The Changing Face of the Clock in Loches

1912 design for the clock face.

The clock on the Porte Picois in Loches came from the Convent Church of the Chartreuse du Liget. It was removed from there in 1791, seized as a national asset during the Revolution. It was then installed in the south face of the belfry of the Porte Picois (the one facing inside the walls and towards the citadel) in 1794 and remained there until 1946. By that time it was in a very poor state and was retired to a visible storage display in the town hall next door. The local master horologist Gilles Vassort spent 95 hours restoring it in 1995. Also at some point in the second half of the 20th century the clock face was dismantled and replaced by face identical to the modern one currently on the opposite side, which is white numbers on a slate background.

The clock face, January 2021.

The Médiatheque du Patrimoine (Heritage Library) holds drawings for a restoration project in 1912. At this point it seems to me likely that a copy of the Liget clock face was installed on the Marché du blé side (north, wheat market side) of the tower. From photographs we know it was still there in 1949. But the records are frustratingly vague about when changes occurred, and which versions of the clock faces are being used. I find myself wondering if the clock face we see today is the original from the Chartreuse du Liget, or a recreation from 1912. Either way, it seems extraordinary to expose it to the elements, especially as the decision was taken to remove the original wooden statue of the Madonna in the niche below and put it in the gallery attached to Saint Antoine's for safekeeping. The statue in the niche now is a modern copy.

Clock tower, January 2021.

Clock tower photographed in 2013.

The bigger picture.

I notice the master horologist's workshop in Loches has a panel in the same pattern as the clock face.

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UPDATE -- RESPONSE TO COMMENTS

chm -- I don't know if the four winds are meant to be a Biblical reference or not.

Potty -- very nice old hands, aren't they?!