People's Of The World Mantle Clock

A fine, late Victorian, Belgian slate mantle clock with mercury pendulum, beveled glass front panel and door. The dials, white enamel with black Roman numerals, the centre with an English published map of the world that rotates in sync with people of the world identified and in costume. The movement is French and marked for the maker Pierre-Honoré-César Pons ‘MEDAILLE D’OR 1827’ and the serial number 9110.
18 3/4 in x 11 1/8th x 7 3/4 in
Pierre-César Honoré Pons was an important clock-maker, trained by Antide Janvier, the royal clockmaker to King Louis XVI. During his time with Janvier the French Revolution erupted resulting in the disruption of Pons’ training and more generally the loss of the craftsmen’s trade guilds. On the recommendation of his master, Pons took up a position with Lepautes, another highly regarded clockmaker, and by 1803 had opened his own workshop supplying his better established Paris contemporaries such as Bertoud, Breguet and Lépine. Pons invented several escapements and developed machines for cutting gear teeth and perfectly polishing pinion leaves. Around 1806, Pons accepted a generous offer from the French Government for his machines, on the basis that they would be used to revitalise ailing workshops at Saint-Nicolas d’Aliermont, a small city near Dieppe. Within just a few years, Pons made the Saint-Nicolas d’Aliermont factory the largest French supplier of “blancs roulants” and was selling under his own name from his shop in Paris’s rue de la Barillerie. He was esteemed by his peers and in 1839 was awarded the Croix de la Légion d’Honneur by King Louis Philippe.
With thanks to Chris Coles, BADA recommended researcher and cataloguer.