C.1880, French, "Upside-Down Mystery" timepiece, held aloft by a patinated spelter statue of a lady looking pensively into a pond.

C.1880, French, "Upside-Down Mystery" timepiece, held aloft by a patinated spelter statue of a lady looking pensively into a pond. Condition: Overall very good condition, except that the suspension spring has been replaced and no longer has a "safety" catch to keep the arm from falling if the spring fails. By the length of the pendulum, you can see that it beats something around half seconds, and if the globe contained a small pendulum, it would run way to fast. Guilmet solved this problem, by designing a "compound rotary pendulum", suspended by an X-spring like a swinging arm clock utilizes. This is contained within the sphere and confounds the on-looker who is mystified as to how it could run, with the movement itself acting as the pendulum bob. There is no contact between the arm and the statue, below the suspension point. A bonus in this particular clock is the fancy champleve enamel applied to the ring surrounding the sphere. There is some loss of finish here and there on the spelter. Height 23.5 inches