This table clock signed by José de Hoffmeyer, clockmaker to Queen Isabella II of Spain, is one of the finest examples of a Spanish-made timepiece incorporating a perpetual calendar in imitation of those produced by the Brocot family in the midnineteenth century.

The case is made of black marble, with straight sides above a rectangular base. On the front are three white porcelain dials and two thermometers surrounded by a gilt metal bevel. The main dial, at the top, shows the hours in black polychromed Roman numerals. Inside is a visible Brocot escapement with ruby pins. The hands are of the Breguet type. There are two winding holes. Above the number XII is a lever allowing the clock to be put forward or back. Beneath the hand collet is the maker’s signature: J. HOFFMEYER // MADRID.

Under the main dial are two auxiliary dials, also of white porcelain. The one on the right is a perpetual calendar showing the months of the year. Inside it are two further dials for the day of the month and day of the week. Above them is an aperture for the lunar calendar and moon phases, polychromed in blue. The other auxiliary dial on the left is a barometer.

On either side of the main dial are two thermometers in imitation of the model created by the Brocot family.

The clock has a French two-train movement of the Paris type. The going train has a mainspring that keeps the clock running for eight days, an anchor escapement and a pendulum. The striking train chimes the hour and half-hour with a count wheel and bell system. Perpetual calendar. This type of clock created by the Brocot family, also called a pendule borne or mantel clock, was manufactured above all during the reign of Napoleon III.

Louis-Achille Brocot and his brother Antoine-Gabriel, the sons of Louis-Gabriel Brocot, the founder of the business, perfected the escapement and suspension systems, securing the patent for the visible escapement and the perpetual calendar in May 1849. Mathematicians by training, they had a firm command of geometry and the application of gemstones to the suspension of the escapement. They had a large clientele and considerable influence, since many clockmakers imitated them and applied their knowledge to their own timepieces. One of these was the clockmaker José de Hoffmeyer.

José de Hoffmeyer y Jiménez married Josefa Zubeldia Baquijano in Bilbao in May 1843. He was appointed royal clockmaker in 1849, and by 1858 the couple already lived in Madrid, where he opened a shop in Calle de Alcalá. He made his own movements and also used others from Geneva (Switzerland) and Paris (France), and he represented the firm French in Madrid. When Spain decided to adapt its clocks to the mean time system, Hoffmeyer was put in charge of adjusting all the municipal or public clocks in Madrid. He died in Madrid on 16 December 1862, and was buried in the Sacramental de San Justo cemetery.

Another clock with three dials signed by Brocot and Delletrez is preserved by Patrimonio Nacional.

Amelia Aranda Huete