Honore Pons was a well known maker of French movements who worked both in Paris & Saint Nicolas d’Aliermont. He was brought to the latter in 1806 by the French Minister of the Interior to try and help the dying industry, his arrival being mentioned in the Tribune Chronometrique saying before his arrival clock movements were badly made. Pons turned this around and it is largely due to him that France was to have such a successful export trade in clocks. The Tribune goes on to say that since 1830 the blancs-roulants (rough movements made to be finished by the clockmaker) produced under the influence of Pons had been constantly improved with clocks made by him well ahead of those made by others.
Saint Nicolas d’Aliermont was the centre of French clock movement manufacture in the 18th & 19th centuries but after the French Revolution and the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805 the industry was in a precarious position. It was at this point the Prefet sent the message to the Minister asking that someone of knowledge of more up to date methods in clockmaking be sent to help. This was when the young master horologist Honore Pons was called upon. The son of a musical maker from Grenoble, he had learned his trade in Paris and was especially conversant with the methods of the famous clockmaking firm of Lepaute. He formed a guild, Fabrique d’Horologerie de Saint Nicolas d’Ailermont which he ran and which helped improve the overall quality of manufacture amongst the clockmakers of the area. His movements won him Silver Medals in 1819 and 1823 and Gold Medals in 1827 and 1834. For his services to the French horological industry he was awarded the Legion d’Honneur.
