A Claude Grivolas 400 Day Torsion Suspension Timepiece

A rare example of a french torsion suspension or 400 day clock made by Claude Grivolas & Cie, the movement was invented and patented by Claude Grivolas. This example can be dated to the first half of 1910.

The movement stamped No.A.10-2321-0 ‘SYSTÈMÉ BTÉ GDG DÈPOSÉ “PENDULE 400 JOURS” PARIS, with the Claude Grivolas crossed CG on the back plate, the year running movement is of the highest quality, the pendulum can be adjusted for time keeping with a key. The gilded four glass case is flanked by Corinthian columns with pin hinged doors to the front and back. The pristine enamel dial with blue Roman hours and Arabic minute ring is also signed by the maker, held within a gilded bezel with gilded fleur de lis and spear hands.

Claude (Agricole-Louis) Grivolas was French engineer, investor, mechanic and inventor, watch and barometer producer. Born in Avignon in 1855 into a middle-class family. He followed evening classes from the community and eventually became an engineer.

He married in 1878 and it was during his honeymoon that he met Louis-Clément Breguet at the World's Fair in Paris . Louis Breguet, previously a manufacturer of watches and precision instruments, would have the concession for France to produce Bell telephones. He commissioned Grivolas to build four telephone systems between the office of the Prefect of Vaucluse and his services.

After these first successful encounters, Claude Grivolas received a bronze medal at the World Exhibition of Electricity in 1881 for the invention of the "télécinémomètre", a device that gives the height of the level of a river or lake. In 1882 he founded the Appareillage Electrique Grivolas . He received over 50 patents (including a bayonet lock). In 1889 he was responsible for all electrical systems at the World's Fair and became friends with Gustave Eiffel. Claude Grivolas was also an important shareholder in the "Compagnie des Phonographes, Cinématographes et Appareils de Précision" a company owned by the brothers Pathé and Pierre-Victor Continsouza. Grivolas invented the first projector with three-dimensional images. In addition to his electrical patents, he also received various Swiss patents for small watches such as Patent No. 42,564 and for annual watches no. 42560, no. 43059 and no. 50578. There is also an American patent 937,792 for his annual clock. This annual clock was made by the company C. Grivolas & Cie. Grivolas was also a professional amateur magician.

Claude Grivolas died in 1938 , probably in St.-Claude.

All of our clocks come with a 2 year guarantee, all of our clocks are overhauled and sympathetically restored, all of our clocks are authentic and supplied in good original condition.