Clocks · Alarm clock
Alarm clock by Union Clock Company, Germany, 1900
- Maker / attribution
- Union Clock Company (creator)
- Date
- 1900
- Historical period
- Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
- Country of origin
- Germany
- Place
- Furtwangen im Schwarzwald
- Object type
- Alarm clock
- Holding institution
- German Clock Museum
- Accession / object no.
- Museu_ProvidedCHO_museum_digital_19531__technical_number_
- Catalogue title (original)
- Babywecker mit Affenbarbier, Union Clock Company, Furtwangen, um 1900 (German)
Record summary
Held and catalogued by German Clock Museum (object number Museu_ProvidedCHO_museum_digital_19531__technical_number_), this is an alarm clock by Union Clock Company, made in Furtwangen im Schwarzwald, Germany, dated 1900. The Atlas places it in the Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking period (1900 – 1945) of its Clocks collection. 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
Catalogue description from German Clock Museum (German)
Babywecker mit beweglicher Figur "Affenbarbier", Union Clock Company, Furtwangen, um 1900. Das Papierzifferblatt zeigt einen Mann, der sich von einem "Affenbarbier" rasieren läßt. Das Hin- und Herschwingen des Arms ist an die Bewegung des Ankers gekoppelt. (Deutsches Uhrenmuseum Furtwangen)
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 An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.
Historical context
Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
The wristwatch displaces the pocket watch; waterproof cases, self-winding and grand complications.
Between 1900 and 1945 clocks were electrified: master-clock systems ran factories and offices, synchronous mains clocks entered homes, and the Shortt free-pendulum clock set new standards of accuracy before the first quartz clocks (1927). Art Deco design reshaped mantel and table clocks.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Industrial Revolution
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.
Related records
Pocket Watches · 1890
Pocket watch by Union Clock Company, Germany, 1890
German Clock Museum
Clocks · 1900
Clock by Josef Münzer, Germany, 1900
German Clock Museum
Clocks · 1900
Clock by Mathias Bäuerle, Germany, 1900
German Clock Museum
Clocks · 1900
Cuckoo / black forest clock by Gebr. Lehnis, Germany, 1900
German Clock Museum
Clocks · 1900
Mantel clock by A. G. für Uhrenfabrikation Lenzkirch, Germany, 1900
German Clock Museum
Clocks · 1900
Regulator clock, Germany, 1900
German Clock Museum
Clocks · 1900
Table clock by Emilian Wehrle & Co., Germany, 1900
German Clock Museum
Clocks · 1900
Table clock, Germany, 1900
German Clock Museum