French Industrial Automaton Clock, Horizontal Boiler

The group of clocks whose subject matter is based on machinery, navigation and industry are called 'industrial clocks'. Their origins may be explained by a growing interest in technical innovations and modernisation by an ever-growing public in the second half of the 19th century. And there must have been a growing group of people whose wealth was based on this new industrialisation and trade. There is often much to see through the use of thermometers and barometers. The larger examples often have separate mechanisms to power the moving automatons like this clock. Much of the appeal of these clocks must have been to entertain and impress the spectators. The main designer and producer was the house of Guilmet in Paris.