Background
De Vick Hendrik was born either in Wurttemberg, Germany or in Vic, near Chateau-Salins, Lorraine, in the 14th century.
Career
About 1360 or somewhat later King Charles V of France called him to Paris to make a tower clock for the Royal Palace, now the Palais de Justice. He took eight years to make and install it, during which time he lodged in the tower. The clock has been renovated and repaired, most recently in 1852. According to Julien Le Roy (1686-1759), who examined the clock while it was running in its original form, the dial had but one hand, the hours were struck on a bell, and there were no automata. It was regulated by shifting the weights on each end of the balance and kept time within a not very accurate range of two hours a day. A 500-pound (227-kg) weight was used to power the time train, and one of 1,500 pounds (680 kg) was used for the strike. De Vick's clock, being mechanically controlled, self-contained, and driven by the fall of weights, did not differ greatly in principle from modern mechanisms.
