Have you ever seen this clock in the streets of Paris? Its details have intrigued for 650 years....

The oldest clock in Paris

650 years is a long time... This impressive clock was actually commissioned by King Charles V in 1371! Despite this, it still works today and continues to tell the time to curious passers-by who come to admire it. Its location in Paris is no coincidence either: in the Middle Ages, the Conciergerie was the palace of the kings of France !

Today, the artefact is so inseparable from its location that the tower housing it is called "the clock tower" and the street on which it stands is called "the clock quay".

Have you noticed these details?

We're losing our Roman

If there's one detail that really catches the eye, it's the number 4. Usually written "IV" in Roman numerals, it's found here in the form "IIII". This is what is known as the "watchmaker's four", which was used on clocks before the 15th century foraesthetic reasons, but also to avoid confusing the 4 and 6, respectively IV and VI, which are displayed upside down on clocks.

Letters of nobility

If you look closely under the small roof of the clock, you will notice the letters H and C intertwined, as well as the letters H and M. These are in fact the initials ofHenri II and Catherine de Médicis and Henri IV and Marguerite de Valois, who in turn restored and redecorated the clock over the course of history.

Pimp my clock

Henri III also redesigned the clock, giving it much of the appearance we know today. It was he who added the two small statues (the work of the sculptor Germain Pilon) that frame the dial and represent law (on the left) and justice (on the right). The phrase in Latin above, which means "He who has already given him two crowns will give him a third", is an allusion to the three crowns he wore: those of France, Poland and Lithuania.