ALARM CLOCK INV T LARESCHE NO. 552 Ca. 1850 France

M&R268

ALARM CLOCK
Signed: INV T LARESCHE NO. 552
Retailer: I. v. L. GALERIE DE VALOIS PALAIS ROYAL NO. 164.
Ca. 1850
France

Alarm
The alarm is driven by a spring in a spring barrel with chain fusee and balance.

Case
The brass case has a silvered-brass spring barrel, which is engraved with the signature of the inventor: INV T Laresche No. 552. On the top plate of the spring barrel is a plaque with the retailer’s name: I.v.L. Galerie de Valois Palais Royal No. 164. On the opposite side is an alarm disc with Arabic numerals. The alarm time can be set by a blued-steel pointer. Next to the spring barrel is a porte montre (disc to hold a watch). Under this disc is a bell. The alarm hammer is situated under the bottom plate of the spring barrel. The whole rests on two shaped brass feet and on the bell support on the opposite side.

Setting the alarm time
The alarm time is set by calculating the number of hours after which one would like it to go off. For instance, if it is 10 o’clock in the evening and the owner wants to be woken up at 7 o’clock in the morning, the alarm pointer should be turned to 9 (nine hours later). By placing the winding key into the hole, the alarm disc can be turned anticlockwise, together with the pointer, which will then run back to 0, the point when the alarm goes off. The winding key is situated near the 7.

Height 5.5 cm
Width 10.5 cm
Depth 6.5 cm

The maker:
Henri Laresche worked as a watchmaker in Paris around 1800. He had a workshop in the Rue de Valois. Au Palais-Royal no. 13 and moved to no. 164 later. In 1804 Laresche restored the first pocket chronometer which Pierre Le Roy had created for the collection of Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, the Duke of Penthièvre. Laresche invented an alarm mechanism which he obtained a patent for in 1820. He also dedicated himself improving the quality of watch oils; In 1827 he published a paper on the use of olive oils on watches and was awarded a gold medal for it. Amongst other things Laresche designed a new mechanism for equation clocks with pendulum, he did not only sell his own pieces but was also supplied by Jacques-Frédéric Houriet. (source www.watch-wiki.org)