly did not, and could not, make the punches needed to stamp the letters. But here, too, fakes of the signatures are produced, so that the individual letters correspond to the letters struck with the hallmarks.

 

Signatures that look like they are engraved or punched can also be etched, i.e. copied on film and then, and this is how you can recognize the fake, transferred to the brass surface using a necessary grid of dots. Such signatures are then not completely clean at the edges, mostly 'blackened' to old, in order to cover any halftone dots. A good magnifying glass works wonders here! If you spot grid dot, keep your hands off the clock!!! A good magnifying glass should always be in your pocket when visiting a Clock Fair!

The counterfeiter has 2 options. He photographs either the signature of an original clock or a good illustration of a signature in literature.

When photographing a signature that has already been printed, the grid of the template will certainly also be visible as a result when the lens is set to macro. This photo can now be edited and the grid removed from all areas that are later to remain smooth. The grid remains in those places that are later visible as lines, circles, letters, flowers, etc. after the etching process, but are then blackened. Even if the original signature is photographed, the photo still has to be processed in order to remove any imperfections that could later be reproduced as halftone dots. The cleaner the template is, the cleaner the result will be after the etching process. What will later be visible as a result as 'SIGNATURE' is an etched-away area, at the edges of which there may still be grid points, which can of course be seen under an enlargement.

In the early 18th century there were certainly liquids that were used for etching. At the time when a Cattin or Mayet signature was created for Comtoise clocks in the first half of the 18th century, there was no grid that was comparably even.

 

There was a grid in the aquatint technique (granules of resin melted on a plate), but this technique was not invented until after 1760 by J.B. Leprince. However, these resin granules are not lined up, as in a book grid.

Those places that should remain smooth were covered with asphalt in the past, but with other substances today. The brass sheet was etched away in the areas that were not covered and were therefore exposed to the corrosive acid. The depth of the etching in the brass sheet thus depended on the time the acid was allowed to act. With this effect and the associated deep etching out of the brass sheet, the areas covered with asphalt were also undercut, because the etching liquid does not etch straight down, of course, but also sideways.

Irrespective of whether etching takes place 300 years ago or today, undercutting always takes place due to the acting acid, so that suspicious signatures must of course always be examined for undercutting.

 

Unfortunately, I discovered such a spectacular etching of a Mayet signature while photographing a clock from a collector, not visible to the naked eye, but beautifully visible on the screen of the home computer with the appropriate magnification.

A clock for which the collector paid a lot of money, and which unfortunately only retained its charisma in the twilight!

 

The counterfeiter once successfully sold a counterfeit watch. What prevents him from faking a second or third clock in the same way? If you own a clock with the signature: MAYET AV FORT DV PLANE, then you should take a PHOTO IN MACRO SETTING of the signature with your digital camera ( you can also use it to check any other signature to unmask an etched signature ) and then view the photo in maximum magnification on the computer screen. If the signature was etched then you will find remnants of the grid on the edges!

 

I DARE THAT 10% TO 20% OF ALL MAYET OR CATTIN WATCHES SOLD IN THE LAST 20/25 YEARS ARE COUNTERFEIT. The probability that a Mayet or Cattin clock purchased in the 1970s is genuine is very high.

 

If you want to buy a Mayet or Cattin clock, you can be sure that such a clock will be offered to you. Such a clock does not appear on the sales table at a Clock Fair, rather under the table and intended only for the specific collector, or out of the trunk outside in the parking lot as organized only for the specific collector from a very old collection, so that when sold no comparisons or investigations are made. A nice story is told about the 'good piece' and the collector should of course not go on telling where the 'good piece' ultimately came from, often from the father's collection, who already in the 1960s and 70s as one of the first in France who was able to buy the most beautiful clocks and from whose collection one now gives a clock for one reason or another, of course only in good hands who appreciate such a piece. But don't tell anyone else, otherwise other collectors will also come running to acquire such a unique piece from this collection.

     

Such a clock now disappears in a small collection, certainly a very nice movement, but unfortunately not a piece of the clockmaker whose signature is on it. The probability that the authenticity of such a clock will ever be checked is very small.

 

While most counterfeits that are sold 'wrapped in a nice story' are restored clocks, you can of course also spend a lot of money on unrestored, signed clocks, such as the 'CLAUDE MAYET A MORBIER 1715'. Clock sold on Ebay France in January 2017 for around 6000.00 euros. If greed is greater than knowledge and reason, then you just pay a lot of money, in this case probably a lot of tuition!

 

If you buy an expensive antique clock , then get the seller to confirm in writing that it is a clock which in all parts belongs together from the time.

 

 

14. BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

BAILLIE, G.H.                                      WATCHMAKERS AND CLOCKMAKERS OF THE WORLD, 1966

 

BAYERL, GÜNTER                             TECHNIK IN MITTELALTER UND FRÜHER NEUZEIT, Stuttg.2013

 

BERGMANN, SIEGFRIED                 COMTOISE-UHREN, Stolberg 2005

 

BERGMANN, SIEGFRIED                 COMTOISE-UHREN, 4 Bände, Stolberg 2012

 

BOLLEN, TON                                     COMTOISEKLOKKEN, Bussum 1974

 

BOLLEN, TON                                     COMTOISE UHREN, Wuppertal 2006

 

BOLLEN, TON                                     FRANSE LANTAARNKLOKKEN, Bussum 1978

 

BRITTEN, F.J.                                     OLD CLOCKS AND WATCHES AND THEIR MAKERS,  1932

 

DECKERT, BERND                           DIE GESCHICHTE DER COMTOISE UHREN, BAND 1 + II    2008     

 

HOOIJKAAS, CHRIS                       SPECIALE COMTOISES EN LANTAARNKLOKKEN, 2016

 

HOLTEY, GEORG VO                     JEAN BAPTISTE CATTIN (*1687 -t 1767 )Chronométrophilia No65/2009

 

HOLTEY, GEORG VON                  HANDSCHRIFTEN DER UHRMACHER DES HOHEN JURA Chronmé-

                                                             trophilia. No.71/2012

 

KELLERMANN/TREUE                  DIE KULTURGESCHICHTE DER  SCHRAUBE 2.Aufl. München 1962

 

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                                                    Erster Band, Bautzen 1902

 

SANDOZ, Ch.                            Les Horloges et le Maîtres horlogeurs à Besancon, du 

                                                    XVe siècle à la Révolution Francaise, Besancon,

                                                    Millot et Cie, 1904

 

SPELTZ, ALEXANDER          LES STYLES DE L‘ORNEMENT, Brockhaus

                                                    Leipzig 1930

 

TEMOINS DE LA VIE PAYSANNE  LA FRANCHE COMTÉ,       Garnier 1980

 

THIOUT (l'ainé) , ANTOINE    Traité de l'Horlogerie mécanique et pratique, 1741

 

Die TODTENFEIER des Kaisers Napoleon,     Leipzig J.J.Weber, 1841

 

TREFFER, Gerd                        Geschichte Frankreichs, Regensburg 1998

 

TRINCANO, Louis                    LA GROSSE HORLOGERIE,  L'Exportateur Francais, 

                                                     25 Novembre 1926

 

VISAGES DE LA FRANCHE-COMTÉ,    Éditions des Horizons de la France, Paris 

                                                     1945

 

WESTFÄLISCHES FREILICHTMUSEUM HAGEN, Landesmuseum für Handwerk    

                                                     und Technik, Landschaftsverband Westfalen - Lippe,

                                                     Hagen 20

 

 

Afterword 2008

 

My two books, volume 1 illustrated volume, volume 2 text volume and the 3 appendices are the result of years of research and more than forty years of experience with antique Comtoise clocks. As a manufacturer of Repro Comtoise clocks and spare parts, I am of course familiar with my own products and those of my competitors, so this knowledge should also be useful to you as a reader.

This thesis represents the state of my knowledge at the end of 2008.

I am sure that I will learn many new things about and with Comtoise clocks in the years to come and I hope that these findings will then also flow into another edition of my books.

If you would also like to contribute to expanding my level of knowledge, I will gladly accept new, well-founded findings and also your constructive criticism.

 

Bernd Deckert on November 24, 2008

 

 

 

Afterword 2018

 

10 years ago I could not have imagined that the search for the origin of Comtoise clocks in the High Jura could yield a result that would contradict everything that everyone thought they knew to this day. There is a need for further research, e.g. for 'wooden clocks from Foncine', but in particular of course the search for Haut-Jura Comtoise clocks that can be dated before 1710.          The Origin-Comtoise can still be found!

If you think you have information relevant to the question of the origin of the Haut-Jura Comtoise clock, feel free to contact me and broaden my horizons.

Criticism, which I expect again this time, as I did after my 2008 book, will hopefully remain factual. Criticism, if it is factually well-founded, will also broaden my horizons.

Bernd Deckert on 08/24/2018

Comtoise Clock Museum, 

Bonifatiusstr. 61, D - 40547 Düsseldorf - Alt Loerick

Tel. +49 - 211 - 33 45 45    e-mail: deckert@comtoise.de

                               www.comtoise.info

 

 

Afterword 2022

 

In my 2018 AFTERWORD I wrote:                                  

            "The Origin-Comtoise can still be found"

 

I would never have dared to imagine that I would find it. I can only describe it as a miracle that this clock is now in the Comtoise Clock Museum and is therefore open to the public.

After almost 50 years of searching in vain for a Haute-Saône or Haut-Jura Comtoise clock, such a 17th-century Haute-Saône Comtoise clock has finally appeared, a clock that can definitely be described as a ORIGIN-COMTOISE.

Of course, it cannot be ruled out that even older Haut-Jura Comtoise clocks from before 1709 will be found. However, it is my firm belief that a Haut-Jura Comtoise clock that can be clearly dated to the 17th century will never appear, as it simply did not exist.

If you personally have a Haute-Saône Comtoise clock or Hybrid Comtoise clock in your collection, please do not hesitate to contact me. Any additional movement showing an intermediate stage between the lantern clock and the Comtoise clock is further evidence that the Haut-Jura Comtoise clock had antecedents/models.

 

Bernd Deckert on 03/01/2022

 

Bernd Deckert on 08/24/2018

Comtoise Clock Museum, 

Bonifatiusstr. 61, D - 40547 Düsseldorf - Alt Loerick

Tel. +49 - 211 - 33 45 45    e-mail: deckert@comtoise.de

                               www.comtoise.info