Lewis Walduck
Cataloguer
Lot 24*
A late 19th century Renaissance style carriage timepiece Planchon, Paris, No 426
2 July 2025, 13:00 BST
London, New Bond Street£600 - £800
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A late 19th century Renaissance style carriage timepiece
Planchon, Paris, No 426
The case surmounted by a large cupola with central finial and four turned finials above slender pilasters framing finely engraved panels depicting foliate scrollwork. The front panel centred by an engraved mask surrounded by scrolls, the lower section with a cast hand pointing to the 6 o'clock position on a 1-inch white enamel chapter ring with blue Arabic numerals and a dark blue enamel centre. The rear door stamped Planchon, Paris opening to reveal a single-train timepiece movement with lever platform escapement, the backplate stamped 426 Planchon, Paris. Ticking. 15cms (6ins) high.
The case surmounted by a large cupola with central finial and four turned finials above slender pilasters framing finely engraved panels depicting foliate scrollwork. The front panel centred by an engraved mask surrounded by scrolls, the lower section with a cast hand pointing to the 6 o'clock position on a 1-inch white enamel chapter ring with blue Arabic numerals and a dark blue enamel centre. The rear door stamped Planchon, Paris opening to reveal a single-train timepiece movement with lever platform escapement, the backplate stamped 426 Planchon, Paris. Ticking. 15cms (6ins) high.
Footnotes
Mathieu Planchon (1842–1921), born in Bourges, trained under his father before moving to Paris in the mid-1860s to work at the workshop of Robert-Houdin, likely under Emile Robert-Houdin. After a brief stint with G. Phillippe at the Palais Royal, he took over the business around 1870. An antiquarian at heart, Planchon became widely regarded as an authority on historical horology. His fame grew in 1874 after winning a Figaro newspaper competition with a novel (though now lost) watch case design, leading to the production of 22,000 watches. From the 1880s onward, he focused on collecting and reproducing medieval and Renaissance timepieces—fitted with modern movements—which he viewed as respectful continuations rather than copies. In 1889, he exhibited 75 such pieces at the Paris Exhibition, earning a gold medal. His work included exotic mechanisms such as a fan-shaped clock inspired by a 16th-century engraving and pioneering studies of East Asian horology. In 1900, he was awarded a Grand Prix at the Paris Exhibition and authored its official horology catalogue, following the 1898 publication of his seminal book L'horloge son histoire rétrospective, pittoresque et artistique. Planchon remained active until his death in 1921, succeeded by his son-in-law Paul Brateau, who closed La Maison Planchon in 1936.
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