An audience clock, as its name suggests, was intended to be used for measuring the time granted for an audience, usually 10 minutes, with a dignitary, lawyer or high-ranking government official. The present clock is a particularly elegant and sophisticated example by the exceptionally talented French clockmaker Antide Janvier (1751-1835). Janvier's reputation is in some part due to the development of the so-called ‘audience’ clock which uses a 10-minute system. Janvier was a genius maker who, amongst many other things, was known for making clocks geared for the short-lived ‘Revolutionary’ decimal time system. Therefore the skills and special wheel systems used in producing decimal clocks were easily transferrable to the making of ‘audience’ clocks. Audience clocks such as the present clock do not display ‘Revolutionary’ time (which ceased in 1795) but instead combine both decimal and standard time in the same mechanism. The minute hand revolves every 10-minutes and the hour display revolves in the usual 12-hours. The case is of the present clock is of very high quality and is likely to have been made by Jean-Ferdinand Schwerdfeger (1734-1818). A former cabinetmaker to Marie-Antoinette, he was the preferred supplier to Antide Janvier. Upon the death of Schwerdfiger's wife, the inventory of his studio mentioned at least eight clock cases intended for Janvier.

Antide Janvier
Was born in a village in the Jura, and learned the basics of his trade from his father. He was educated in Latin, Greek, mathematics and astronomy by a local abbé. At age 15 he built an astronomical sphere which he presented to the Academy of Sciences of Besançon, which won him wide admiration, and he began his career as an apprentice watchmaker. Janvier gained a reputation as a maker of ingenious and complicated clocks, including many astronomical clocks and clocks showing the tides. He was also famous for his ‘double pendulum’ or ‘Resonance clocks’, which he was the first to make. He eventually became Louis XVI’s royal clockmaker. After the French Revolution he spent time in prison because of this royal association and then fell on hard times; his hardships were increased by the death of his wife in 1792. He sold his watches and equipment and designs to Abraham-Louis Breguet. Following the restoration of the monarchy under Charles X, he was awarded a small pension beginning in 1826, but died in poverty and obscurity.

Literature:
The present clock is illustrated and described in: ‘Antide Janvier - His Life Through his Work’, Michel Hayard, 2011, p. 273.