Ferdinand Berthoud and Balthazar Lieutaud. A Louis XVI ormolu mounted ebony veneered month-going equation longcase clock, Paris, circa 1770

9-inch enamel dial signed Ferdinand Berthoud, annual calendar at XII, blued steel sweep seconds hand, blued steel mean minutes hand, finely pierced and engraved gilt hands for solar minutes and hours, the movement with weight-driven five wheel time train, Graham's dead beat escapement with maintaining power, fine beat adjustment on the crutch, the grid-iron pendulum of nine brass and steel bars, with temperature arc and massive lenticular bob oscillating against an engraved beat plaque, suspended from a knife-edge secured to the backboard,  five wheel striking train with spring barrel, double twelve hour outside cout wheel striking on a bell, the calendar and equation kidney geared from the spring barrel and concealed beneath the dial plate, the backplate cut for removal of the pallets and signed Ferdiand Berthoud A Paris, the case surmounted by a gilt ball and wings above finely chased acanthus corners framing the bezel, glazed trunk door, the plinth set with a star, the rear stamped twice B Lieutaud

Dial has chips around both winding holes but otherwise good. Movement is complete and retains the original wheelwork throughout but is very much in need of a clean, pendulum in good condition. Case in generally good original condition with some old losses to veneers, chips and cracks throughout. With brass-cased weight, winder and 2 case keys.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. All dimensions in catalogue descriptions are approximate. Condition reports may not specify mechanical replacements or imperfections to the movement, case, dial, pendulum, separate base(s) or dome. Watches in water-resistant cases have been opened to examine movements but no warranties are made that the watches are currently water-resistant. Please note that we do not guarantee the authenticity of any individual component parts, such as wheels, hands, crowns, crystals, screws, bracelets and leather bands, since subsequent repairs and restoration work may have resulted in the replacement of original parts. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue. In particular, please note it is the purchaser's responsibility to comply with any applicable import and export matters, particularly in relation to lots incorporating materials from endangered species.NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

**Please be advised that bands made of materials derived from endangered or otherwise protected species (i.e. alligator and crocodile) are not sold with the watches and are for display purposes only. We reserve the right to remove these bands prior to shipping.

Important Notice regarding importation into the United States of Rolex watches
Sotheby's cannot arrange for the delivery of Rolex watches to the United States because U.S. laws restricts the import of Rolex watches. The buyer or a designated agent may collect the property in the country of sale."

This very stylish longcase clock forms part of a distinguished group of clocks documenting the splendid collaboration between the celebrated clockmaker Ferdinand Gerthoud and the great ébéniste Balthazar Lieutaud. Most of which are today housed in the finest museums around the world.

Other Longcase Clocks by Ferdinand Berthoud and stamped by Lieutaud:
- A similar clock with virtually identical dial and movement is in the Wallace Collection, London, Fig. 1, and is described in great detail and compared with this clock in P.Hughes, The Wallace Collection, Catalogue of Furniture, London 1996, Vol. I, P.444-451.

- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (W. Rieder, The Jack and Belle Linsky Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1984, pp. 243-244), ebony case, previously from the collection of Mrs. Jacques Balsan, then Thelma Chrysler Foy, sold Parke-Bernet, New York, 13, 15 and 16 May 1959, lot 352.

- Formerly the collection of the Earls of Stair, Loching Castle, Fig.2, having been inherited through the 10th Earl of Stairs' marriage in 1846 to Louisa Jane Henrietta Emily de Franquetot, eldest daughter of Auguste-Louis-Joseph-Casimir-Gustave, duc de Coigny, sold in these Rooms, 6^th July 2011, lot 27 for 421,250 GBP.

- Hillwood Museum, Washington, D.C., collection of Mrs. Post, bought in 1956 at French and Co., New York, possibly that formerly from the collection of Prince Paar of Vienna, sold in these Rooms, 8 May 1912, lot 113, tulipwood case.

- Frick Collection, New York (T. Dell, The Frick Collection, an illustrated catalogue, Princeton, 1992, V, pp. 314 - 332), formerly from the collection Feyt, Paris, 1790, and the collection of the Vicomte de Saint Georges, the mounts signed and dated Caffieri 1767.

- Museum at chateau de Versailles, formerly the collection of Thomas de Pange, sold 5 March 1781, lot 134, then the collection of the duc de Noailles, seized during the Revolution in 1793.

-Hermitage Museum, Moscow, ebony case with a five-pointed star to the plinth as the present example.

Ferdinand Berthoud (1727-1807)
Ferdinand Berthoud was born in Placement, near Couvet about twelve miles south-west of Le Locle. His father, Jean Berthoud, was an architect and judiciary. In 1741 he was bound over to his brother, Jean-Henri, with whom he served a three year apprenticeship before leaving for Paris where it is thought he worked for a period of time with the great horologist, Julien LeRoy (1686-1759). By 1752, at the age of twenty-five, Berthoud had made a clock with perpetual calendar that also indicated mean and solar time; this he was asked to present to the Académie des Sciences who greatly approved of it. By this very early stage in his life Berthoud had established himself as a highly acclaimed horologist. His output of clocks, watches and marine chronometers was astonishing, as was his insatiable appetite for writing on the subject. On 24 July 1764 he was appointed Horologer Mécanicien de sa Majesté et de la Marine ayant l'inspection de la construction des horologes Marines with an annual stipend of 3,000 livres that had increased to 7,000 by 1782. The position was of considerable importance at a time when the race to construct a timepiece capable of finding longitude at sea was the social and political talk of all western Europe. From 1766 he designed all marine clocks and watches used on the King's ships. In 1766 he was appointed a member of the Royal Society of London and later a Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur. In 1786 he was a member of the commission to establish a Royal clock factory and in 1793 made a member of the Temporary Commission for the Arts.
Berthoud's writings covered more than 4,000 quarto pages with more than 120 engraved plates from drawings by his own hand; his most important works included: Essai sur l'Horlogerie (1763), Traits des Horloges Marines (1773), De la Measure du Temps (1787) and Histoire de la Measure du Temps par les Horloges (1802). Berthoud specialized in making complicated astronomical timepieces, he made comparatively few regulateurs de parquet in his lifetime and perhaps only as many as 30-40 watches a year. All his clocks and watches were at the cutting edge of horological innovation and as with all great clockmakers he was not only an inventor and clockmaker but he also possessed a creative and artistic eye.
He had the cases for his clocks made by the cabinet-makers Petit, Duhamel, Joseph, Cressent and particularly by Lieutaud. The bronziers Martincourt, Osmond, Saint-Germain and particularly Caffieri supplied him with clock cases as well as bronze mounts.

Balthazar Lieutaud (ca. 1720-1780)
Son of the ébéniste Charles Lieutaud, maker of clocks and part of the privileged enclosure of Saint-Jean de Latran, Balthazar Lieutaud became maitre on 20 March 1749. Living on the Ile de la Cité in the rue de la Pelleterie, and in 1772 in the rue d'Enfer, Balthazar Lieutaud regularly worked for the clock-makers Viger, Baillon, Dutertre, Balthazard, Voisin, Gudin, Lepaute, Robin, etc. It appears that Berthoud commissioned Lieutaud to make several longcase clock cases, of which the clockmaker was possibly  the owner of the design. He worked with Caffieri, but also with the bronziers Charles Grimpelle and Edme Roy. After his death in 1780 his wife continued the atelier until 1784.