One-Handed Pendule Religieuse Clock

This very early example of a pendule religieuse clock has an hour hand but no minute hand. While the pendulum mechanism made to-the-minute accuracy possible, not all clockmakers (or clock owners) believed that level of precision was necessary or even preferable. The dial plate is covered in vivid tortoiseshell.

Claude Pascal was a prolific clock and watchmaker in The Hague, the Netherlands. Salomon Coster (1620–1659) worked there at the same time. He fabricated the first pendulum clock to Christiaan Huygens’ specifications. After Coster’s death, Huygens entrusted at least six pendulum clock orders for Parisian clients to Pascal. Such an assignment from the famous Huygens was quite an honor.