3 museums, 3 cities, 3 prestigious pieces for a new project of the ASSOCIATION AUTOMATES & MERVEILLES
The Musée international d'horlogerie de La Chaux-de-Fonds, the Musée d'art et d'histoire de Neuchâtel and the Musée d'horlogerie du Locle – Château des Monts continued their collaboration and are pooling their respective know-how for the safeguarding of a watchmaking heritage.
The three works selected by the museums have parallels which, when combined, increase the pertinence of the restoration projects:
- the planetary clock by François Ducommun from the Musée international d'horlogerie;(MIH)
- the singing gbird pendulum clock by Pierre Jaquet-Droz from the Musée d’horlogerie du Locle, Château des Monts (MHL)
- the astronomical clock by Albert Billeter from the Musée d’art et d’histoire de Neuchâtel (MAHN)
This new project by the "Automates et Merveilles" Association can only be conceived of as a whole.
- Works by Neuchâtel clockmakers (Ducommun, Jaquet-Droz et Billeter)
- Unique pieces with considerable value in terms of heritage, all three dating from the first half of the 19th century ème siècle
- Each is part of the permanent collection on show to the general public in its respective museum
- They are all referenced and described in Alfred Chapuis "Histoire de la Pendulerie neuchâteloise" (History of Neuchâtel clockmaking).
- They are in a good state of preservation, requiring targeted interventions.
- The 4-link chains, key components of the Pierre Jaquet-Droz musical pendulum clock from MHL, are typical of this clockmaker's work in that they feature a large barrel to provide the force required for their operation (music and automata). The study and manufacture of these chains is a shared goal, as all three institutions own works by Jaquet-Droz.
