Portico clock with skeleton, Pillard in Troyes, late 18th century.

Portico type clock with skeleton, Pillard in Troyes, late 18th century.
Mercury gilt bronze. Enameled dials.
With three dials and ring movement.
Signed under the central dial by the watchmaker Pillard in Troyes (France).
Measurements: 41 x 20 x 20 cm.

This meticulous portico clock is distinguished by its compilation of three dials, the upper one - of larger size and skeleton type - makes us aware of the time while two subsidiary calendar dials for the days of the week in French and day of the month are presented below it. A final moonphase calendar crowns the watch. This is an exquisite piece of watchmaking that highlights the savoir faire of the eighteenth-century craftsman Pillard in Troyes,

The particularity of the skeleton watch is that its mechanism can be seen on the back and through its openwork dial. Heir to the portico clock, it is usually composed of an arch supporting one or more dials. This form was very successful in the last years of the 18th century and in the first half of the 19th century due to the desire of watchmakers to demonstrate their mastery and technical progress, as well as in response to the decorative overload of figurative clocks.