HOMAGE TO AL JAZARI

Al-Jazari: a pioneering mind


With unrivalled creative genius and erudition, al-Jazari (1126-1206) gave life to the first known humanoid automata, water clocks and piston sets. As an inventor, he revolutionized engineering, hundreds of years before similar endeavours were carried out by like-minded polymaths of the Italian Cinquecento, or of the European Enlightenment period.

His masterpiece still stands as the most extraordinary creation in the history of automata and clockmaking. The so-called Elephant clock appears in the only known written testimony of al-Jazari's work, the Book of knowledge of ingenious mechanical devices. The enduring attraction of this fascinating clock is so compelling that modern replicas of it can be found all around the world: in the United Arab Emirates at the Ibn Battuta Centre of Dubai, in Germany at the Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science of Frankfurt, or in Switzerland at the Watch Museum of Le Locle, among many others.



Creative and surprising


As is the case of many other al-Jazari creations, this automaton-clock is an artwork in itself, its technical sophistication only equalled by its refined aesthetics. While most of al-Jazari’s automata serve a precise function, some of his inventions are simply playful and fun, following an aesthetics well-suited to the tradition of elegant hospitality and refined manners that were the fashion of his time.

The elephant automaton is a brilliant illustration of this guiding principle. Made following the ancestral clepsydra system, its mechanical features are set in motion by a steady stream of water. Hours appear at the top of the construction through a perforated arch, each opening filling with a different colour as time takes its course.

This unique automated figure derives its movements from a mechanism hidden inside the elephant. A sinking counterpoise which, once entirely submerged, sets in motion a mechanical sequence releasing a ball from the beak of a falcon, which then falls into the mouth of a dragon, which tilts down under its weight.

Once the dragon has reached its lowest point, it releases the ball into an urn, sounding the half-hour. Each repetition of this sequence colours one of the apertures on the pediment at the top of the tower.

At the top, perforated hour-symbolsset in a half-circle show the passing of hours.
This arch represents half a day (6am to 6pm, 6pm-6am).

Starting from the usual time of sunrise, the perforated hour-symbols at the top progressively turn to white, one half at a time: the first half of each opening changes colour during the first half-hour, and the second half at the end of the hour. As the night draws in, the colour white is progressively replaced by the colour black.

Each half-hour comes with an animated sequence: the left dragon slowly tilts back, as if it was a lever being pulled back. At the end of this sequence, it springs back to its original position, in a reinterpretation of the traditional watchmaking technique of the retrograde display.

The decoration of the watch, in the manner of the frontispiece of a luxurious palace, was inspired by the overall architecture of al-Jazari's masterpiece.
In order to make the watch easier to read, an aperture displaying the hours and a central hand showing the minutes have been added.