Electrical Mantel Clock

An important early electrical clock. The construction of this clock is of very high quality and the mechanism clever and ingenious. Two silver plaques are mounted on the base. The left reads, Electrique Systeme Jousselin and contains a bubble level for leveling the clock. The right plaque reads, No. 153, J. J. Emile Robert-Houdin Horloger, Paris, BD Haussmann.

Jousselin was known for his invention of a railway electric signaling system used to keep trains from colliding and it would appear that he also ventured into clockmaking, although there is no other example extant. He also sat on the Electrical Jury at the Paris Exposition of 1867.