The Maison Alcée Percée, A Fantastic Build-It-Yourself Mechanical Table Clock

Professional clockmaking tools for use by neophytes

In keeping with the complexity of clockmaking, which has been called “the profession of a thousand tools”, the Maison Alcée set contains everything required for the assembly of the Persée desk clock: a clockmaker’s magnifying glass, tweezers, four screwdrivers, finger cots, a membrane case, a chamois cloth, a small oiler, and more.

Some of these tools have been specially adapted to facilitate their use by neophytes.

Take delivery of a finely-crafted set comprising all 233 components of your desk clock’s movement
and externals, all the tools you need, and a beautiful book
to guide you during assembly of your timepiece – your very own handiwork.

The components of your luxury desk clock are made to the highest quality standards in the Jura Arc region straddling France and Switzerland.

Maison Alcée’s mission is to enable you to take a pride in your watchmaking masterwork.

The design is very modern, with a circular base and top and a vertical movement construction.
The materials used are steel, brass, aluminum and so on.

The finishing is very high, and includes brushing, polishing, edge chamfering, sandblasting and more, performed by Thierry Ducret.
The clock is 160 mm tall with a diameter of 10 cm and a total weight of 900 grams. It can be assembled in both vertical and horizontal orientation.
It basically displays the hours and minutes, but you can upgrade it to include a striking mechanism, where a spring-loaded hammer strikes a bell every hour.

An initiatory book

Each case contains an artistic book that tells the tale of centuries-old clockmaking know-how.

This beautifully written hundred-and-fifty-page work, a handbook for the clockmaking apprentice, is not just a user manual: it is an integral part of the set and the experience.

It not only contains instructions for assembling the table clock and distinguishing among the some hundred tools and components (bridges, baseplates, keys, dome, etc.) throughout the process.

It also embarks the reader on the discovery of clockmaking history and savoir-faire through a number of authentic anecdotes.

In today’s day and age, it’s easy to forget that the wrist-worn timekeeping devices we love so much come from a long history of clockmaking.

After all, clockmaking precedes watchmaking by several centuries, as the first mechanical clocks date back to the 13th century.

But even before that, people were fascinated by the passing of time and tried making sense of it through sundials, water clocks and hourglasses.

With the rise of wristwatches in the early 1900s, and especially after the invention of quartz and digital clocks and watches, the need for traditional mechanical clocks slowly started to dwindle, to a point where it’s often overlooked nowadays.

One such offering comes from Maison Alcée, a young independent clockmaking start-up from France.

And best of all, you can build the high-end Maison Alcée Percée clock in the comfort of your own home!

Three distinct colorways; the Percée Douce with soft pink elements, the Percée Azur with blue components, and the Percée Nuit with a black PVD-coated frame and components.

Each watch comes in a beautifully packaged kit, ready for the buyer to assemble.
The whole concept is aimed at providing a more tangible experience and emotion in buying and owning a high-end watch, while allowing you to build it yourself with confidence.

Maison Alcée is founded by Alcée Montfort, a young lady from France with a background in fabrics working for Hermès, and working for Cartier and TAG Heuer working behind the scenes in the watchmaking industry.

It was during her time with TAG Heuer that she was ignited by the passion of watchmakers around her for the craft, urging her to pursue a lifelong dream of rethinking a luxury experience into something you can do for yourself, but on a proper luxury level.

Over 95% of the products are made in the Swiss-French Jura Arc region.
50 pieces have already been sold in less than a year.
A new series of 100 is in production.

Along with her husband, Benoît, Alcée started to work on what would become Maison Alcée, which can be best described as a high-end DIY clockmaking company in the spirit of an independent watchmaking atelier.

Through the help of Thierry Ducret, watchmaker and teacher at the Lycée Edgar Faure in Morteau, the Percée table clock eventually came to life.

An unprecedented clockmaking experience

Maison Alcée proposes an unprecedented clockmaking experience: the assembly of a table clock, presented in a solid wood case.

When an owner lifts the lid on this finely crafted solid wood case, they can be sure they will experience what Maison Alcée promises: the joy of creating something and coming as close as possible to capturing the craftsman’s skill and its full meaning.

From start to finish, it is said to take around ten hours in total, during which you will not only build the base and frame of the watch, but also the complete movement.
One of the few things already assembled is the Percée’s regulating organ, which would be too delicate to make yourself.

Of the 233 total components, you will assemble 169 from start to finish.
The clock operates at a frequency of 18,000 vibrations per hour, and has a power reserve of 2 weeks.

The design of the Percée is very modern, with a circular base and top, and a vertical movement construction.

The materials used for the clock are similar to the ones found in watch movements, with steel, brass, aluminium and so on.

The finishing is outstanding and includes brushing, polishing, chamfering on the edges, sandblasting and more, done by Thierry Ducret.

The clock is 160mm in height with a 10cm diameter and a total weight of 900 grams.

It can be assembled in both a vertical and a horizontal orientation, as there are a pair of stoppers to prevent it from rolling off your desk should you choose the latter.

The base clock shows you the hours and minutes, but you can upgrade it to include a chiming mechanism as well, where a spring-loaded hammer strikes a bell every hour.

Along with the complete kit to build the Percée table clock, you will receive all the tools needed to assemble it, as well as a very detailed instruction booklet that will also guide you through the history of the clocks and access to in-depth videos on the various key steps.

Maison Aclée offers the Percée in three distinct colourways; the Percée Douce with soft-pink elements, the Percée Azur with blue components and the Percée Nuit with a black PVD-coated frame and components.

Each clock comes in a neatly packaged kit, ready to be assembled by you.

The whole concept aims to give a more tangible experience and emotion into buying and owning a high-end timepiece, by allowing you to safely build it yourself.

Each clock is pre-built by Maison Alcée before being shipped to ensure that it works perfectly and that no part is damaged or deformed.

It was designed in collaboration with Antoine Tschumi (a Swiss timepiece designer), Thierry Ducret (a French watchmaker with the title “Meilleur Ouvrier de France”), and the watchmaking professors of the prestigious Ecole de Morteau in French Jura, who are well-acquainted with the difficulties that their first-year students encounter. Only the regulating organ is pre-assembled.

Technical specifications – Maison Alcée Persée clock