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Serial Number: PW 0015
Subcategory: Pocket Watch
Status: Display
Description:
Robert Houdin pocket watch
1850
Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin (December 7, 1805 – June 13, 1871) was a French magician. He is widely considered the father of the modern style of conjuring.
Robert-Houdin was born Jean-Eugène Robert in Blois, France, on 6 December 1805—a day after his autobiography said he was. His father, Prosper Robert, was a watchmaker in Blois. Jean-Eugene s mother, the former Marie-Catherine Guillon, died when he was just a young child. At the age of eleven, Prosper sent his son Jean-Eugène to school thirty-five miles up the Loire to the University of Orléans. At 18, he graduated and returned to Blois. His father wanted him to be a lawyer,[3] but Robert-Houdin wanted to follow into his father s footsteps as a watchmaker.
His penmanship was excellent, and it landed him a job as a clerk for an attorney s office. Instead of studying law, he tinkered with mechanical gadgets. His employer sent him back to his father. He was told that he was better suited as a watchmaker than a lawyer, but by then, Jean s father had already retired, so he became an apprentice to his cousin who had a watch-shop. For a short time, Jean-Eugène worked as a watchmaker.
