Time Peace

Friday 24 August 2018

A Jersey artist is elated a work he’s created to "mark the time" when the Great War came to an end is to go on show at one of France’s most important World War I museums.

Mike Etienne’s ‘Observations of Time – The Armistice Watch’ is to go on display at the Armistice Museum in Compiègne, just to the north east of Paris, in October.

“The tie-in couldn’t be better,” says Mr Etienne, as he goes on to explain, “this museum is the site where 100 years ago this November, the armistice – the deal – ending the First World War was signed, in effect bringing almost five years of carnage to an end.”

The armistice signed by France’s Marshal Foch, Britain’s First Sea Lord Admiral Wemyss, and a German politician and three military representatives, took place in a railway carriage. Just over 20 years later, in an act of revenge, Hitler made the French sign their surrender in World War II in the same carriage. It was later put on show in Berlin, and then in the closing stages of the war blown up, so that Germany couldn’t be made to surrender in it again. Today there’s a replica in the museum at Compiègne.

Pictured: The artwork has taken Mr Etienne three years to design and build.

As Mr Etienne explains his work, it becomes apparent how much thought has gone into it, and how much ‘hidden history’ it contains. Like any good work of art, the more you look, the more you see.

In essence, the work is an oversized wristwatch. They were becoming increasing popular at the time since they were more robust and accessible, as well as more accurate and easier to ‘read’ than the previously more popular pocket watch. Getting the time right was essential if attacks were to be synchronised.

The watch itself is made from a 1916 shell. The ‘strap’ is a hoop of galvanized steel, covered in leather from one of Mr Etienne’s old jackets, and the whole piece is mounted on a wooden plinth made from a felled ash that once stood in the grounds of Mr Etienne’s parents’ home. Even this is symbolic, as Mr Etienne points out: “It reflects the Ash to Ashes associated with death”.

The rear of the shell case – ‘the watch’ – is engraved with mirror writing so that when it’s reflected in the steel watchstrap, key dates related to the war can be seen. That watchstrap is also engraved with rows of crosses reflecting the cemeteries that are so often associated with the carnage, and rows of barbed wire. The watch is secured to the base with old clockwork parts demonstrating the mechanics of time.

Pictured: The 'watch' is a shell with key dates on in mirror writing can be read as a reflection in the 'strap' which is a band of stainless steel.

However, it’s the parchment watch face that’s the most complex aspect of the work. As you might expect, the hands are frozen at 11:00 – the armistice came into effect at 11 o’clock on the 11th day of the 11th month (November) 1918. That relevance is emphasised by cut outs in the face showing XI and Nov on the 11 o’clock diagonal.

The chapter ring is marked out in minutes. Most of those minutes are marked off in black, but the minutes from 12 to 20 are in red. That’s because the armistice signing took place between 05:12 and 05:18, with the meeting finishing at 05:20. Four luminous dots again highlight the timing of the signing and implementation of the ceasefire. And yet more markings link 1918 and 2018.

Mr Etienne has put a lot of time into the work – he estimates around three years of thought went into the initial sketches, which were modified and adapted as the project evolved – and that the actual construction took about a month.

It’s not clear how long the work will be on display in France or what its long-term future is, but Mr Etienne is keen for as many people as possible to see it and would like to show it locally.