The Maison Alcée Percée, a fantastic DIY mechanical table clock

These days, it’s easy to forget that the wrist-worn timepieces we love come from a long history of watchmaking. After all, watchmaking precedes watchmaking by several centuries, as the first mechanical watches date back to the 13th century. But even before that, people were fascinated by the passage of time and tried to make sense of it using sundials, water clocks and hourglasses. With the advent of wristwatches in the early 20th century, and especially after the invention of quartz and digital watches, the need for traditional mechanical watches slowly began to wane, so much so that it is often overlooked today. However, for those who know where to look, there are still a surprising number of very beautiful and highly interesting mechanical watches out there. One such offer comes from Maison Alcée, a young independent watchmaking start-up from France. And best of all, you can build the high-quality Maison Alcée Percée clock from the comfort of your own home!

Alcée Montfort, founder of Maison Alcée.

Alcée Montfort and the Percée Douce.

Maison Alcée was founded by Alcée Montfort, a young lady from France with a background in textiles, who worked for Hermès and worked behind the scenes in the watch industry for Cartier and TAG Heuer. During her time at TAG Heuer, she was ignited by the passion for the craft of the watchmakers around her, pushing her to realize a lifelong dream: to reimagine a luxury experience into something you can make yourself, but at an appropriate level of luxury. Together with her husband Benoît, Alcée began work on what would become Maison Alcée, which is best described as a high-quality DIY watchmaking company in the spirit of an independent watch atelier. Thanks to the help of Thierry Ducret, watchmaker and teacher at the Lycée Edgar Faure in Morteau, the Percée table clock was finally created.

The design of the Percée is very modern, with a circular base and top and a vertical movement construction. The materials used for the watch are similar to those of watch movements: steel, brass, aluminum, etc. The finishing is excellent and includes brushing, polishing, edge chamfering, sandblasting and more, carried out by Thierry Ducret. The clock is 160mm high, 10cm in diameter and has a total weight of 900 grams. It can be mounted in both vertical and horizontal orientation as there are a pair of stoppers that prevent it from rolling off your desk, if you choose the latter. The basic clock shows you the hours and minutes, but you can also upgrade it with a striking mechanism, in which a spring-loaded hammer strikes a bell every hour.

Maison Aclée offers the Percée in three different color variations; 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 for you to assemble. The entire concept aims to make buying and owning a high-end watch more tangible and emotional by allowing you to confidently build it yourself.

From start to finish it should take a total of around ten hours, during which you will not only build the base and frame of the clock, but also the entire clockwork. One of the few things that comes fully assembled is the Percée’s regulating organ, which would be too delicate on its own. Of the 233 total components, you assemble 169 from start to finish. When all is said and done, the watch should run at a frequency of 18,000 vibrations per hour and last for two weeks when fully wound. If not, you can always rely on the Maison Alcée team.

Along with the complete kit to build your Percée table clock, you will receive all the necessary tools for assembly, as well as very detailed instructions that also walk you through the history of the clocks, and access to in-depth videos on the various key steps. Each watch is prefabricated by Maison Alcée before shipping to ensure that it works properly and that no parts are damaged or deformed.

Prices start at 5,500 euros for the Percée Douce, 5,900 euros for the Percée Azur you see here, and 6,900 euros for the Percée Nuit. You can also upgrade your Percée with the hour strike mechanism 1,400 euros and buy a watchmaker’s bench made of beech or oak wood 980 euros or 1,250 euros. Given the level of detail and high quality of the components and the entire kit, the price seems very fair.

It is very appealing to see such a passionate and young lady shedding light on this craft and offering something very modern that you can assemble yourself. It adds soul and even more emotion to owning such a piece, beyond anything you can put together straight away. And if I have just one piece of advice for you: should you think about buying a Percée watch? Choose the percussion! It will be an audible reminder of the extraordinary experience you had building your own Percée.

For more information about Maison Alcée and the Percée watch, visit Maison-Alcee.com.