Clocks · Alarm clock
Alarm clock by Uhren und Maschinenfabrik Ruhla, 1980s
- Maker / attribution
- Uhren und Maschinenfabrik Ruhla (maker)
- Date
- 1980s
- Historical period
- Quartz Revolution (1969 – 1990)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Place
- DDR, Ruhla
- Object type
- Alarm clock
- Materials / technique
- plastic
- Holding institution
- HKM / Kulttuurihistoriallinen
- Accession / object no.
- A236-31
- Credit line
- HKM / Kulttuurihistoriallinen (via Finna)
- Catalogue title (original)
- kello; herätyskello; Ruhla (Finnish)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by HKM / Kulttuurihistoriallinen (object number A236-31), this is an alarm clock by Uhren und Maschinenfabrik Ruhla, made in DDR, Ruhla, dated 1980s. The Atlas places it in the Quartz Revolution period (1969 – 1990) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: plastic. The record is illustrated with 1 photograph.
Assembled from the source record's structured fields. Dates and attributions are given as the source states them; where a field is missing the Atlas leaves it blank rather than estimating.
Catalogue description
Description — HKM / Kulttuurihistoriallinen
fyysinen kuvaus: Paristokäyttöinen. Edestä suorakaide, sivut hieman ylös kapenevat. Päällä iso musta herätyspainike, takana h-n säätö. Irtoava takakansi, alla tila 1,5 V paristolle, viisareiden säätö. Viisareissa, numeroissa fosforikorist.
Shown in the original language of the source catalogue. An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.
Inscriptions & marks
merkintä, ruhla, eurochron QUARTZ, made in DDR
Historical context
Quartz Revolution (1969 – 1990)
Seiko's Astron begins mass quartz timekeeping; traditional industries contract sharply.
Quartz movements and digital displays made accurate clocks cheap and ubiquitous after the early 1970s. LED and LCD clocks, clock radios and radio-controlled clocks appeared, while traditional mechanical clockmaking contracted sharply in Germany, France and Britain.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Modern Mechanical Horology
Atlas type guide
Alarm clocks
Alarm work is among the oldest clock functions: monastic clocks woke monks for night prayers, and Renaissance table clocks often carried an alarm disc set by a pin. A separate spring or weight is released at the set time and drives a hammer against a bell. Some early alarms also lit a candle by striking a flint — the 'tinder pistol' alarm.
The cheap, mass-produced alarm clock arrived in the second half of the nineteenth century. American firms such as Seth Thomas and Westclox (the 'Big Ben' of 1910) and German makers such as Junghans and Kienzle made millions of drum-shaped alarms with pin-pallet escapements. Electric, quartz and digital alarm clocks followed in the twentieth century.
What to look for
- A separate alarm-setting dial or disc and an extra winding key.
- Twin bells on top (common after c. 1920) or a bell enclosed in the base.
- Pin-pallet escapements in inexpensive factory alarms.
- Trademarks and patent dates on dial or back.
Dating clues
- Renaissance alarm table clocks: sixteenth to seventeenth centuries.
- Drum alarm clocks: from the 1870s.
- Luminous dials with radium paint: c. 1910–1960.
General guidance written by the Atlas editors about this kind of object. It is not a statement about this particular piece; for that, rely on the source record above and on physical examination.
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