This mantel clock signed by José de Hoffmeyer, clockmaker to Queen Isabella II of Spain, is one of the best Spanish-made examples to include a perpetual calendar, in imitation of those made by the Brocot family in the mid-nineteenth century.

The case is in black marble. It is straight-edged and sits on a rectangular base. The front contains three white enamel dials and two thermometers surrounded by gilded metal bezels. The main dial, at the top, shows the hours in black-painted Roman numerals. The centre disc has an open brocot escapement with ruby pins. The hands are of Breguet type. It has two winding holes. There is a lever on the XII figure to regulate the speed of the clock.

Beneath the main dial are two subsidiary dials, also in white enamel. The one on the left is a perpetual calendar showing the months of the year. In the centre disc, there are two other dials: one for the days of the month and one for the days of the week. Above them, there is an aperture showing the phases of the moon, coloured in blue. The other subsidiary dial, on the right, is a barometer. It has two enamelled stamps: 'Gran Medalla de 1.ª clase // Universal Exposición Londres 1851' and 'Medalla de oro Exposición 1849 París'.

Flanking the main dial are two thermometers imitating the model created by the Brocot family. The thermometers —each inscribed 'Réamur' and 'Centigrade'— are dated Paris, 1838.

The clock has a French two-train pendule de Paris movement. There is an 8-day spring-driven going train, with an anchor escapement and pendulum. The striking train sounds the hours and half-hours on a bell using a countwheel. Perpetual calendar.

This model of clock is also called a pendule borne and was manufactured mainly during the reign of Napoleon III.

The escapement and suspension systems were perfected by Louis-Achille and Antoine-Gabriel Brocot, the sons of the firm's founder, Louis-Gabriel Brocot. They obtained a patent for the open escapement and the perpetual calendar in May 1849. With a training in mathematics, they were masters of geometry and the use of hard stones applied to escapement suspension. They gained a large clientèle and created a school, with many other clockmakers applying their findings to their own movements and imitating them. One of these was the clockmaker José de Hoffmeyer.

José de Hoffmeyer y Jiménez married Josefa Zubeldia Baquijano in Bilbao, in May 1843. In 1849 he was appointed royal clockmaker. He opened a shop on Calle de Alcalá in Madrid. He made his own movements and used others from Geneva (Switzerland) and Paris (France). He was the French firm's official representative in Madrid. When Spain decided to adapt its clocks to the mean time system, he was placed in charge of adjusting all public and municipal clocks in Madrid. He died in Madrid on 16 December 1862 and was buried in the La Sacramental de San Justo cemetery.

A clock similar to this one, signed on one of its three dials by Brocot and Delletrez, is preserved in El Patrimonio Nacional, with the inventory number 10012728.

Amelia Aranda Huete