Saint-Nicolas-d'Aliermont Origins
Duverdrey & Bloquel grew from Albert Villon's nineteenth-century workshop and became a major alarm-clock producer in Saint-Nicolas-d'Aliermont. The company used the Bayard name from the early twentieth century and later built enormous movement-production capacity.
The Wooden Chess Clock
A surviving wooden chess clock appears to use two separate D&B/Bayard-family alarm movements. Paired dials, fall flags, and a top control adapt domestic alarm technology for competitive chess.
Attribution Limit
The movement attribution is stronger than the complete-clock attribution. The evidence does not yet establish who made the wooden case, switching system, or marketed the finished timer.
The Later Bayard Clock
A later chess clock makes the connection explicit: Bayard appears on both dials, alongside chess imagery and 'Made in France.' Its plated case and consumer-product presentation differ sharply from the earlier wooden assembly.
Historical Significance
The two clocks form a cautious continuum. They show Bayard-family mechanics entering chess timing and later a dedicated Bayard-branded product, but should not be presented as an uninterrupted documented model sequence without further factory evidence.