i’ve always had this thing about being alone. not in a scary-dark-room kind of way but more in a lack of presence kind of way; just the sound of someone around, going about their business. i think it’s a left-over from my boarding school days.
this is how my appreciation for clocks started. mind you not just any kind, i adore those mechanically driven furishings. a sundail is too static but the meditative movement of the pendulum seems to comfort my inner turbulance. i spent a lot of time studying and restoring clocks, always having the claustrophobic concept of time on my mind. like the ever present gravity that keeps them going, the beat and tick of eternity passing they keep watch on our life and times. the analogies are so simplistic but true; its chime each time a reminder of the presence of the present passing into the past. my romantic notions on the subject remains as i recall a quote from the movie ‘meet joe black’ when claire forlani shows brad pitt the regulator clock in the library: ´its so accurate…you can set your heart by it´
hall clocks, bracket clocks and mantle clocks all the same have evolved from functionality into decoration with the popularity of quartz accuracy and became battery driven. there were two specific things from my youth i remember struggling with, especially since i thought myself quite bright from the earliest age. the first was tying my laces. i developed the most concocted way to give the appearance of a bow-like knot. the other quite disconcertingly happened to be my inability to read analogue clocks. their mysteriousness bordered on magic to me and astounded by this i set myself about learning their every bit; i eventually got the knack of it to my father’s great relief.
having given enough personal background, you may now imagine my elation at finding a contemporary clockmaker as enamoured with pendulums and aesthetics as i am - UTINAM Besançon.
their recent range of editioned clocks designed by philippe lebru celebrates the mechanics of time in a modern version of the popular skeleton clock by exposing the mechanism and creating a striking silhouette for the casing.
in my opinion the revival of functional deocorative objects is made richer by this striking animated design and to see its pendulum swing in mystical balance is a simple ritual of ancient proportion.