Glass Ball Desk Clock With Erotic Decoration

Glass ball desk clock with erotic decoration. Gilded metal and brass frame, thick spherical glass at the top and bottom. Painted dial with erotic motif and movable penis. Swiss mechanical movement machinery, free anchor escapement, bimetallic, split and compensated balance. Signed FS. With automatic movement: the penis moves continuously while the clock is running. The clock remains held in place thanks to a flat on the back glass. Good used condition, in working order. Height with bail: 9 cm Diameter: 6.5 cm Libertine watches were born at the end of the 17th century with the arrival of minute repeater movements. Watchmakers began to camouflage erotic scenes in the cover of pocket watches. These pocket watches were mainly made in England, France or Geneva. The forward-backward movement of the hammers that struck the gong was used to tell the time. The system then made it possible, at the same time, to bring to life small characters, country scenes or naughty scenes. And without taboo: monks, priests and nuns were, at the time, inexhaustible sources of inspiration... These timepieces were often part of the bride's basket... And the lucky bride would then distribute them to the bridesmaids. A small discreet pleasure. Seized, destroyed and even banned from manufacture in Geneva in 1817, libertine watches paid the price of the ambient puritanism. As a result, the old models that have "survived" until today are rare.