Carriage Clock

A Carriage clock is a small, spring-driven clock. Also known as ‘Officers Clocks’ they were designed for travelling.

The first carriage clock was invented in 1812 for the Emperor Napoleon by Abraham-Louis Breguet. Designed for portability, the case, is rectangular with a carrying handle. Made of plain or gilt-brass they are often set with glass or more unusually porcelain or enamel panels. Some also have a glazed aperture at the top, through which the platform escapement is visible.

The innovation of carriage clocks is that they use a balance and balance spring to regulate the timekeeping rather than a pendulum, a feature of the older pendulum bracket clock which they replaced.

Between 1880 and 1920, thousands of carriage clocks were made by the factory of Armand Couaillet in Saint-Nicolas d’Aliermont in France.