Tap a photo to enlarge it
SZR.90
Grandfather clock
Bearing the Sun King's emblem, with a boulle finish that imitates tortoiseshell. Lost-wax cast bronzes, chased and gilded one by one, and 11 jewels in the movement.
A clock that is yours alone. Wood, finish, colour and melody: we start from this model and finish it together, the way you want it.
- Dimensions
- Height 215 cm · width 50 cm · depth 30 cm
- Materials
- MDF veneered in palisander and imitation tortoiseshell (boulle); lost-wax cast bronzes, chased and gilded in a gold bath
- Finish
- Glossy polyester with anti-yellowing treatment
- Movement
- German Kieninger mechanical movement, mirror-polished; Swiss escapement with 11 ruby jewels; weekly key winding (3 springs); fixed night silencer from 10 pm to 7:15 am
- Chime
- Three melodies to choose from, every quarter hour: Westminster, St Michael, Whittington
- Dial
- Round, cast gilt brass; hands of our own design, signed
- Pendulum
- None: a Swiss escapement takes its place
- Other
- Two parts, base and top, for transport; front and back bezels with convex glass; slim locking door in the base; bottle of liquid gold for touch-ups
How it is made
We call it “Nuvola”, the cloud, after the bronze clouds around the dial. They look light, but they are heavy, just as Boulle, the cabinetmaker at the court of the Sun King, designed them. The original cabinet can still be seen in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles and in the Louvre, and a period copy stands in the Casino de Monte-Carlo. It is one of our historic models: we have made it since the 1970s, in very small numbers, because a faithful reproduction is never easy.
The case is veneered in palisander and in imitation tortoiseshell: a sheet of wood with black veining, soaked in red. The bronzes are lost-wax cast, chased one by one by Giovanni Prada, numbered and gilded in a gold bath. A glossy polyester finish keeps the red from fading. With the clock we include a small bottle of liquid gold, to touch up any spots that time may bring out.
Instead of a pendulum there is a Swiss escapement: a balance that swings fast and keeps time on its own, running on 11 ruby jewels. The mirror-polished Kieninger movement plays Westminster, St Michael or Whittington and stays silent at night.
