Horlogerie, Melle

The ghost signs on this building just opposite the covered market of Melle in the French département of Deux-Sèvres have faded so much they are barely noticeable. Watchmaking and agricultural machinery may be an odd combination but I suppose both involved cogwheels, springs and the like, albeit on a different scale.

Horlogerie
Machines agricoles
The font used for the upper sign is more artistic and somehow similar to the one used to promote the vanneur (basket maker) of Cognac (fourth picture from the end of the post)


For the lower sign, a straighter font with a more modern feel was used. One possibility is that it was painted at a later date, when the watchmakers extended their business to agricultural machinery.

Location: Place du marché, Melle, Deux-Sèvres / Picture taken on: 05/10/2008