4.07 – National Denominations

Last Update: 07-25-2022 @ 03:07

4.07 – National Denominations

NOTE: I am working on this section, some popups may be empty or have or will change places. Others may be added. The French version will follow later this autumn with the same adjustments. In the popups, the numeration is different from this page. It’s because I will eventually reorganize the entire site around an enhanced 2.0 version of the taxonomy of clocks. Other actual pages will also be transformed in the process. I am also working on a Glossary. Stay tuned! Comments are welcome!

Some countries have developed original clocks to which historians have given specific names. They are the subject of the seventh point of view of taxonomy. Often these clocks have given rise to currents or styles. Other countries have regained their shape and even their name, often through the interplay of imports and exports. We have chosen some crucial countries because of their clock industry presence in recent centuries.

4.07.1 – Typical German Clocks

4.07.2 – Typical American Clocks

The following clocks are ranked in chronological order with the year of production. It<s then easier to follow the evolution of the American clock market from the beginning. Click on each link for details.

4.07.3 – Typical Great-Britain Clocks

4.07.4 – Typical Austrian Clocks

4.07.5 – Typical Danish Clocks

4.07.6 – Typical French Clocks

4.07.7 – Typical Dutch Clocks

4.07.8 – Typical Swedish Clocks

4.07.9 – Typical Swiss Clocks

According to Alan Smith’s The International Dictionary of Clocks (1996), as early as the 16th century, Swiss watchmakers produced several sophisticated public tower astronomical clocks, some of them equipped with automatons. There are still some in Bern and Lucerne in particular. But they also produced domestic clocks in the 16th and early 17th centuries, most of which are now in museums. We will still note them among the typical Swiss clocks. We also know that Swiss watchmaking is best known for its precision watches.

Next Section: 4.08 – Specialty Clocks

Home » 4.00 – Taxonomy of Clocks » 4.07 – National Denominations
1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - Germany
1.03.02.01 - 1535: Nüremberg Ei (Egg)
Philadelphia Memorial Hall

Cylindrical in shape and more or less flat, depending on the model, the Nuremberg egg clock had only one needle that indicated the hours. It used to be worn around the neck. Thanks to Peter Heinlein, a locksmith in trade, this small clock was possible at the beginning of the 16th century because he managed to miniaturize the spring and the twisting pendulum. He is credited with being the “Father of the Pocket Watch,” but it seems that it already existed in Italy in the 15th century. For more details on the clock, see Wikipedia; on Peter Heinlein, see Wikipedia.

(Image authorized under Creative Commons CC 1.0 Public Domain Dedication)

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - Germany
1.03.02.02 - 1550-1650: Wagenuhr (Chariot clock)

The chariot clock is shaped like a Roman cart, its dial placed anywhere on the trolley. A music box and automaton figurines often accompanied the clock. Its origin dates to the Renaissance (1550-1650) in Augsburg in southern Germany, where clockmakers manufactured them. Subsequently, the fashion spread, mainly in France in the 18th century, during the reigns of Louis XV, Louis XVI, and Napoleon Bonaparte. This popularity continued until the 1825s. Click Wikipedia for more details. Illustrated: the gilded bronze Bacchus clock from the Kremlin Museum, made in Ausburg, 16th century.

(Image by Shakko authorized under Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 International)

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS OR DENOMINATIONS
1.03.02.03 - c. 1600 - Flötenuhr (Flute or Organ Clock)

“The origin of the flute clock is unknown. Around 1600 it was built by Augsburg masters as a clock, and around 1760 it appeared in the Swiss Jura in Pendulum form. Around 1738, Charles Clay built a flute clock purchased by Gerrit Braamcamp and acquired in 2016 by the Museum Speelklok in Utrecht. The heyday of the flute clock building was at the end of the 18th century. Simpler flute clocks were produced in large numbers in the Black Forest from 1770 to around 1850. They also played in in-houses for entertainment.” (Translate from German and published under Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0 license)

The flute clock is also called the organ clock. It came as a floor clock as well as a furniture clock. Below, the organ part of the clock is illustrated. It was built around 1800 in the Black Forest. It has 31 pipes and can play 8 melodies.

Organ clock mvt
Image from Deutsches Uhrenmuseum published under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 license.
1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS
1.03.02.04 - Early 18th c.: Lackshilduhr holzgespindelte (Lackshild Shield Wood-spindled)
Black Forest Shield Clock
Image ID122: All rights reserved, Bordloub

At first, it was farmers who, during the long days and nights of winter, began carving wood, mainly fir, in the early 18th century. Thus, many eventually preferred clockmaking to the culture of the land. According to tradition, they were inspired by a wooden clock imported from Bohemia. The dials of these clocks were hand-painted with a “dry paint” developed by Kajetan Kreuzer somewhere in 1780/1790, then varnished with a mix of shellac and turpentine, often by the wives of the clockmakers, inspired by nature surrounding them. This type of clock is called Lackshilduhr Holzgespindelte (Lackshild shield wood-spindled) after the wooden coils that served as trees on the train of time. This type of construction is called “Stollen-Uhr.” These clocks were made in the Black Forest area. It’s hard to date, but the illustrated one is from about 1860 to 1870. It would be functional, but I still must find a pendulum and weights and an alarm mechanism absent from it. It is unique because the small drawings on all four corners are different, not the norm. They represent each of the seasons. It is a two-weight wall clock with movement plates in wood and gears in bronze. A bronze dial in the middle of the clock sets the time of awakening. Above the wooden case, there is a large bell. The needles and dial are in solid brass.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - Germany
1.03.02.05 - 1730-1790: Kuckucksuhr (Cuckoo clock)
1760 Cuckoo
Image from Deutsches Uhrenmuseum published under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 license

Some historians attributed the cuckoo invention to Franz Anton Ketterer from Schönwald in 1730, and others to a Bohemian origin. But the idea came from Philipp Hainhofer (1578-1647), an art collector who created Kunstschränke, a curiosity cabinet, with the help of many Augsburg artisans. He described a clock with a mechanical bird seen in the collection of Augustus von Sachsen, Elector of Saxony. The idea of the singing bird came from automatas seen around mechanical organs of the 17th century. Illustrated, this unknown 1760 cuckoo from the collection of the Deutsches Uhrenmuseum is probably the oldest in existence.
I have found a large collection of cuckoo clocks on the web that you may want to consult: Black Forest Clock Collectors.

 

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS OR DENOMINATIONS
1.03.02.06 - 1789: Holzräderuhr mit Glasglocke (Wooden wheel clock with glass bell)
Holzräderuhr mit glasglocke
Images from Deutsches Uhrenmuseum published under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0
Wooden Mvt with glass clock
Images from Deutsches Uhrenmuseum published under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0

This illustrated Black Forest wooden front clock from 1789 has two characteristics. It has an entirely wooden weight movement and a glass bell well preserved. Look at the dial; it has two-chapter rings, the regular one with roman numerals and an inner one divided into four quarters marquees, I, II, III, and IV, letting suppose that the clock struck the bell at each quarter.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS OR DENOMINATIONS
1.03.02.07 - c. 1790: Jockele (Jacob Herbstreith)
Jockele Clock
Image by Michael Diederich, Deutschen Uhrenmuseums Furtwangen, published under Common Creative BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Jacob Herbstreith (1763-1845) from Eisenbach in the Black Forest created a small wood and brass weight movement clock (3 1/4 x 2 3/8 inches or 8 x 6 cm), smaller than the Schottenuhr. Equipped with a porcelain or brass plate face, it was called Jockele, a curiosity. Some were only timepieces, others had an alarm with a bell on top of the movement, but most were weight clocks. For more details on the Jockele clock, click Jockele.de. The site is in German, but you should get a better idea with a translator, even if the translators usually cannot translate clockmaking terms correctly.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS OR DENOMINATIONS - Germany
1.03.02.08 - 1820: Sorguhren (Joseph Sorg miniature clock)

Joseph Sorg (1807-1872) from Neustadt, Black Forest, created in 1820 a miniature wall weight-driven clock with a porcelain dial of 1 to 2 in. (2,5 to 5 cm) diameter, less than the Jockele. The movement was typical wood with a bell on top. Overall, the clock may approximately measure 3 1/4 x 4 in. (5,5 x 10 cm). These clocks are rare and fetch high prices. To see an original one made by Sorg, click here: 1850 Sorguhren.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS OR DENOMINATIONS - Germany
1.03.02.09 - 18th c.: Schottenuhr (Clock of Schotten)
Schottenuhr from the Deutsches Uhrenmuseum published under Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0

A Schottenuhr is a small wall clock measuring about 10 cm x 12 cm, bigger than the Jockele, usually with a lacquered face. It came from the Black Forest and was made in the 18th century. The name Schottenuhr originated from the first production location, Schotten in the Hesse Land. Illustrated, an 1830 clock by Andreas Spiegelhalder from Breitnau. It has a weight wooden movement with an alarm, and the wood face is plastered.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS OR DENOMINATION - Germany
1.03.02.10 - 1850: Rahmenuhr (Frame clock)
Cuckoo in a Rahmenuhr
Image from Deutsches Uhrenmuseum, published under Creative Commons BY 3.0 DE, via Wikimedia Commons

Rahmenuhr, the Frame clock, was trendy in Vienna during the Biedermeier period, from 1820 to 1850. It had a spring movement with striking. The dial was inserted into a gold-plated graphic in the wooden frame’s middle or bottom.
Beginning in the mid-19th century, frame clocks were also produced in the Black Forest, but most had a weight wooden movement with a pendulum extending the frame. The dial was also inserted inside the wooden frame. Most of the Black Forest Frame clocks were illustrated with printed images, photos, painted back glass, or embossed brass. They were more artisanal than the Vienna ones. Illustrated is an example from the 1860s painted by Johann Laule. This clock is also a cuckoo.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS OR DENOMINATIONS - Germany
1.03.02.11 - c. 1850 - Rahmenuhr mit Augenwender (Frame clock with blinking eyes)
Back of the Frame clock with moving eyes
Image from Deutsches Uhrenmuseum published under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 license
Frame clock with moving eyes
Image from Deutsches Uhrenmuseum published under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 license

 

 

Illustrated is a Frame clock with an embossed tin plate representing caricature figures of the satirical magazine Kladderadatsch, which was extremely popular in the second half of the 19th century in the Black Forest. In the movement picture, look at the wire that links the pendulum to the eyes making the eyes bounce back and forth with the ticktack. In German, it is called augenwender. The movement is a weight type with a wooden frame but brass gears.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - Germany
1.03.02.12 - 1850: Bahnhäusleuhr (Railway Station Cuckoo)
Railway Station Cuckoo
Image from the Deutsches Uhrenmuseum publisher under Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0

The Bahnhäusle (Railway Station) cuckoo owes its origin to a competition set up in 1850 by the School of Clockmaking of the Grand Duchy of Baden in Furtwangen, in the Black Forest. Friedrich Eisenlohr, a railway architect, submitted a cuckoo proposal inspired by the architecture of the railway stations (Bahnhausle) installed along the railway called Kuckucksbunhnel in the Rhine Valley. He won the competition, and Johann Baptist Beha (1854) built them. This type of cuckoo may be a wall or furniture clock, as this one manufactured in 1870 by Beha und Söhne from Eisenbach.

Railway Station Cuckoo
Image: All rights reserved, Bordloub

Photographed at an American antique dealer, an American reproduction of a late 19th century cuckoo made by the Philadelphia Cuckoo Clock Co., I should have bought on the spot. Unfortunately, when I went back, he was gone. He had the distinction of ringing the quarter of an hour and owning two birds. Notice the round pendulum instead of the traditional leaf.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - Germany
1.03.02.13 -1857: Trumpeteruhr (Trompeter Clock)
Trumpeter clock
Image from unknown source reproduced under “Fair use for educational purpose”

Jacob Bäuerle designed the Trumpeter clock in 1857. The trumpeter clock works on the same principle as the cuckoo, with blowers, except that instead of a bird singing, it is one or trumpets that sound the hours and sometimes the half and quarters of hours. Some also add one or more drums. 

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATION - Germany
1.03.02.14 - 1861: Jagdstück (Traditional Hunting Scene Cuckoo)
Cuckoo Hunting Scene
Image: All rights reserved, Bordloub

Another variety of traditional cuckoos is the cuckoo with a hunting scene designed c.1861. Like the one pictured, a 1973 cuckoo that I repaired for an acquaintance, the pediment features a deer and two rifles crisscrossed against a background of tree leaves. Game, partridge, and hare frame the hut against a background of tree leaves. This cuckoo also has a balcony where four pairs of dancers perform every hour to the sound of a music box that plays a traditional German tune.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS OR DENOMINATIONS - Germany
1.03.02.15 - 1889: Riefler Precision Pendulum Clocks
Riefler precision clock
Image by Karel K., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Sigmund Riefler (1847-1912) obtained several patents in horology:

  • 1889 DRP n° 50739 Double wheel escapement for chronometers with free pendulum and for pendulum clocks with free pendulum.
  • 1891 DRP n° 60059 Pendulum with mercury compensation.
  • 1893 U.S. Patent 508530 Mercurial compensation pendulum
  • 1893 U.S. Patent 508760 Pendulum escapement
  • 1897 DRP n° 100870 Pendulum with nickel-plated steel rod and several cooperating compensating tubes.
  • 1903 DRP n° 151710 Electric winding device for clocks with a motor weight lever and an electromagnet.
  • 1913 DRP No. 272119 dual engine lever gravity escapement.

He is best known for his escapement and precision clocks that incorporate his numerous patents. Those clocks made by his firm were the most accurate mechanical clocks between 1890 and 1965, 10 milliseconds per day. For more information, see Wikipedia.

 

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - Germany
1.03.02.16 - End 19th c.: Vienna Regulator
Vienna Regulator from Germany
Image ID141: All rights reserved, Bordloub

A clock whose quality of motion ensures the accuracy of time is called a Regulator. The so-called Vienna regulator attempts to produce a high-precision clock at the end of the 19th century, smaller than the floor clocks. Although Austrian may claim to have produced the first Vienna regulators, usually by hand, the Germans have mass-produced the most. It is also easier to find old Vienna regulators made in Germany. 
The first Viennese regulators were wall weights clocks more than a meter (39 in.) high, with a case with glass windows on three sides. Their manufacturing began in Germany at the end of the 19th century by companies like Gustav Becker of Freiburg first, then by Kienzle and Junghans. Later, they manufactured Viennese spring regulators with striking or chiming like the one depicted, dating back to the 1920s. It’s a large regulator. I have two others, one medium-sized and the other small. All three are adorned with a frontispiece and finials at the top and bottom, characteristics of the style. This one lacks two finials at each corner of the base.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS OR DENOMINATIONS
1.03.02.17 - 1914-1915: Wanduhr Es ist Eiserne Zeit (Wall clock 'It's Iron Time')
Wanduhr mit Aufschrift ?Es ist Eiserne Zeit?
Image from Deutsches Uhrenmuseum published under Creative Commons CC by-sa 4.0 license.

Illustrated is a wartime clock made by Junghans from Schramberg. Its motto is: “It’s Iron Time.” The cross with the W was the cross of German Kaiser Wilhelm II, also King of Prussia, portrayed in the pendulum bob (back character) with an unidentified one. Note the crude iron weights.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - Germany
1.03.02.18 - 1920: Cuckoo Chalet Style
Chalet Style Cuckoo
Image ID167: All rights reserved, Bordloub

Very old cuckoos are rare and expensive. But there are exciting cuckoos on the used market, such as this one I have restored, which reproduces a cuckoo Black Forest Cottage, characterized by the sloping roof of the hut and the presence of firs or people framing the dial. The Lötscher Co., Zurich, Switzerland, developed the style in 1920.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.01 - 1760: Tall Case Floor (Willard Brothers)

In the 1750s, the two brothers Benjamin and Simon Willard of Grafton, Mass., built tall case wooden floor clocks inspired by English clocks. They also built a short version of the tall clock, consisting of the top with the movement. The other brothers in the Willard family, Epraïm and Aaron, will do the same later. Illustrated: a Simon Willard floor clock c. 1793. See more information on Wikipedia.

(Image by Rau Antiques authorized under Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0 International via Wikimedia Commons)

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.02 - 1770: Dwarf Clock (Simon Willard)
Dwarf Tall Clock
Daderot, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Dwarf tall clocks were 2 to 5 feet high. They were diminished tall clocks, also called Grandmother clocks. Simon Willard from Grafton, Massachusetts, initiated the trend. But in the 1820s, Joshua Wilder of Hingham, Massachusetts, was the most prolific maker of these trendy clocks at the beginning of the 19th century. Others were made in Maine, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania. The movements were 8-day brass, some timepieces, and some strikings. The dial was painted iron.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.03 - c. 1770-1790: Massachusetts Shelf (Aaron Willard)

Thanks to the Willard brothers, the state of Massachusetts has gained importance in the American clock industry. They were pioneers in establishing a clock manufacturing plant in Roxbury, Mass. They are owed the development of a long-case floor clock, the famous Massachusetts Shelf Clock, the Banjo clock, the Gallery clock, the Regulator, and cheap 30-hour wall clocks made around the 1770s in the family farm Grafton, Mass. Aaron Willard (1757-1884) developed The Massachusetts Shelf clock at the end of the 18th century. His inspiration came from the English Bracket clocks. It consists of two parts, the shelf that takes the form of a wall shelf (left pictured) or a small piece of furniture (right pictured) on which is placed the case containing the clock itself, all of a height that could vary from 60 cm to 100 cm (24 to 39 inches). Their movement was similar to those found in Simon Willard’s early Banjo clocks, 30-hour weight. Most of these clocks were made of mahogany and white pine for the back. The two clocks depicted come from the collection of The Museum of Modern Art in New York. In addition to the Willards, other Massachusetts clockmakers, including Daniel Bach, David Wood, Joseph Loring, and John Sawin, have produced such clocks. A few New Hampshire watchmakers have done the same, Levi Hutchins, William Fitz, Silas Parsons and Benjamin Morrill, and Vermont’s Nathan Hale (Schorsch, 1981).

(Images authorized under Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication)

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.04 - c. 1790-1793: Wag-on-Wall (Gideon Roberts)
Gideon Clock
From The Old Clock Book by N. H. Moore, 1911 – Published under Fair Use for Educational Purpose

By the late 1780s, after the Civil War and the troubled period that followed, the production of clocks started again. Gideon Roberts, a Secession War veteran, is recognized as the first clockmaker in Bristol, Connecticut. Roberts found a way to make several clocks simultaneously. He built wooden movements that replaced previous handmade brass movements and used painted paper dials. As a result, Roberts produced a clock imitating the German Wag-on-the-Wall style. He could put the clock in a wooden case for an extra fee.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.05 – 1795-1802: Banjo (Simon Willard)

A clock whose shape resembles a banjo, like the one illustrated from the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York collection, is called a Banjo clock. Simon Willard designed it in 1795 in Roxbury, Massachusetts, but he patented it only in 1802 as the “Patent Timepiece,” then “Improved Timepiece.” It was the first eight-day weight clock attached to pulleys and the first wall clock to be successful in the U.S.A. The patent specified that the weight or weights must have fallen 15 inches in 8 days, with a pendulum swiveling forward. The mahogany wood case had to have three parts: a circular part containing the dial, an elongated, fitted-size part containing the weight or weights, and a rectangular part at the base where the pendulum stretched, which must have a small door. The elongated and lower part had a painted or gilded window. A finial over the dial, often the American eagle, top the banjo clock. Later, spring banjo clocks were manufactured.

(Image licensed under Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication)

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.06 - 1807-1810: Mass-produced clocks (Eli Terry)

Eli Terry completed his apprenticeship and started making clocks near Plymouth, Connecticut, in the 18th century. But his most outstanding achievement was the introduction of mass production from 1807 to 1810. Eli Terry had found a way to produce clocks in massive quantities through automation, using water-powered machines. For example, he was awarded a contract to manufacture 4,000 wooden movements at $4.00 each. Seth Thomas was an apprentice in Terry’s factory and Silas Hoadley. They bought the factory in 1810: Illustrated, the face of a Terry-style wooden movement of one of my clocks.

(Image ID298mvt: All rights reserved, Bordloub)

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.07 - 1810-1818: Girandole (Lemuel Curtis)

The name Girandole was given to a type of American clock designed by Lemuel Curtis from Concord, Massachusetts, in 1810, patented in 1816, and sold until 1818. Curtis was Aaron Willard’s nephew. The Girandole looks much like the Banjo, but the base is round instead of rectangular. And they are much rarer in the antique market than the Banjo, thus pricier.

(Image from Washington National Gallery of Art authorized under Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication)

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.08 - 1816: Box Case (Eli Terry)
Eli Terry Box Case Clock
Image from the Smithsonian Institute published under Fair use Educational Purpose.

Eli Terry patented in 1816 a new open wood rack & snail strike weight movement, installed in a rectangular box which he called Box case, for which he also obtained a patent. It was an experiment in case design, a precursor of the Pillars & Scroll clock. The wood movement was on the upper part of the case, which had a wood-framed glass door with a reversed dial painting on the top, and a graphic on the bottom, a landscape with a little house. An evolution of the clock had an alarm, and a count wheel had replaced the rack and snail strike.
The illustrated clock has a transparent glass framed door, and I suspect it is a replacement, seeing the quality of the dial ring numbers.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.09 - 1816-1819: Pillars and Scrolls (Eli Terry)
Pillars & Scrolls
Image: All rights reserved, Bordloub

 Eli Terry of Bristol, Connecticut, designed the Pillars and scrolls clock. He obtained a patent in 1816, known as the Patent Clock. A thin column characterizes it on each side of a rectangular case of considerable size (60 to 80 cm = 24 to 31 in.) topped with a cornice embellished with three finials. Unfortunately, several manufacturers bypassed Terry’s patent by making a few minor modifications to the original patent. Nevertheless, these 30-hour motion clocks were produced in thousands of copies between 1818 and 1828 until Chauncey Jerome’s mirror clocks arrived. Illustrated, an example of the 1930s seen on sale at an American antique dealer. 

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS OR DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.10 – 1816-1822: Wagon-Spring (J. Ives)

Coil steel springs were not manufactured in the United States at the beginning of the 19th c. Joseph Ives, a Bristol, Connecticut clockmaker, began in 1816 to circumvent the fact by making a clock with a weight movement but without using weights. “The strings that ordinarily would have held the weights were connected, through intermediary pulleys, to the free ends of what looked like a wagon spring on the bottom of the case. This mechanism exerted a downward pull like the two weights (NMAH).” Ives was not particularly good at marketing his invention; it is believed that he took a patent only in 1822. The only illustrations I could find of the Ives movement come from Brooks Palmer, The Book of American Clocks, 1928. The prototype is installed in an Eli Terry pillar and scroll 30-hour wood movement clock on the left. On the right is the version installed in clocks made by Ives in Brooklyn, New York, between 1825 and 1830. 

Ives wagon spring prototype
Image reproduced under “Fair use for educational purpose.”
1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.11 - 1819-1822: Mirror or New Hampshire Clock (J. Yves)
Watercolor of a Mirror clock
“Francis Law Durand, Mantel Clock, c. 1938, watercolor, colored pencil, and graphite on paperboard, overall: 35.5 x 29 cm (14 x 11 7/16 in.) Original IAD Object: 17 7/8″wide x 5 5/8″deep x 35 1/8″tall, Index of American Design, 1943.8.4799”
Image authorized under Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication

Some old clocks had a mirror instead of a tablet in the front window. Joseph Ives began to develop the mirror clock in 1819 with the collaboration of Levis Lewis. He obtained the patent in 1822. Also, Benjamin Morril of Boscawen used this type of case around the 1825s. These clocks were trendy from 1822 to 1838. These are sometimes referred to as the New Hampshire Mirror Clock because most were manufactured in this state in the 1820s and 1830s. These clocks had columns and pediments but came with or without feet. The mirror was convenient as these clocks were usually hung on the wall. Beware, not all mirrors installed in these clocks are authentic. If a mirror looks too bright, is not scratched, or has not lost part of its tin back, pass your turn if the price is exorbitant, unless the replaced mirror is period, in which case it will have imperfections to the era and age. 

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.12 - 1822: Lighthouse (Simon Willard)
Lighthouse Clock
(Image licensed under Creative Common CC0 1.0 – Public Domain Dedication)

According to a legend, inspired by the Eddystone Lighthouse in England, Simon Willard (1753-1848) of Roxbury (Boston), Mass., created an octagonal-based clock, circular trunk, and glass dome that contains the movement, the dial, and a bell on top, thus imitating a lighthouse, named by Willard Patent Alarm Timepiece – see the small circle in the center of the dial to adjust the wake-up time. He patented the clock in 1822. Generally made of mahogany and some white pine, with an 8-day movement visible under the glass dome, they have not sold well and were abandoned by Willard, so they are scarce and expensive. Illustrated: one of the oldest of Willard’s works from the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.13 - 1823: Lyre (Aaron Willard Jr.)
Lyre clock
Image by Daderot, via Creative Commons, CC01, Public Domain Dedication, via Wikimedia Commons

The design of the lyre-shaped clock (1823) was attributed to Aaron Willard Jr. (1783-1864), nephew of Simon Willard. John Sawin (1801-1863) of Sawin and Dyer of Boston made many of them from 1822 to 1828, but they are nevertheless quite tricky to find, and their price is accordingly. The illustrated clock from the Peabody Essex Museum was made by Edmund Currier from Salem, Massachusetts, in 1838.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.14 - 1824: Double-Decker (Bradley & Bishop)
Double-decker clock
(Image reproduced under “Fair use for educational purpose”)

Lucius B. Bradley and James Bishop were the first to market the double-decker clock in the mid-1820s, with Eli Terry’s wooden movements or Heman Clark’s brass movement. Several clockmakers followed later, especially E. Ingraham with Chauncey and Lawson Ives, who introduced the famous tiger paws in the early 1830s. Customers may order their clocks with gilded columns, turned, or carved and matching pediments, and the bottom door with a mirror rather than a graphic tablet (Schorsch, 1981). It is said that the Double-decker clock had two bridges or desks because of its almost equal to two parts in height with independent doors stacked on top of each other, separated by a wooden tablet. The top door had a glass and showed the dial, and the one at the bottom included a graphic tablet. Recessed columns often framed each part of the doors. Occasionally, a carved or pressed pediment was added, and round wooden or brass feet in the shape of animal feet, usually tiger, hence their name tiger paws: Illustrated, an L. Bradley clock.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.15 - 1825: Bronze Looking Glass (C. Jerome)
Image from the Clockfolk, reproduced under “Fair use for educational purpose”

Chauncey Jerome claims the authorship of the mirror clock in his History of the American Clock Business. He states: “…during which time I invented the Bronze Looking Glass Clock, which soon revolutionized the whole business. As I have said, they could be made for one dollar less and sold for two dollars more than the Patent Case [pillar -scroll]; they were very showy and a little longer. Thus, the introduction of this clock in 1825 closed the second chapter in the Yankee Clock business.” (Quoted in Tran Duy Ly, American Clocks, Vol. 3, 2002). Later, Ly asserts that such clocks had existed based on the horologist Snowden Taylor’s research.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.23 - c. 1830: O'Gee or OG
OG Clock
Images ID099 & ID099i: All rights reserved, Bordloub

 

 

 

 

Who designed the first O’Gee (O’Gee or OG) clock and when? It’s still under discussion. The style was prevalent in the United States from the 1830s until the 1910s. The idea behind the style was to build an inexpensive clock that could be sold in large quantities. Pine was easily available at the time and served to build the rectangular box that held the movement. Hardwood could be reserved for the front, often mahogany or Rosewood. The front contour in ‘S’ shape is borrowed from moldings found in Empire or Victorian furniture, inspired by Roman architecture, hence its name O’Gee. A two-part glass door with a mirror or glass with an inlaid design at the bottom gave access to the dial, pendulum, and weights. A buyer could choose between a 30-hour or an 8-day movement, weight, or spring-driven brass movement, with or without alarms. The cases have been made in varied sizes from 18 in. (45 cm.) to 34 in. (86 cm) in height.

Here is an example of a 30-hour O’Gee weight clock. It’s an 1845 Jerome and Co. with a graphic tablet (an inverted image) of the Brownsea Castle of Dorset County, England.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS OR DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.17 – 1825: Miniature Shelf (Curtiss and Clark)

The Miniature shelf clocks designed by Curtiss and Clark were 22 in. (55 cm) high.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS OR DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.18 – 1825-1830: Hourglass 30-hour Wagon-spring (J. Ives)
Ives Wagon spring from the 1830's
Pinterest image from an unknown source published under Fair use for educational purposes.

This is an 8-day wagon spring clock made by Joseph Ives when he moved to Brooklyn, New York, in 1825. The case is inspired by the famous New York designer of the time, Duncan Phyfe. Eric Bruton, in his Collector’s Dictionary of Clocks and Watches, 1999, named it an “hour-glass” clock but incorrectly described the movement as “an unusual Fusee and spring drive” since we know those clocks had an improved Ives wagon-spring movement. Ives sold these clocks until 1830 when he had severe financial difficulties.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.19 - 1828: Columns and Splat (E. Ingraham)
“Richard Taylor, Wall Clock with Mantel, c. 1939, watercolor, colored pencil, pen and ink, and graphite on paperboard, overall: 45.2 x 35.4 cm (17 13/16 x 13 15/16 in.)
Original IAD Object: Case:18 1/2″wide x 47 1/2″long. Index of American Design, 1943.8.4721″

E. Ingraham designed in 1828 the columns and splat clock characterized by the presence of full columns on each side of the case, a flat pediment, and feet in the shape of animal paws (Tiger-paw). The illustrated one is placed on a shelf attached to the wall. Therefore, this type of clock is called a shelf clock. But most of the original shelves are gone, and all left are the clocks.

(Image authorized under Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication)

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.20 - c. 1829: Carved Columns or Transition (E. Ingraham)
“Frank Wenger, Shelf Clock, c. 1939, watercolor, colored pencil, and graphite on paperboard, overall: 45.5 x 35.4 cm (17 15/16 x 13 15/16 in.) Original IAD Object: none, Index of American Design, 1943.8.5823.”
(Image authorized under Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication

Somewhere in the late 1820s, 30-hour walnut-weight clocks, with a high rectangular case with animal legs, carved columns on each side, and an equally carved cornice, were created thanks to E. Ingraham, a cabinetmaker hired by George Mitchell, a clock dealer. He introduced them to Bristol, Connecticut, in the 1820s and 1930s to compete with Chauncey Jerome’s mirror clocks. That is why they have been called Transition clocks. The sculpture motifs were handmade by specialists from Germany to work at a New York furniture fair. They later moved to Bristol. These clocks were less and less popular with the arrival on the market of volute clocks and O’Gee.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.21 - 1830: Columns: Hollow (E. & G. Bartholomew)
Hollow Set Thomas Clock
Image ID300: All rights reserved, Bordloub
Bartholomew Shelf Hollow clock
Image from the National Museum of American History published under Fair use for educational purposes

The Hollow column clock is an Empire-style weight clock. Weights go down the vertical compartments along the case’s left and right sides. Hollow columns decorate two-thirds of the case on each side, in the center of which is a two-panel door with a tablet at the bottom with an inverted image, as well as in the lower part of the clock. The columns are framed at the top by a molded pediment, and at the bottom, they rest on S-shaped supports on either side of a door with an inverted tablet. E. and G. Bartholomew, a cabinetmaker from Bristol, Connecticut, introduced this model in the 1830s Left illustration), and it was popular until the 1860s. A Seth Thomas Hollow Column in Rosewood from 1863 from my collection is pictured on the right.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.22 - 1830: Triple-Decker (E. Ingraham)
Triple Decker Clock
“Lawrence Phillips, Shelf Clock, c. 1939, watercolor, colored pencil, and graphite on paperboard, overall: 28.8 x 22.4 cm (11 15/16 x 8 13/16 in.) Index of American Design, 1943.8.4803”
Image from National Gallery of Art authorized under Creative Commons CC0 1.0  Public Domain Dedication, via Wikimedia Commons.

Elias Ingraham designed the so-called triple-decker clock in the 1830s to accommodate the movement developed by Joseph Ives called “strap brass.” Therefore, it had three superimposed parts, the upper and lower parts having a door. The first deck contained the dial and the movement, the second, an inverted image (sometimes a mirror), and the third, a clear window that showed the pendulum or an inverted image. There were several refinements of this model in vogue until the middle of the 19th century.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.23 - 1830-1860: Columns and Cornice (Seth Thomas)
Columns and cornice Clock
Image ID303: All rights reserved, Bordloub

Several clockmakers and manufacturers, Seth Thomas being the most prolific, developed column and cornice clocks from the 1830s to the 1860s. The clock is characterized by the presence of two columns and a pediment or cornice. A unique two-part door covers almost the entire case. The upper part has glass over the dial, and the bottom part, separated by a small piece of transverse wood, is a glass tablet with a reversed image. Illustrated: an Ansonia small column and cornice clock.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.24 - 1835-1840: Cottage (Seth Thomas)
Small Cottage clock
Image ID138: All rights reserved, Bordloub

The Cottage clock is rectangular. It consists of two parts, a base a few inches high (4 to 8 cm) surmounted by the main body of the clock, which contains the movement and dial. It has a door divided into two parts 1/3-2/3, separated by a piece of horizontal wood, the bottom has a glass with an inverted design, and the upper part is a transparent glass that lets you see the whole dial. Some have called it a cigar box, others box clock. This is because it was easy to place a steel spring movement and inexpensive to manufacture. Although it was introduced between 1835 and 1840 in its Cottage form, Eli Terry first experimented with the “box” form with the help of Seth Thomas, whom he had hired as a joiner in 1808. The latter subsequently acquired the rights for royalties to Terry for each clock sold. After that, Chauncey Jerome began to promote it around 1851-52. Still, Seth Thomas produced the most, including his famous miniature series from the early 20th century, like this little Seth Thomas Salem Bim-bam from the 1930s.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.25 - 1837: Gallery Clock (Simon Willard)
US Supreme Court Clock
Image published under Educational Fair Use

Introduced in 1837, Gallery clocks had a round, square, hexagonal, octagonal, decagonal, or dodecagonal shape. Large in diameter (30 to 60 cm – 12 to 24 inches), they were hung on factories, railway stations, public buildings, schools, city halls, etc. Simon Willard created the most famous Gallery clock. It was installed in the United States Supreme Court in Washington, DC, in October 1837. At first, Gallery clocks were wooden timepieces only. Subsequently, they became electric and even controlled remotely by master clocks. Eventually, metal and plastic replaced wood for the frame.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.26 - 1840: Beehive or Gothic (E. Ingraham)
Gothic Clock
Image ID022: All rights reserved, Bordloub

The Beehive clock with a Gothic arch shape, famous in England in the 13th century, reappeared in the first half of the 19th century in England as the Lancet and America as the Beehive. Elias Ingraham, a renowned cabinetmaker from Bristol, Connecticut, introduced it around 1840. It was also a prolific clock manufacturer. The first so-called American Beehive clocks were equipped with fusee-like spring movements patented by Kirk, with brass springs patented by Joseph Shaylor Ives, Joseph Ives’ nephew. Subsequently, they were equipped with brass movements with steel springs, such as the one illustrated, a W. L. Gilbert from the 1870s in its original state except for the bottom glass, where usually there is an inverted image. Note that the dial is painted on an embossed metal sheet. Because it rings half-hours and hours, it is in popular language a Bim-bam.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS OR DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.27 – c. 1840: Steeple or Sharp Gothic
Steeple clock
Image ID093: All rights reserved, Bordloub

The steeple clock style was already popular in England before the 1840s. It is difficult to situate exactly when the steeple clock style in America was trended and by whom. It was probably in the 1840s. The steeple clock was a design inspired by the Gothic church steeples. It is also called Sharp Gothic. It has two steeple-like finials on each side of a two-side arch, like the one pictured made by Waterbury. E. Ingraham, Seth Thomas, Ansonia, and others also made steeple clocks.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.28 - 1841: Torsion Pendulum (Aaron D. Crane)
Torsion one year clock
Image from the Smithsonian Collection published under Fair use for Educational Purposes.

Everybody thinks that the 400-day clock was invented in Germany. But Aaron D. Crane (1804-1860) of Caldwell, New Jersey, patented in 1841 a torsion pendulum clock that could run for twelve months. He referred to himself as the “One Year Clockmaker.”

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.29 - c. 1844: Gothic-on-Frame (Birge & Fuller)
Wagon-spring steeple clock
Wagon spring clock steeple or sharp gothic style. Image from the National Museum of American History published under Fair for educational purposes.

“On August 27, 1834, a group of Bristol clockmakers headed by John Birge, for $10,000 purchased from Joseph Ives the ‘…benefits and privileges of certain inventions and improvements in the structure of clocks which benefit was secured to him, the said Ives, by Letters Patent being dated April 12, 1833…’ These patents covered the Rolling Pinions, and Birge firms and Ives firms made these clocks.”  (Ref.: Barr, Lockwood – The Master Clockmaker Joseph Ives of Connecticut, Hobbies – The Magazine for Collectors, January 1939 – Ives Wagon Spring).

In 1844, Birge and Fuller marketed a wagon spring clock of their own based on Ives’s invention. So, the illustrated Gothic-on-frame clock (or double steeple) was a tentative in the mid-1840s to resuscitate Joseph Ives’ wagon-spring clock. They sold many of these until 1847. The coil spring type movement, much cheaper to build, took over. Other companies built and sold wagon spring clocks during the same period until the 1860s: J. J. Beals & Co. Clock Establishment and The Atkins Clock Manufacturing Co.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.30 - 1847-1850: Acorn (J. C. Clark)
Acorn Clock
(Image authorized under Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication)

The unconventional acorn-shaped spring clock was designed by Jonathan Clarke Brown (1807-1872) from the Constitutional Oak Tree in Hartford, Connecticut, and produced from 1847 to 1850 by Forestville Manufacturing, owned by Brown. It was available in three styles: tablet, large and small, and mural. It was made of laminated wood, mahogany, or rosewood. On either side of the acorn, laminated wooden stems matched its outline. Here is an example from the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York collection. Unfortunately, these clocks are hard to find and are expensive.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.31 - c. 1850: Iron-front or Brass-front (Nicholas Muller)
Iron-frint clock
Image ID208: All rights reserved, Bordloub

The first clocks with an iron front or brass front appeared around the middle of the 19th century. Nicholas Muller of New York registered several patents for these clocks. Catalogs showed 125 brass styles and 65 cast iron styles, most inspired by the Rococo art of the period. I illustrated: an exciting example of the American Clock Co. (c. 1859-1864) of New York, with three cherubs. A readable inside label and around the dials patent dates allowed its identification. This one is painted cast iron, but I saw the same in brass on the web. Note the small porthole that shows the pendulum. A wooden fir box is attached behind the cast iron or brass front to contain the movement. 

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.32 - c. 1850: Mother-of-Pearl Clock
Mother-of-Pearl Clock
Image: All rights reserved, Bordloub

The Mother-of-Pearl clock appeared around the middle of the 19th century. The clock manufacturers wanted to give an oriental look by introducing pearls and especially pearly shells into the case. To do this, they encrusted them in layers of papier-mâché and glue, all attached to the wooden front of the clock. Others have embedded them directly in metal, as in this American cast iron-front clock from Terry and Andrews (c. 1840) photographed by the author at an American antiques fair.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS OR DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.33 – 1850: Lever or Marine Clock
Marine clock
Image ID056: All rights reserved, Bordloub

A lever or marine is a clock that can sustain the movement of a boat. It is equipped with a special movement, generally a lever escapement movement, which is why a marine clock is called a lever clock. This 30-hour clock, a New Haven Lever clock (c. 1860), was used at the historic (1825) Erie Canal running east-west between Hudson River and Lake Erie. It gave access to the Atlantic Ocean from the Great Lakes in exchange for a toll. This clock hung on the wall of the Erie Canal Office. 

Marine clock
Image ID104: All rights reserved, Bordloub

Marine clocks served many applications. For instance, this Seth Thomas 8-day clock was an engine clock. It is nickel plated to prevent rust. Other marine clocks may be in brass. Some marine clocks have a bell. It signals the watch quarters on a boat called the dog watches. For a complete explanation, see West Marine Ship’s Bell Time article.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.34 - 1850-1855: Papier-mâché (Litchfield Manufacturing Co.)

Primary Content – Primary Content Goes Here.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.35 - 1853: Calendar Clock (J. H. H. Hawes, 1853)
Calendar Clock
Image: Photo no 983.79.11, S94-21221 published with the permission of the Canadian Museum of History

A calendar clock gave the time and date (day, month, year); it had a perpetual calendar, but it often had to be manually adjusted to account for 30 or 31 days bi-sextiles, years, and months. The first patents for this type of clock movement appeared between 1853 and 1875, the first recorded, for a non-perpetual calendar, by J. H. H. Hawes of Ithaca, New York, on May 17, 1853. On September 19, 1854, Atkins and Burritt of the same city were granted a patent for a perpetual calendar mechanism. Subsequently, several other patents made it possible to perfect the calendar clock. In 1864, Mozart, Beach, and Hubbell received a patent for a perpetual calendar clock to be rewound only once a year. In 1865, The Ithaca Calendar Clock Co. used Henry B. Horton’s patent to market a perpetual calendar clock displayed on a roll instead of the dial. A Seth Thomas model “Office Calendar No. 4” is illustrated from the late 19th century.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.36 - 1855: Rotary Clock (J. C. Briggs)
Briggs Rotary Clock
Image reproduced under “Fair use for educational purpose.”

John C. Briggs of Concord, New Hampshire, obtained a patent in 1855 (No. 13451) for a conical pendulum and no escapement clock. The last wheel of the time train has an arm that rotates the pendulum in a rotary motion. The spring and gears are mounted horizontally. The scarce originals were made and sold by E. N. Welch Manufacturing Co. in the 1870s (illustrated). The German company Horolovar Reproduction Co. has produced copies of that type of clock.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.37 - 1857: Blinking-Eye or Winker
Blinking-eyes clock
Image from the National Museum of American History published under Fair Use for Educational Purpose.

Pietro Cinquinni of Meriden, Connecticut, patented in 1857 two cast-iron painted clocks with a figure that blinks eyes at each escapement movement, a Santa Claus and a Toby-called man dressed in an 18th century costume with a round clock that protrudes his belly. It was manufactured by Bradley & Hubbard, and the movements were Seth Thomas or Waterbury. These clocks were so popular in the 1860s through 1870s that other figures were created, a sitting dog, an organ player, a lion, a character named John Bull, a black person playing banjo (called at the time “sambo,” a nowadays derogative term designating a person of African descent after the Civil War), etc.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.38 – 1860: Doric or Two-sided Arch (E. Ingraham)
Figure 8 clock
Image ID098: All rights reserved, Bordloub

Elias Ingraham was granted a patent in 1860 for a two-sided slant top clock about the same size as a cottage clock. The Doric Trademark graphic appeared on the labels at the case’s bottom—this E. Ingraham clock from 1871 has the double particularity of being of the Doric type because of its two-sided top, but also of belonging to the Figure 8 group because of its door, which includes two circles superimposed to form the number 8, and the two rosettes on each side middle of the circles.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS OR DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.39 – 1866: Federal Shelf (After 1861-1865 Civil War)

Primary Content – Primary Content Goes Here.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.40 - 1870: Parlor Clock
Parlor Clock
Image ID021: All rights reserved, Bordloub

A clock said Parlor is set in a parlor room, a kind of family room to entertain family members, friends, and notables, very trendy in the mid-19th century. Illustrated: A Victorian-style Waterbury walnut shelf clock from the early 20th century.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.41 - 1870: Columns and Corniche with Porthole (Seth Thomas)
Columns and Corniche with porthole
Image ID094: All rights reserved, Bordloub

This Seth Thomas 8-day clock from the 1870s is a medium-sized variant of the columns and corniche clock. A small porthole has been added to the base to see the pendulum. The feet of the base are harmonized with the top corners of the corniche. The interest of this clock lies in its lyre-shaped movement.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.42 - c. 1870: Sidewalk Clock (E. Howard Clock Co.)

Primary Content – Primary Content Goes Here.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS OR DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.43 – c. 1875: Novelty Clock

Primary Content – Primary Content Goes Here.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS OR DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.44 – 1876: Illuminating Alarm (Ansonia & Davis)
Ansonia & Davis Illuminating cottage clock
Image from the Ford Museum published under Fair use for educational purposes.

This Cottage clock from Ansonia Brass & Copper Co. is an illuminated alarm clock from 1876. Henry J. Davies created the light device. Davies had a clockmaking shop from which Ansonia bought clock movements before Ansonia acquired it. He became General Manager of Ansonia in January 1878. He was responsible for the design of several clocks until 1884.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS OR DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.45 – 1876: Bedside Alarm (Seth Thomas)
Seth Thomas Old Alarm clock
Image ID074: All rights reserved, Bordloub

Levi Hutchins invented an alarm clock in 1787 that he never patented. The problem with that clock was that it could wake him only at 4 AM. It took ninety years for an American to design an alarm clock that could wake someone at any time, small enough to be put on a bedside table. Seth Thomas did it. He patented the first bedside small alarm clock in 1876. I could not find any picture of this early Seth Thomas alarm clock. In Brian Palmer, The Book of American clocks, 1928, there is a Seth Thomas Drum alarm clock from 1879. It has two small inner dials, one to adjust the wake time and the other with a second hand. The contour of the round case has an old tambour style. Nevertheless, Seth Thomas and other American manufacturers made many models of alarm clocks at the beginning of the 20th century. One of my collections is a Long Alarm 1909 model, Long Alarm, because the bell can ring for as long as 15 minutes. 

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.46 - 1880-1925: Kitchen Pressed Oak
Ansonia Kenmore Oak Kitchen Clock
Image ID014: All rights reserved, Bordloub

The traditional American kitchen clock, made in oak, had a sculpted-looking pattern pressed with a steam-powered mechanical press. Popular in the United States in the late 1800s and early 1900s, this clock, with a glass door adorned with an inlaid design, was usually placed on a shelf, hanging on a kitchen wall, hence its name. Because they were very inexpensive, and their spring movement was foolproof and easy to maintain, they sold millions. Unfortunately, finding a kitchen clock with its matching tablet isn’t easy. Usually, there are shelves and kitchen clocks alone. I restored this illustrated Ansonia Kenmore from the 1920s. The case was covered with a layer of deep brown paint, so thick that the patterns disappeared under it. Everything is original except the drawing in the glass; only the design borders were barely visible. I replaced it with a decal found at an antique clock parts seller.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.47 - 1880-1920: Black Mantle Greek Temple Style
Ingraham Black Greek 7emple
Image ID023: All rights reserved, Bordloub

Black mantle clocks are often inspired by Greek temples like this one, an E. Ingraham from the late 1920s. Note its six Corinthian columns. The base and top of the columns have an Adamantine™ finish.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.48 - 1880-1920: Black Mantel without columns

The black mantle clocks were made of wood, marble, slate, or cast iron. Greek temples often inspired them: Illustrated, a black cast iron Waterbury without columns from the 1880s.

(Image ID110: All rights reserved, Bordloub)

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS OR DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.49 – 1880: Rotary (Conical or Derrick or Oil-well) (F. Kroeber Clock. Co.)

Primary Content 

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS OR DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.50 - 1883: Flying Pendulum or Ignatz (A.C. Clausen)
Flying Pendulum clock
Image reproduced under “Fair use for educational purpose.”

Alder Christian Clausen of Minneapolis, Minnesota, invented and patented (October 9, 1883) the so-called Ignatz or flying clock, manufactured by Jerome and Co. of Connecticut, a division of New Haven, and sold only for two years (1884-1885). Most of those on the market today are reproductions by Horolovar and manufactured in Germany from 1959 to 1979. As you can see in the photo, a pendulum is attached to a central swivel rod, and the centrifugal force causes it to fly from right to left, touching, in turn, the other two rods situated at equal distances from the central post. These clocks are not precision models; they lose 5 to 10 minutes per day. The publicity for the Ignatz clock said: “This is the best showcase attraction ever made. Will attract a crowd wherever it is exhibited.” The Ignatz is part of the Gadget or Novelty clock category for this alone.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS OR DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.51 – 1884: Clock with Thermo-regulator (J.A. Lakin & Seth Thomas)

Primary Content – Primary Content Goes Here.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS OR DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.52 – 1884: Electro-Mechanical Clock (Chester Henry Pond)
Electromechanical clock
Image authorized under Common Creative CC0 1.0 Universal – Public Domain Dedication

Chester Henry Pond (1844-1912) patented in 1884 the first electro-mechanical clock in the USA. In other words, it is a self-winding clock that can be synchronized with a master clock. He also founded with Charles Pratt the Self-Winding Clock Company of New York in 1886 to sell clocks of his invention. Those clocks, in the beginning, used cases and movements from Seth Thomas, Howard, and H. C. Thompson. The patented winding section was added to the movements in-house. Later, the Self-Winding Clock Co. could manufacture its own movements. As Pond needed to find a method of synchronizing many clocks nationwide, especially for the railroads, he met Garder, who used a signal sent through telegraph lines at minute intervals to many secondary clocks across many governmental buildings in Washington, DC. But the master clock had to be manually wound each week. So, Pond bought Gardner’s patent after an experiment in Chicago, Illinois, with several secondary clocks synchronized with one of his self-winding clocks. In partnership with The Western Union, he developed a nationwide service to provide An Automatic Time Signaling Device for Time Service, as it was called, for public services such as train stations, bus terminals, etc. through the Washington Naval Observatory. For more details on Chester Pond, Wikipedia.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS OR DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.53 - 1886-1887: Advertising (Sidney Advertising Clock Co. & Baird Clock Co.)
Patent rotating Sidney clock
Image published under Fair use for Educational Purpose 

It isn’t easy to attribute paternity to the development of the advertising clock in the USA because two companies were active in the same period. The Sidney Advertising Clock Co., Sidney, N.Y., and The Baird Clock Co. from Montreal, Quebec, and Plattsburgh, N.Y.
Let’s start with Sidney. Illustrated is a clock patented in 1886 by Andrew Van Woert Strait. It has the particularity of a rotating mechanism, also patented, that can show interchangeable advertisements on three cylinders. A Seth Thomas movement is linked with a lever to another mechanism in the base of the case. A bell sounds every five minutes, and the cylinders rotate to show other advertisements. Click on image to get a complete description of this clock. If you need more information on the company, click on Clock Guy.

Baird Advertising Clock
Image published under Fair use for Educational Purpose 

During the same period, The Baird Clock Company was founded in 1887 in Montreal, Quebec, by an American, Edward P. Baird. He moved to Plattsburgh, N.Y., in 1990 because he had more American and British clients for his advertising wall clocks. The clock case had two round compartments, the upper and the bigger, for the dial and movement, most of the time, a Seth Thomas and another for the pendulum. The dial and the lower case were surrounded by publicity. The door was made with “papier mâché,” and the case itself was made with cheap wood. 

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS OR DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.54 – c. 1890: China or Porcelain
Image ID214: All rights reserved, Bordloub
Art-deco kitchen clock
Image ID142: All rights reserved, Bordloub

Porcelain is derived from the word porcellana that Marco Polo used when he saw potteries during his voyages in China, hence the word China in the popular language. The porcelain clock case trend was at its high at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. Most porcelain cases were imported from Europe, especially Germany (Ansonia Royal Bonn), England, France, and Belgium. Illustrated, a Gilbert no 415 from 1901 with the ivory circled and gilt center dial. The porcelain cases of that era were highly decorated with flowers and gold accents typical of the Victorian style. Later, from the 1930s to the 1950s, clockmakers used porcelain for kitchen clocks, as the one illustrated, a Forestville Art-deco style.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS OR DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.55 – 1897: Calculagraph (Henry Abbott)
Abbott Calculagraph
Image ID293: All rights reserved, Bordloub

Henry Abbott invented the Calculagraph and established a company of the same name in New York to market it. He obtained his first patent (no 583320) in 1897 and many more as he perfected the product. A Calculagraph is a clock mechanism that calculates the duration of activity from the beginning to the end. The one illustrated has a Seth Thomas double barrel spring movement. It was used in a pool room. Other models were adapted to calculate the duration of long-distance calls, and several telephone companies acquired them. To know more, click Wikipedia.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.56 - 1902-1904: Digital Lantern or Plato (E. Fitch)
Plato Clock
Image reproduced under “Fair use for educational purpose.”

Eugene L. Fitch patented in 1902 and 1903 a clock with numbers printed on small plates. This clock was the first attempt to give time digitally rather than analogically. The small plates of the figures were encased in a portable carriage lantern, the movement being in the bottom. Therefore, this type of clock has been called Digital Lantern. Ansonia Clock Co. acquired a license and started production in 1904 in the United States under the commercial name of Plato. Junghans acquired the right to produce it in Europe. The Plato clock is also called the ticket or flick or flick-leaves clock.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS OR DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.57 – 1905: Wizard Clock (Slot-machine Clock) (Loheide Manufacturing Co.)

Primary Content – Primary Content Goes Here.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS OR DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.58 – 1906: Jewell, first programmable clock thermostat (Honeywell)

Primary Content – Primary Content Goes Here.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS OR DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.59 – 1909: Westclox Big Ben Alarm Clock (Western Clock Manufacturing Co.)
Big Ben Alarm Clock
Image ID028: All rights reserved, Bordloub
Baby Ben Alarm Clock
Image ID105: All rights reserved, Bordloub

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Westclox Big Ben is a landmark in American alarm clock history because of its outstanding commercial success and notoriety. It began in 1909 with Style 1 to 1918. The illustrated Style 1a followed. Produced from 1918 to 1935, it did not have three screws in the front. In between came Baby Ben, a 2 in. diameter movement, from 1910 to 1912 (right image). Other Baby Ben and Big Ben followed until the beginning of the 21st century. See Westclox history for a complete list of models.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS OR DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.60 – c. 1910: Tambour, Camel, Humpback or Napoleon

In catalogs of American clock leading manufacturers such as Ansonia, Waterbury, Ingraham, Sessions, New-Haven, or Seth Thomas, there is a sub-category of mantle clocks called Tambours. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as “a clock enclosed in an upright drum-shaped case with an extended base.” In the popular language, they are also named “Humpback, Camelback, or Napoleon Hat.” Elsewhere, I propose a better naming scheme for these furniture clocks. They were manufactured in the USA, beginning in the 1910s. Here are three examples.

Napoleon Hat
Image ID233: All rights reserved, Bordloub
A New Haven Napoleon Hat (c.1920)
Humpback Clock
Image ID219: All rights reserved, Bordloub
Seth Thomas Humpback or Camelback (1938)
American Tambour Clock
Image ID009: All rights reserved, Bordloub
Waterbury Cheyenne Tambour (c. 1920)

 

 

 

 

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS OR DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.61 – 1911: Time Recorder (International Business Machine Corporation)
IBM Time Recorder
Image from National Museum of American History published under Common Creative CC0 1.0 Universal – Public Domain Dedication.

This was the first Time Recorder developed by International Business Machine Corporation (IBM) in 1911, “a clock that could furnish a daily or weekly record of up to 150 employees. Based on the 1888 patent of physician Alexander Dey, the dial time recorder was essentially a spring-driven clock with a cast-iron wheel affixed to its dial side. The rim of the wheel was perforated with numbered holes. As employees pressed a rotating pointer into the hole at their assigned number, the machine recorded the time on a preprinted sheet and rang a bell with each punch. A two-color ribbon printed all regular time in green and all tardiness, early departures, and overtime in red.” (NMAH)

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS OR DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.60 – 1917: First Novelty Clocks (Lux Manufacturing Co. & Keebler, distributor)

Primary Content – Primary Content Goes Here.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS OR DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.61 – c. 1918: The Telechron (Synchronous Electric Clock - Henry Ellis Warren)

Primary Content – Primary Content Goes Here.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS OR DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.62 – 1920: Mission Style Clocks (Gustav Stickley, designer)
Image ID038: All rights reserved, Bordloub

This is an oak wall clock with brass bob and hands with a Sessions movement, typical of the Mission style. Note the open dial, the cross pieces of wood in the pendulum, and the clock bottom. Oak is the predilection wood of the Mission style quite easy to identify. The designer Gustav Stickley is the one who is responsible for the Mission clock style.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.62 - 1929: Quartz Crystal Clock (W. A. Marrison)
Electrified Quartz Crystal Displaces Clock Pendulum
New York Times 10-13-1929

 

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS OR DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.67 – 1949: Golden Hour Electric (Jefferson)
Mystery Clock
Image ID197: All rights reserved, Bordloub

This Golden Hour Electric clock was manufactured and sold by Jefferson Electric Company, Bellwood, Illinois, starting at the end of 1949. It is also called a mystery clock because it’s not evident at first sight how it works. To know more about this clock, visit the site of Roger Russell, a collector and specialist of Jefferson’s clocks. You will learn in detail that Jefferson did not invent this type of clock, but a Dutch, Leendert Prins, designed and patented the first one in the 1940s. He named it The Dutch Secret. The Nederlandsche Uurwerkfabrieken (NUFA) manufactured it. Jefferson bought a license for the original patent and modified it.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS OR DENOMINATIONS - USA
1.03.13.68 – 1960: Bulova Accutron (First electronic clock)
Cadran Bulova Accutron
Published under Fair Use for educational Purpose

Bulova wanted to develop a watch that would be more precise and more accurate than the mechanical or electronic watches before 1960. Max Hetzel was the engineer in charge of the project in 1960. Bulova marketed this innovative technology under the trademark Accutron, applied not only to its line of watches but also to its line of desk clocks as this one from the 1960s.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - UK
1.03.04.01 - 1620: Lantern or Sheep's Head
Sheap's Head Clock
Image by Postelwijn authorized under Creative Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

The Lantern clock is a one-hand (at the beginning) lantern-like wall clock from the Middle Ages. Its case, 15 to 18 in. (36 to 45 cm) high, is topped by a dome with a finial. In lantern clocks with alarm, the dome acted as a bell. Its front dial was leaning on columns. A platform with tiny round legs supported the whole thing. Weights moved its mechanism, one rope at the front for the train of time, another at the back for the ringing train, sometimes a third for an alarm. A balance wheel ensured the movement of time until the pendulum appeared around 1655. Later, with the introduction of spring, this clock became a table model resting on its four feet. Illustrated: a lantern clock from the 1670s, signed “Richard Ames Neere St. Andrew’s Church in Holborn Londini Fecit“, from the collection of “Nederlands Goud-, Zilver-en Klokkenmuseum” (Gold, Silver and Clock Netherlands Museum) in Schoonhoven, Holland. This clock with one hand and crown escapement may also be called Sheep’s Head.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - UK
1.03.04.02 - c.1650-1770: Hooded clock
Hooded clock
Image authorized under Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication

The English called Hooded Clock, those clocks that include the equivalent of the head, hence the name, of a longcase clock. Hung on the wall, the pendulum and the weights floated in the open air. It was a 30-hour clock, usually with an alarm, made of pine or oak wood, much cheaper to produce than a longcase clock. The square dial had an average of 6 to 8 inches wide but never more than ten inches wide. It was the people’s clock in the 17th century. It helped the workers wake up early in the morning, especially in the winter, because the sun at this latitude rises incredibly early in the summer. Illustrated is a hooded oak clock from the 1760s by the English clockmaker Richard Stephens from Bridgenorth. It has a brass dial with only one hand.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - UK
1.03.04.03 - c. 1658: London Longcase
London Longcase clock
Photo no F-777, S94-21278 published with the permission of the Canadian Museum of History

The London longcase became possible with the introduction of the pendulum, following the invention of Fromentel and Huygens in 1658. One of the effects of this invention is greater precision. These clocks were 30-hour or 8-day that sounded on a bell only the hours. Illustrated: A Longcase by William Jourdain (1675-1775) of London from the Canadian Museum of History collection.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - UK
1.03.04.04 - c. 1670: Bracket
An English Bracket Clock
Image: All rights reserved, Bordloub

The Bracket clock appeared in England in the 1670s as a clock placed on a wall bracket (shelf), hence its name. Over the years, made with several wood species, mahogany, walnut, rosewood, etc., the bracket became mostly a furniture clock. Illustrated, the author photographed a typical example of the Bracket clock from the early 19th century at a large American antique fair. The small handle on the top to help carry it is characteristic of some bracket clocks. Some others have a distinctive style of top and footing.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - UK
1.03.04.05 - 1797: Act of Parliament or Tavern Clock
Tavern Clock
Image by Terry Hassan authorized under Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

The Act of Parliament or Tavern Clock is a public wall clock installed in libraries, city halls, pubs, and hostels. It is a tall (36 to 40 in.) wooden wall clock consisting of two bodies, a round case that contains the wooden dial with Roman numerals, and an elongated trunk that contains the pendulum and, occasionally, the weights. It is spring-driven or weight-driven. But why are they called the Act of Parliament? In 1797, William Pitt, then Prime Minister of Great Britain, introduced a law in the British Parliament. It promulgated an annual tax of five shillings on all clocks and watches sold in the country. This law reduced clock and watch sales, with people preferring to consult public clocks. To accommodate their clients, the tavern keepers hung on their wall a sizeable circular dial timepiece with a long narrow apron, designed decades before the law. Thus, it is also called tavern clocks, as many were installed in the taverns that many English people frequented. The law was retracted a year later. Illustrated, A Tavern clock on display at Leeds Castle in England. 

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS OR DENOMINATIONS
1.03.04.06 - 1812: Binnacle Clock (Morris Tobias)
Bianncle clock by Tobias
Image reproduced under “Fair use for educational purpose”

Morris Tobias (1792-1848) patented (no 3584) in 1812 a clock to be used at sea. The movement is enclosed in a wooden box. The dial has three rings: in the middle, the regular 12-hour with roman numbers alternating with diamond-shape dots; next to it, the 24-hour divided into three 8-hour, the upper one below the XII number; the outer ring is divided into six quarters of 5 minutes, the number 30 over the 8 and XII numbers. The hour hand made a revolution every 8 hours, the minute hand every 30 minutes. A bell rings every hour from 1 to 8 strikes. The bell also rings once every 30 minutes.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - UK + 3.01 – PROPULSION MODES
1.03.04.07 - 1840: Bain's Electrical Clock
Bain's electrical clock
Image by Museumsfoto, via Wikimedia, authorized under Creative Commons CC 3.0 DE

Alexander Bain, a Scottish clockmaker, invented and patented the first clock powered by electric current in 1840. A year later, he patented with John Barwise, a chronometer specialist, a clock with an electromagnetic pendulum activated by electricity, replacing springs or weights power (Illustrated). 

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - UK
1.03.04.08 - 1880-1920: Sedan Clock
Sedan Pocket Clock
Image reproduced under “Fair use for educational purpose”

The Sedan clock is small, about 6 inches in diameter. This Georgian-style wall or coach clock was famous in the late 1800s and early 1900s. It had a 30-hour watch-size movement, although some models had movements made precisely for them. Owning these sedan clocks was synonymous with financial ease. Their owner could have several sedans hung on the wall at home while traveling by coach with others. They are rare and expensive. 

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS
1.03.04.09 - UK - Congreve or Time-Ball (1808)

Rolling ball clock in the British MuseumSir William Congreve invented the Congreve or Time-Ball clock in 1908, for which he obtained a patent. A ball that rolls in a zigzag on a rail replaced the pendulum. It takes 15 to 60 seconds to hit the escapement that overturns the tray, which produces the progress of the clock hands, and so on. See Wikipedia for more details. Illustrated: a Congreve clock from 1820 exposed at the British Museum in London.

(Photograph by Mike Peel, authorized under Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0)

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS OR DENOMINATIONS - Austria
1.03.01.01 - 1705: Holzräderuhr (Wooden Movement clock)
Wooden mvt clock 1705
Image from Deutsches Uhrenmuseum published under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 license.
1705 Wood movement
Image from Deutsches Uhrenmuseum published under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 license.

 

The illustrated clock was made in Vorarlberg in 1705. It has a complete wooden movement. Note the two bells. Looking at the movement, this clock struck every hour and quarter. It also had a moon phases indicator at the top of the clock, only hand but a smaller one on its own dial. The drawing of the dial seems artisanal. It was drawn on paper glued to the wood dial.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - Austria
1.03.05.02 - 1780: Zappler Clock

This Austrian Zappler clock (c. 1780), photographed by the author in an American antique fair, is characterized by the pendulum beating in front of the dial, also called the Cow-tail clock. Sometimes, two pendulums beat in opposite directions. Their name comes from the German word Zapplen, meaning fidget, a restless moving, like a cow tail. This one has a dome over it, but it is not the case with all Zapplers. Some have different shapes built in several materials: porcelain, brass, pewter, etc. The origin of the Zappler style dates to the 16th and 17th century Telleruhr clock made in Germany, especially in Ausburg, and Austria, a small wall or furniture clock with a flat dial with the pendulum hanging over it. Zappler clocks may also belong to the Novelty clock category because of the peculiar movement of their pendulum.

(Image: All rights reserved, Bordloub)

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - Austria
1.03.05.03 - End-18th c.: Vienna Regulator
Austrian Vienna Regulator
Image reproduced under “Fair use for educational purpose”

Austrian watchmakers are the actual initiators of the Vienna Regulator at the end of the 18th century. The idea was to create a precision clock, hence the name regulator. On the other hand, Germans like Gustav Becker produced more Vienna regulators than the Austrians themselves.
Click Styles of Vienna Regulators to know more about Vienna regulators and see many pictures. This is the best site for this type of clock.

 

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - Austria
1.03.05.04 - 1825-1848: Bretteluhren
Bretteluhren clock
Image published under “Fair use for educational purpose“

The Bretteluhren clocks were low price timepieces for the less wealthy. It was a 20- to 30-inch-long board to which a box containing the small movement four inches high at most, either spring or weight, was attached at the top. An open dial was fitted in front of the box. The Bretteluhrens were built during the Biedermeier period.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - Austria
1.03.05.05 - c.1885: Postman Clock
Postman Clock
Image ID124: All rights reserved, Bordloub

According to the trademark on the dial, Andres and Dworsky manufactured this illustrated weight clock in Karlstein, Austria, between 1885 and 1905. Its movement has brass gears in a wooden frame. The glass dial has a chapter ring and decor painted directly on the back, so the hands are in the open air. It is called Postman’s Clock in the German tradition. Black Forest clockmakers also made this type of clock.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - Austria
1.03.05.06 - End-19th c.: Pictural or picture frame
Austrian Frame Clock
Image by Karl Gruber via Wikimedia Commons published under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 license.

Pictural or picture frame clocks with a large dial in the middle of the frame, on top or bottom, were manufactured in Austria and later in the German Black Forest from the late 19th century until the beginning of the 20th century. Austrian frame clocks are spring-driven and chime the quarters. The bell is usually attached to the movement. Some have Grande sonnerie. The movement shape is more French style, and many run only two or three between each wind. The insert is more likely embossed gilded tin or brass for the more luxurious. The illustrated example from the Hammerherren Museum at Lunz am See is dated 1869 and may have the Grande sonnerie

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - Denmark
1.03.06.01 - Mid-18th c.: Bornholm Clock

Longcase clocks in Denmark are called Bornholm from the name of the Denmark town on the Baltic Sea. Around 1740, a boat full of longcase English clocks exported to Russia wrecked on the shores of Bornholm Island. The inhabitants decided to rescue the shipment and began to make longcase clocks of their style. The cases were painted white or light color with decorations, like flowers, to imitate the Chinese lacquer (1750-1800) or garlands and laurel wreaths from an Empire-style inspiration (1800-1830). Some had round-topped.

The artisanal production of these clocks had grown so big that the capital Copenhagen’s clock manufacturers complained that too many Bornholms were sold on their market. Anyway, the production died out towards the end of the 19th century with the arrival of mass-produced clocks from the German Black Forest, France, and America. Illustrated: two longcase Bornholm clocks (Bornholmerur) from 1760 and 1745 from the Kulturhistorisk (Historic Culture) Museum, a division of Bornholms Museum in Rønne, Denmark.

(Image by Leif Jørgensen authorized under Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0 International)

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - France
16th c.: L'horloge renaissance (Renaissance clock)
1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - France
1.03.07.02 - 1610-1643: Pendule Louis XIII

The austere and Protestant English style of Henry IV influenced the Louis XIII style: simple lines and few antique decorations. “Ebony wood is starting to be used, as well as its veneer in very thin sheets of one millimeter placed on oak or walnut with a perfectly flat surface. The blackened pear tree economically replaces ebony. The sculptures are of low relief, and moldings with little protruding frame them. These are waved and glued to the wood. The busts-portraits appear (Tardy, La Pendule française, 1st part, 1961, p. 2 – My translation). Few of these clocks remain, hence the difficulty of finding illustrations. However, if this current still exists at the beginning of the reign of Louis XIV, a second coexists, this one being a reminiscence of the renaissance clock inspired by the “Flemish and Italian Baroque characterized by a fantastic exaggeration and a profusion of heavy and massive ornaments… cartouche of various shapes, branches of palm crossed in X or palm and laurel crossed, garlands of draperies, torso columns (Id. – My translation)”.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - France
1.03.07.03 - 1643-1715: Pendule Louis XIV

Tardy (1961) distinguishes three periods in the development of the Louis XIV style:

  1. 1643-1655: Transition from heavy style Louis XIII clock to “simpler, more majestic proportions.”
  2. 1656-1699: Great style: rich decorations, simple but imposing lines and beautiful proportions, sobriety of ornamentation, use of motifs inspired by Greco-Roman antiquity inspiring power, such as laurels, shields, helmets, lion’s heads and feet, shells, lilies, garlands of fruits and flowers, dolphins, palmettes, etc.
  3. 1700-1715: Towards the Regency: the symbols of warrior power give way to elements closer to nature or mythology, straight lines are replaced by elegant curves and counter-curves, beginning of the influence of oriental arts, use of cabinetmaking techniques specific to furniture, such as the tenon-mortise assembly, the dovetail, and especially the veneer and marquetry under the impetus of the great cabinetmaker André-Charles Boulle who also gave his name to a French clock type.

ThiMartinot1678s 1678 clock represents the second period of the Louis XIV style. Balthazar Martinot (1636-1714) made the movement, and Antoine-Charles Boulle the case.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - France
1.03.07.04 - Late 17th c.: Pendule religieuse (Religious Clock)

The late 17th century Pendule religieuse is the French version of the English Bracket Clock. The name comes from the analogy of its form with the architecture of churches. Wrongly called Louis XIII, since the Pendule religieuse became popular 20 years after the death of Louis XIII, it is more a Louis XIV style clock. The old 16th century Italian cabinets inspire its form.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - France
1.03.07.05 - 17th c.: Pedestal clock

Primary Content – Primary Content Goes Here.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - France
1.03.07.06 - 17th c.: Boulle Clock

André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732) is known as the jeweler of furniture. He is undoubtedly the best cabinetmaker of his time, known for his marquetry and clock cases. He was the cabinetmaker of Louis XIV. The original Boulle clocks are museum objects. But several French, German and Swiss manufacturers were inspired by the style. Illustrated: A Boulle clock (c. 1695), from the Cleveland Museum of Art. For more information about this clock, click below on the image link.

(Image authorized under Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication)

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - France
1.03.07.07 - c. 1670: Pendule longue ligne (Long pendulum clock)

Primary Content – Primary Content Goes Here.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - France
1.03.07.08 - 1675-1725: Tête de Poupée (Doll's Head Clock)
Doll Head Clock
Image reproduced under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Germany)

The Tête de poupée (doll’s head) clock was famous in France in the last quarter of the 17th century. It is so named because it looks like a bust. Boulle marquetry very often decorated these clocks. Here is an example from the Deutsches Uhrenmuseum by Balthazar Martinot II (1636-1714), a Rouen clockmaker.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS
1.03.07.09 - 17th-18th c.: Horloge Normande (Clock from Normandy)

The Normande is a long-case clock made in Normandie, particularly during the 17th and 18th centuries. Normandie was a prolific region for building tall-case clocks with diverse shapes and woods. Some were narrow; others were curved like a lyre or violin or even a feminine character (Demoiselles). Oak, chestnut, fir, pine, cherry, and, more rarely, walnut were the woods used, often carved in French provincial style. Each region of Normandie had its style. The dials also were characteristic of a region, for example, the Rouen faience. Tardy, La Pendule française, is the best reference to distinguish their style by region. The original movement of the Normande was 24-30 hours with a short pendulum. In the 18th c., 8-day movements were more common. And more robust Comtoises movements replaced the Normandie movement.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATION - France
1.03.07.10 - 17th c.: Demoiselles
Une Normande "Demoiselle"
(Image reproduced under “Fair use for educational purpose”)

The Demoiselles floor clocks are a sub-set of the Normandie clocks. They were primarily made in Caen and Bayeux. They had an exceptionally long feminine shape. They had a 30-hour movement with a long pendulum with a bob seen in the middle of the clock through a glass porthole. Some had an 8-day movement like this early 19th century model. The top of the clock contains the movement, a shape reminiscent of the English hood of the long-case clock. The Demoiselles were extremely popular in the 17th century. Click on Image for a description of this beautiful clock.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - France
1.03.07.11 - 1715-1723: Pendule Régence

Primary Content – Primary Content Goes Here.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - France
1.03.07.12 - 1723-1774: Pendule Louis XV

Primary Content – Primary Content Goes Here.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - France
1.03.07.13 - 1750-1939: Pendule de Paris

The Pendule de Paris is not defined by its style or the city of its origin but by its movement. It is a round movement created around 1750. Its production lasted until 1939. It comes in three varieties: 74,44 mm (2,75 French inches), 81,21 mm (3 Fr. in.), 87,98 mm (3, 25 Fr. in.), and 90,14 mm (3,33 Fr. in.). A French inch = 27.7 mm, a little bigger than an English inch. It has two barrels that contain the springs, one for the time and one for the striking. It is equipped with several escapements and suspensions, the best known as the Brocot. There is a site in French that thoroughly covers the Pendule de Paris, so there is no need for me to add to it. The only drawback is the language; you may use a web translator, knowing that “échappement” will probably be translated by “exhaust” instead of “escapement.” The site is not secure (no https), and ads at the bottom cover the information. Clik Le mouvement de Paris to get access. Illustrated, an A. D. Movement “Deux médailles” (Two medals) movement from the end of 19th century, equipped with a Brocot suspension.

A.D. Mougin - Mvt de Paris
Image 154mvt): All rights reserved, Bordloub
A.D. Mougin Mvt de Paris_Back
Image 154mvtB): All rights reserved, Bordloub
A. D. Mougin Paris Movement
Image 154mvtB): All rights reserved, Bordloub
1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS
1.03.07.14 - 1750-1900: Comtoises (Morbier or Morez)
French Comtoise Clock
Image ID290: All Right Reserved, Bordloub

The Comtoise clock, also known in its Morbier or Morez varieties, is a longcase floor clock made in Franche-Comté, hence its name, from 1750 to early 1900. The brass wheel movement is usually all-metal and placed in an iron cage. The wood case is elongated while curved. Its ornate pendulum is metal and extends outside the movement metal cage. Here is a traditional Comtoise (middle of 19th c.) by the watchmaker Ro Manet à Bully, Loire, without a wooden case. 

The Morbier is a variety of Comtoises.  Indeed, Morbier is a commune of Jura in Franche-Comté. Morez was also, in the 19th century, a commune of the department of Jura in Franche-Comté in eastern France. Morez was the center of clock manufacturing. Thus, a Morez is a Comtoise for the same reason as the Morbier.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - France
1.03.07.15 - 1774-1792: Pendule Louis XVI

Primary Content – Primary Content Goes Here.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - France
1.03.07.16 - 1774-1792: Cartel
French Cartel clock
(Image: All rights reserved, Bordloub)

The Cartel clock is an 18th century wall clock, shaped like a cartridge, fitted with round movements like the Pendules de Paris. The dial was metal or porcelain covered by a glazed bezel. The case was gilded wood, very often in a rococo style, like this one, a French cartel photographed by the author in an American Antique Fair. The Cartel began during Louis XVI’s reign. It was primarily used in the boudoir room and living. 

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - France
1.03.07.17 - 1780-1820: Pendule d'officier (Officer Pendulum)

Popular pendulum during the Napoleonic Wars, hence its name, equipped with an alarm, it was a small travel clock usually made of metal or wood with a leather case or wooden case. They were manufactured in France and Switzerland, and Germany from 1780 to 1820.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS
1.03.07.18 - Late-18th c.: Capucine
Pendule Capucine
Capucine French Travel Clock Image reproduced under “Fair use for educational purpose”

Do you see a hooded monk when you look at the illustrated clock? If you have a lot of imagination, your answer will be positive, as those who named it Capucine. The clock is about 12 in. (30 cm) high with the handle for transport and its bell on top. A small leather case served to keep the Capucine safe for traveling. Its origin dates to the late 18th century. It succeeded to the Pendule d’officier. But the Capucine is the predecessor of the Pendule de voyage with its alarm. 

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - France
1.03.07.19 - Late-18th c.: Four-glass or Lantern

Primary Content – Primary Content Goes Here.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - France
1.03.07.20 - End 18th c.: 10 Hour Decimal Clock
10-hour Decimal Clock
Image from the Khalili Collections authorized under Creative Common CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Beginning with the French Revolution, France divided the day into ten decimal hours, every hour into 100 decimal minutes, and every minute into 100 seconds. The illustrated clock from 1793-1794 shows the standard time and the decimal time on the lower dial. The French tried to get the decimal system adopted by the world’s countries without success. So, they adopted with resignation the current standard system at the beginning of the 20th century. For more details, see Wikipedia.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - France
1.03.07.21 - End-18th c.: Pendule de voyage

Primary Content – Primary Content Goes Here.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - France
1.03.07.22 - 1790-1830: Horloge planétaire (Orrery Clock)
Orrery by John Rowley
• (Image authorized under Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

An Orrery is a scientific instrument, operated manually or mechanically, that represents in 3D the solar system with the movement of the planets. John Rowley first presented it in the 1710s to the 4th Earl of Orrery, Charles Boyle, nobleman and patron of sciences. Rowley designed it after George Graham’s smaller first mechanical model of the solar system, made by himself with his friend Thomas Tompion.

Orrery_clock
Image by Daderot, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Many French clockmakers, such as Antide Janvier, Louis Thouverez, and the Raingo Brothers, were fascinated by the orrery. They designed a clock with an orrery on top, like the one illustrated from the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York: a Louis Thouverez, gilt bronze, white marble, brass, and enamel orrery clock (Horloge planétaire in French). A ribbon gives the time.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - France
1.03.07.23 - 1795-1800: Pendule Directoire

The Pendule Directoire 

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - France
1.03.07.24 - 1799-1840: Pendule Empire
EMPIRE French Clock
Image: All rights reserved, Bordloub

I photographed this French Empire clock at an American Antique Fair. Bronze-gilded, quite typical with a mythological character, a warrior angel carrying a sword and shield, this Empire is more a style than a type of clock. But it is typical of French clockmaking. The Empire period covered the first third of the 19th century (1799-1840), from Napoleon I to Charles X.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - France
1.03.07.25 - 1800-1850: Portico or Canopy Clock
French Portico or Canopy Clock
Image ID264: All rights reserved, Bordloub

The Portico clock is believed to be of French origin. It can also be called the Four-poster or Canopy Clock, but Portico is more common. It is an Empire-style clock. An example shows the four-column structure between a base and a top, the clock dial lying in the middle of the front columns, leaving the pendulum open to beat in the middle. Honoré Pons (1773-1851), a French clockmaker born in Grenoble, designed and manufactured the movement of this clock. The French state commissioned Pons to revive the clock industry in Saint-Nicolas d’Aliermont, Normandy, where he settled in 1807. A crest of the 1827 Gold Medal is engraved on the movement plate. Unfortunately, we do not know the cabinetmaker who designed and manufactured the marquetry case, of which there are several examples on the market with decorative variants. This clock was manufactured between 1827 and 1834 when Pons received a new gold medal, followed by others in 1839 and 1844. Pons sold his workshops and equipment to the clockmaker Borromeo Délepine in 1846, the latter continuing Pons’s work. He was signing his clocks “Honoré Pons à Paris.”

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - France
1.03.07.20 - 1795: Pendule sympathique

Abraham-Louis Breguet imagined in 1795 a clock that could wind and adjust mechanically the time of a pocket watch installed on a special craddle on top of its case. Breguet named his clock “Horloge sympathique”: the term expresses the idea of ​​understanding and harmony, ‘sympathy’ being, in an initiatory vocabulary, the universal principle which accords the organs of the human body to each other, as well as men and the cosmos. The first one was built for the Duc d’Orléans. It strikes the quarters and has a silver dial. The case is veneered with red tortoiseshell. Breguet made four other sympathiques, all for wealthy people, such as Sultan Mahmud II (1784-1839), Prince-Regent of England, and Louis-Philippe 1er.

Horloge sympathétique de Breguet
Image reproduced under “Fair use for educational purpose.”
1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - France
1.03.07.27 - 1810-1840: Raingo Clock (Orrery)
Raingo Frères - Horloge planétaire (Orrery clock)
(Image authorized under Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 International)

In 1810, Zacharie Joseph Raingo filed a patent for a «pendule à sphère mouvante» (a clock with a moving sphere) and published an article on the subject in 1823. The same year, Zacharie created with his four sons La Maison Raingo Frères (House of Raingo Brothers). Raingo made so many orrery clocks that it was usual to name them “Raingo clocks.” The illustrated one comes from the Science Museum Group Collection. It’s a Portico or canopy-type clock. Note the small key just under the canopy to wind the mechanical orrery.

“Dated 1830–2, this ornate planetary model was made by the Parisian clock makers, Raingo Frères. Called an orrery or more correctly a tellurium, it is a demonstration device to show the motions of the Earth and Moon around the Sun. It consists of a wooden drum base containing a music box surmounted by a four-legged stand supporting the orrery and a timepiece. This spring driven pendulum clock drives the planetary model at the same rate as the heavens. A glass dome that is now missing, originally covered the whole mechanism. Such apparatus became popular during seventeenth century especially after Sir Isaac Newton published his universal theory of gravity.” (Citation from The Science Museum Group published as is under CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication)

 

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - France
1.03.07.28 - 1867: Conical de Farcot
De Farcot Clock
Image: All rights reserved, Bordloub

Henri-Eugène-Adrien Farcot (1830-1896), a French clockmaker, registered several patents during his career. We owe him the conical clock in which the pendulum moves in a cone instead of moving from left to right, like this clock I photographed at an American Antique Fair. Farcot also built several monumental conical clocks for public places. He exhibited them at the Paris World’s Fair in 1867.

 

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - France
1.03.07.29 - 1920: Bulle Clock
French Bulle Clock
Image reproduced under “Fair use for educational purpose”

M. T. Favre-Bulle invented this type of clock in 1920. It is an electro-magnetic clock based upon the technology developed by Alexander Bain in the 1840s that Favre-Bull improved. This clock is usually placed under a glass globe, a lantern, or a wooden case.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - Holland
1.03.08.01 - c.1670: Holland Bracket

The Dutch began to create bracket-style furniture clocks in the 17th century. Johannes van Ceulen of The Hague built the illustrated clock (1675) from The Science Museum Group of Holland. The case with glass windows on each side is made of black japanned wood, the back of the dial is orange fabric, and the dial itself is brass.

The all brass and iron movement is a work of art, so it is decorated. The clockmaker engraved its name and his city on the front platinum of the movement.

Warmink manufactured in the middle of the 20th century under the WUBA brand, a modern Dutch interpretation of the English Bracket clock.

(Images authorized under Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 International)

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - Holland
1.03.08.02 - 1670-1730: Zaandam or Zaanse Clock

Historic Zaandam clocks date back from 1670 to 1730. They took the city’s name where they were built or the name of the Zaan River that crisscrossed the city, even though they were made throughout the region called Zaanland. The 30-hour weight movement is attached to an open wooden case on both sides. Generally, they have twisted columns at the four corners of the main box that contains the movement. The box is attached to the back, extends up and down, and rests on two wooden squares, between which is a gilded brass ornament. On the front, the brass dial crown, in Roman numerals, is framed by four brass spandrels. Above the case are a brass pediment that barely hides the Atlas God behind it and the bell ringing the hours. The pear-shaped weights are characteristic of the Zaandam. The original Zaandams are rare, but many vintage reproductions are available with German movements like those in modern cuckoos, such as this 1966 Zaandam.

( Image ID040: All rights reserved, Bordloub )

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - Holland
1.03.08.03 - 17th c.: Haagse Klojes (Hague Clocks)
Haags klokje by Pieter Visbach, The Hague, 1670-1685
Image published under Educational fair use

The oldest Haags clocks were simply boxes with a small movement with a bell on top hung on the wall. Later, the clocks, influenced by the French clockmakers, became more sophisticated (illustrated). This is a Dutch interpretation of the English bracket clock. This Haags klokje (The Hague clock), made by Pieter Visbach c. 1670-1685, is a striking clock with an ebonized case made of tortoiseshell veneer. Its single barrel, almost square engraved movement, has a verge escapement suspended with cycloidal cheeks. A countwheel on top of the case is used to strike the bell.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - Holland
1.03.08.04 - 1700-1800: Stoeltjesklok (stoel = seat) or Friesland Clock
Friesland alarm timepiece, on a wooden bracket, with pendulum, chains, three weights, and one pulley.

The Friesland clock appeared in the early 18th century as a cheap version of Zaandam. This clock has taken the name “Stoeltjesklok” because it gives the impression of sitting on a kind of chair capped with a canopy: “stoel” means “seat.” Initially, the case that carried the movement was in iron. An iron door was on the back, glass windows on the sides, and a painted iron dial with floral motifs surmounted by a landscape at the front. The brass needle was unique. The case sat on a four-foot wooden base, placed on a small shelf attached to the back, which extended upwards to be capped by a small two-slope roof with a highly decorated bronzed brass pediment. The iron case was attached to the wooden back and framed by sirens or birds sculpted on wood. These weight-driven 30-hour clocks were manufactured in the provinces of Friesland and Groningen in northern Holland. Illustrated, a Friesland from the 18th century.

(Image authorized under Common Creative CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 International)

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - Holland
1.03.08.05 - c.1750: Staartklok (Staart = tail)

In the middle of the 18th century, the Staartklok clocks were luxury versions of the Stoeltjesklok. It was a 30-hour weight-driven wall clock with two bells, characterized by a metal painted dial, rectangular in shape, sometimes topped with lunar phases, a calendar, or even small automatons. There were also small doors on the side of the main case. Unlike the Stoelklok, the movement was enclosed in the wooden case. In the 19th century, the Staart clock lost its metal crown; it was replaced by an arch topped with finials on each side in the shape of trumpet players and dominating the middle, a finial representing the Atlas God. In addition, it usually had a long extension in front of which the chains, weights, and pendulum went in the open air. These clocks were widely exported, but the arrival of German regulators caused their loss. However, they are still manufactured in Holland by the Dutch Clocks, who also produce Zaandam and other typical Dutch models.

(Image by Carillonnl authorized under Creative Commons CC BY-SA 3.0)

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - Holland
1.03.08.06 - 1825-1850: "Schippertje" (Little Skipper)

On the model of the Friesland clock, but with a movement capable of withstanding the vagaries of the sea, small clocks called Schippertje for Little Captain were made from the 1825s to the 1850s. Their movements ranged from 4 to 5 inches (10 to 13 cm). The anchor escapement was mounted horizontally on the top plate. Warmink also manufactured such clocks between the 1950s and 1970s, like the one illustrated.

(Image reproduced under “Fair use for educational purpose“)

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - Holland
1.03.08.07 - 1950-1970: Sallander Clock

Sallander clocks come from the Salland region of the Netherlands, hence their name. They are vintage clocks produced between the 1950s and 1970s by a company in Almelo, Holland, founded in 1929 by the Warmink family. It was the Warmink Uurwerken in Barometers Almelo, which later became simply Warmink. It manufactured several types of typically Dutch clocks under the acronym WUBA. The illustrated model is a modern interpretation of a mixture of ancient Dutch styles Zaandam, Stoeltjesklok, and Staartklok, an 8-day with lunar phases striking at half-hours and hours. These clocks are still available online in a store maintained by the Dutch Clocks Co., located in the province of North Brabant in the south of the Netherlands, whose mission is to share their passion for Dutch clocks to the rest of the world by selling specimens of Dutch clocks to amateurs and collectors.

(Image reproduced under “Fair use for educational purpose“)

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - Sweden
1.03.8.01 - 1792-1910: Mora Clock

The Mora clock is the Swedish version of the longcase clock. They were made from the 18th century (c. 1792) to the early 19th century (c. 1910) in the village of Mora in The Province of Darlarna, Sweden. These clocks, usually made of pine, were Rococo-style, feminine in shape with graceful curves. They were custom clocks. The customer had to buy a movement from a clockmaker in Mora and a case from a local cabinetmaker.

(Image authorized under Common Creative CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication)

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS
1.03.8.02 - Mid-20th c.: Swedish Cartel

In the middle of the 20th century, Westerstrand manufactured several French cartel-style wall clocks, such as this one, with a Swedish Westerstrand movement. It is made of gilded wood. At the bottom of the clock, you can see in the small glass aperture the lens (bob) of the pendulum.

(Image ID201: All rights reserved, Bordloub)

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS
1.03.10.01 - 1599: Liechti Iron Clock

According to Alan Smith’s The International Dictionary of Clocks, the Liechti family worked in clockmaking for 300 years in the same city, Winterthur. They produced both public and domestic clocks like the one illustrated from the collection of the British Museum in London. It is an iron one-hand clock in the style of English lanterns, made by the two brothers Ulrich and Andreas Liechti in 1599. This clock, which measures 15 inches high (37,5 cm), rang the hours and half hours on a bell perched atop the iron frame. Its painted dial indicated time as well lunar phases.

(Image by British Museum Trustee authorized under Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 International)

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - Switzerland
1.03.10.02 - 18th c.: Davos Clock

Swiss watchmakers have also produced a wooden German Black Forest-style clock, especially in the city of Davos, thus their name. They were rudimentary, as we can see in the illustrated one dated 1765. The one-hand case was made of softwood, usually linden. A draft paper was glued to the face representing a dial with two rings, one for hours, the other for minutes, and a small alarm disc. On top of the case, a bell hit by a small hammer served as the alarm.

(Image from a Swiss website reproduced under “Fair use for educational purpose“)

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - Switzerland
1.03.10.03 - Jura Clock

The Jura is a wall clock with weights, its case set in black painted wood. The dial is made of metal with no glass to protect it. A little later, springs replaced weights, the dial protected by glass, metal feet added, and the clock became an object placed on a piece of furniture. It also ended up adopting the enamel dial popular in France. The square shape had also been rounded in the French way.

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - Switzerland
1.03.10.04 - 1750-1850: Neuchâteloise Clock

Initially, a Neuchâteloise was a clock made in the Canton of Neuchâtel, but it became a clock style. The style developed in contact with French clockmakers in the middle of the 18th century until the middle of the 19th century, and it is no stranger to the Louis XV style. The city of La Chaux-de-Fonds quickly became the center of Swiss watch and clockmaking, where the Neuchâteloise Swiss clock style took off. The illustrated one has a German-made Hermle 131-080 21cm/148 movement, but there is no indication where the case has been made. But we know that other countries have built Neuchâteloise-style clocks. It is the case in this example. Usually, these clocks are sold with a shelf to hang on the wall.

(Image CP: All rights reserved, Bordloub)

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - Switzerland
1.03.10.05 - 1926: Atmospheric Clock (Jean-Léon Reutter)

The atmospheric clock was developed in 1926 by Jean-Léon Reutter of Neuchâtel, Switzerland. The Swiss company Jaeger-LeCoultre, the patent holder, is credited with commercializing this type of clock. Here is a classic Jaeger-LeCoultre with a torsion pendulum. To know more about how it functions, see Wikipedia.

( Image CP:  All rights reserved, Bordloub )

1.03 – NATIONAL CREATIONS and DENOMINATIONS - Switzerland
1.03.10.06 - Small Clock or Alarm Clocks with a Watch Style Movement

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Swiss specialty is the watch. Thus, many small alarm clocks have movements that look like watches’ movements in an oversized format. Here is a small Swiss travel alarm clock (“Swiss” is inscribed at the bottom of the dial), a Terheyden in brass whose movement is like that of a large pocket watch. This 15-ruby movement is named after the Cortland Concord Watch Co., a leading Swiss manufacturer of luxury watches and small clocks. According to my research, Cortland is the Concord Watch registered trademark. As for the name on the dial, it is the brand of a great Pittsburgh jeweler in Pennsylvania, which was founded in 1854. I don’t think it still exists.

(Image ID055: All rights reserved, Bordloub)

Don`t copy text!
Verified by MonsterInsights