the Drocourt timepiece movement with trademark and numbered 20575, the black ground enamel side panels painted with putti and the glazed circular dial with Roman numerals and the signature 'A. ECALLE / PARIS', the elborate case finely cast and chased, applied to the canted corners with openwork scrolls below rams' heads and above grotesque mask panel feet, applied with a further mask to the rim front and back, decorated overall with bead-and-rail borders, formal foliage and cartouches, the swing handle formed as a pair of entwined snakes, with its blue velvet travelling case (distressed) opening from the back panel on sprung hinges, clock 8.5cm high excluding handle

Auguste Ecalle, known for chronometry and precision timekeepers and Dent’s Paris agent, was located at the Palais Royal (93-94 Galerie Beaujolais) circa 1880 to about 1895. In the early 1890s the firm had expanded into jewellery, migrating later in the decade to the 8^th arrondissement, part of the jewellery and watchmaker exodus from the Palais Royal.