Berrolla A Paris

A rare one-piece elaborately cast Rococo-style gilt-bronze carriage clock with a calendar, alarm and unusual gong striking.

The heavy decorative cast gilt-case is elaborately chased and has the hinged handle mounted side-ways above. The front and back glasses are slid in from the bottom and held in place by a split slide that expands to hold them in and contracts to remove them.

The painted silvered dial has engraved lines to define the hour chapter and sub dials, Roman numerals for the hours, steel hands and Arabic numbers for the alarm and date dials.

The eight-day time and strike movement has an alarm wound out the dial, a repeat push-button out the top and to the side and a skeletonized lever balance platform. The striking mechanism is similar to some very early carriage clocks with long gongs that follow the edge of the movement and are struck by small shaped steel hammers. It is signed on the backplate ‘Berrolla A Paris’. Unlike later carriage clocks it is set and wound completely at the dial.

For a similar gong set-up see the example by Milleret et Tissot in Roberts, Carriage Clocks, pg. 57.