A Fine & Rare Perpetual Calendar Clock by Samuel Marti - featuring the rare bissextile (Leap Year status) marker.
Housed within a superb Tri-form serpentine scrolled slate case with marble inlay and Egyptian revival decoration, Circa 1875.

Two piece white enamelled dial with Roman numerals and visible jewelled Brocot escapement.

Lower left dial being the calendar dial with subsidiary dials for Day, Date, Month and a rare Bissextile dial showing the Leap Year status, complete with Moonphase

(Images were taken on Monday 19th March and as you can see the clock dials correctly show the day, date, month along with the current moon status which was a Waxing Gibbons 5% moon right side).

The calendar is geared to move at midnight directly from February 28th and passes through the 29th, 30th and 31st directly to the 1st of March and when bissextile (Leap Year) occurs it follows to the 1st of March the same but from February 29th...all in all a very very rare and complex mechanism.

To the Lower left is the Aneroid Barometer and temperature dial which works correctly.

Samuel Marti was one of the most prolific of French makers of the mid 1800s and was known to be working circa 1860 at Le Pays de Montbeliard, Paris making roulant blancs.

 Along with Japy Freres and Roux they set up a business in 1863 to market their movements to such firms as L'Epee. Their Paris address was Rue Vieille-du-Temple from 1870.

The movement is stamped for Samuel Marti, numbered '20736' which strikes the hours and half’s on a gong and is complete with a compensating mercury pendulum.

It stands a staggering 52cm in Height.

The clock keeps perfect time and is one of the biggest calendar clocks of this style you will see.

* There is a vertical crack in the barometer/ thermometer glass