A Louis XV mantel clock signed Berthoud by Saint-Germain

A Louis XV gilt bronze mantel clock
after a model by Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain,
the dial signed Ferdinand Berthoud,
the movement signed Ferdinand Berthoud a Paris – circa 1750

Ferdinand Berthoud (1727-1807)

Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain (1719-1791, maître in 1748)

Height: 53 cm. (28 ¾ in.)    Width: 32 cm. (12 ½ in.)    Depth: 19 cm. (7 ½ in.)

The enamel dial has Roman numerals for the hours and Arabic numbers for the minutes indicated by gilt and engraved brass hands. The signed circular movement has an anchor escapement and silk thread suspension. The clock chimes on the hour and half hour by means of a count wheel mounted on the backplate.

Comparative Literature

Only a few examples of this model are known:

• One reproduced in C. Cardinal, Ferdinand Berthoud 1727-1807: Horloger mécanicien du Roi et de la Marine, La Chaux-de-Fonds: Musée International d’Horlogerie, 1984
• One signed Ferdinand Berthoud, illustrated in P. Heuer & K. Maurice, Europäische Pendeluhren, Munich: Callwey, 1988, p. 27, no. 23
• One signed Julien Le Roy à Paris, illustrated in P. Kjellberg, Encyclopédie de la Pendule Française du Moyen Âge au XXe siècle, Paris: Editions de l’Amateur, 1997, p. 119