For those who really loved the film Hugo, but in particular the ethereal hypnotic presence of the Automaton, I really was enchanted by his mechanical beauty and did a little research.
A large inspiration behind the book, then film was this automaton:
Maillardet's automaton, built by Henri Maillardet.
Which then led to finding out about the Jaquet-Droz automata. They are still working and draw pictures, and are on display in Switzerland.
Pierre Jaquet-Droz was a Swiss watchmaker and built the dolls to help him sell watches, but I really do think his mechanical bird music boxes are so wonderful, such an intricate attention to detail, full of old world charm. If you are into such intricacies, Jaquet-Droz have their own Youtube channel which is full of delightful videos.
Here is a link to a great article and video about his music boxes, gif below swiped from that source :)
Pics from sources linked
Enjoy!
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