Auguste-Lucien Vérité

A brilliant, self-taught clockmaker, mathematician, and engineer, Auguste-Lucien Vérité was an unassuming artisan from Beauvais who had a brief but spectacular period of his career making astronomical clocks. How about we get to know this extraordinary creator of timepieces ?

A genius in the making

The son of a wood sculptor, Auguste-Lucien Vérité was born in the French city of Beauvais in 1806. From a very early age, he took an interest in how clock mechanisms work and their geometry.

In 1824, he established his career as a clockmaker. From the very beginning, he made a name for himself by modifying the Graham escapement, eliminating the pallet fork and reversing the anchor. Vérité went on to apply his innovation to several luxury clocks. Four years later, in his hometown, he opened a shop selling watches and optical devices.

Horloge astronomique, mécanisme interne
© Alain Lonchampt / Centre des monuments nationaux

Self-taught and proud of it

Vérité was described by his contemporaries as being from another world or being like a time traveller because of his brilliance and his obsession with clockmaking.

While self-taught, he received numerous awards for his high-precision timepieces, notably including a medal at the world’s fair in Paris in 1855.

From 1856 onward, he worked and conducted research with M. Lucas. He also frequently corresponded with a number of his peers, exchanging techniques and perspectives in order to improve his working methods. Among his most notable creations, he developed a system to synchronise all of the clocks at the Gare du Nord train station in Paris using electromagnetic impulses. Such a system had previously been described by Léon Foucault, but Auguste-Lucien Vérité was the first person to put it into practice.

In addition to his timepiece designs, Vérité was responsible for advancements in the synchronisation of clocks using electricity, with his inventions put into practice as early as 1863. As such, he is considered one of the pioneers of electric clock design.

Astronomical clocks: a brief but spectacular period of Vérité’s career

Beginning in 1844, Vérité took an interest in astronomical clocks. He created his first one in 1855 for the Château de Frocourt.

In 1858, he was commissioned by Archbishop Mathieu to create a new astronomical clock for Besançon Cathedral. Following that success, he responded to a call for tenders issued by the bishop of Beauvais in 1865 for the creation of an astronomical clock for the city’s cathedral.
After those three creations, he gave up making astronomical clocks to focus on his clock shop in Beauvais.

He died on 19 July 1887 at the age of 81.