Balthazar Martinot

Balthazar Martinot (1636–1714) was a French clockmaker, and valet de chambre of the Queen and the King.

Unlike his father, Balthazar Martinot worked in Paris from circa 1660, where he was established at rue Galande in 1683 and Quai des Orfèvres in 1697.

An inventory of 1700 revealed that he held the largest stock of clocks in Paris, while five years previously he had organized a significant lottery in association with his colleague, Nicholas Gribelin.

His clocks were not only of the very finest quality but were also housed in exceptionally beautiful cases; notably those made by Jean-Michel Ziegler and André-Charles Boulle.

[4] The clock had been given as a wedding gift by King Louis XIV of France to Joseph I of Portugal and taken to Brazil in 1808 along with the Portuguese royal family.

A clock made by Balthazar Martinot, 1678
Coat of arm of the family of the clockmakers Martinot [ 1 ] .