A late 19th century gilt and engraved brass repeating carriage clock with original numbered leather travel case

Charles Grottendiek, Bruxelles, Number 9422

Footnotes

François Charles Grottendieck was born in 1834 in Saint Anna, Hannover. His father was Ferdinand Henri, a wholesaler, and his mother was Marie Marguerite Wilhelmine Kruse.
In 1863 he was married in Brussels to Eugènie Adélaïde Josephe Henriette, who was four years his senior and also a wholesaler. He is listed on his marriage certificate as a horologist, though it is not known where he served his apprenticeship. The couple appear to have gone into business together; given their backgrounds it seems likely that Eugènie would have managed the running of the shop, while Charles would have focused on repair and possibly finishing/manufacture.
Throughout the 1860's-70s there was a horologist by the name of Dessaint-Plet whose shop was based at 10 Montagne de la Cour, Brussels. Plet had taken over the shop from another well-regarded horologist, A. Demeur, who is known to have sold carriage clocks by Paul Garnier. Demeur was also horologist to the King of Brussels, a title Plet seemed to receive with the shop. It is unclear when Plet retired, though it appears that Grottendieck became his successor, both to the shop and the title of horologist to the King and Queen of Brussels. It is unknown how long Grottendieck remained at this address, however, by 1901 the Grottendiecks were operating out of a shop on 80 Rue de la Madeleine, and also living above the shop. This may suggest that they had formally relocated from 10 Montagne de la Cour, rather than working out of both shops.
In early August 1901, the shop was burgled, the thieves making off with 100,000 francs of items. This included 100 watches (valued between 100-1,500 francs), 30 gold chains (valued at around 10,000 francs), and 15 diamond and ruby trimmed bracelets (valued between 12 to 15,000 francs). Reportedly, Eugènie came downstairs to open the shop around 6.00, and noticed that one of the windowpanes, normally located 1.6m above the ground, had been removed and left on the shop counter. It was later suggested that the thieves climbed onto the arm of a streetlamp in front of the store, which allowed them to access the first storey window. As the lock was still bolted on the door, it appears the thieves left in the same fashion. Finding the shop had been ransacked, she apparently called up to Charles, who helped her draw up a list of missing inventory, before the police were informed. During questioning, it came out that a customer had come into the shop the previous day and spent ½ hour looking at a pocket watch chain. He left without buying anything, and 15 minutes later two different men came into the shop, looked at the same chain for ½ hour, then also left without making a purchase. These men, the first being identified as French, and the other two identified as Dutch, were listed as the likely thieves. It seems there had been a false alarm in the middle of the burglary, as 40,000 francs worth of jewellery had been left on the shop counter. More chillingly, in the room next to the shop, police discovered a dagger and several lengths of rope hastily left on a table. It does not seem that the perpetrator(s) was ever discovered.
Charles and Eugènie had at least three children; Frédéric Jacques Joseph (born in 1865), Paul Désiré Joseph Charles (born in 1869) and Emma Ferdinande Joséphine (born in 1871). The eldest, Frédéric, became a horologist, likely being apprenticed to his father. He married Marie Colette Eugénie Briers in Elsene in 1904. Emma married into a family of wholesalers in 1893, both her brothers serving as witnesses. Interestingly, her husband, Paul Justin Louis Joseph Henriette, would serve as a witness to Frédéric's wedding nine years later.
Paul Grottendieck became an engineer in Hainaut, at some point marrying Emma Celeste Louise Dubois. The couple had at least one child, Germaine Charlotte Clotilde Grottendieck, born in 1895, who apparently became an internationally lauded cellist.

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