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American Cuckoo Clock Co. Black Forest Wall Clock, c. 1910 — view 1 of 4
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Clocks · Clock

American Cuckoo Clock Co. Black Forest Wall Clock, c. 1910

DocumentedDocumented from an auction catalogue; attribution as stated by the auction house.
Maker / attribution
Unrecorded in source
Date
c. 1910
Historical period
Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
Country of origin
United States
Object type
Clock
Auction house
LiveAuctioneers auction archive
Lot
Item 97469739
Credit line
Auction lot record: lot 341, American & European Timepieces | Online, Fontaine's Auction Gallery (2021), via LiveAuctioneers
Catalogue title (original)
American Cuckoo Clock Co. Black Forest Wall Clock (English)

View the source record (auction lot) ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction

Record summary

Catalogued by LiveAuctioneers auction archive (lot Item 97469739), this is a clock, made in United States, dated c. 1910. The Atlas places it in the Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking period (1900 – 1945) of its Clocks collection. The record is illustrated with 4 photographs.

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

Lot description — Fontaine's Auction Gallery

American Cuckoo Clock Co. Black Forest Wall Clock, Germany, circa 1910, carved case with oak leaves and acorns, carved leaf pendulum, 30-hour time and strike movement with two weights, full label on case reverse, runs a few minutes before stopping, bellows are torn, American Cuckoo Clock Co. imported these from the Black Forest in Germany, 20 x 18 x 8 inches.

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

Regulators, wall and Vienna clocks

A regulator is a precision pendulum clock used as a time standard in observatories, workshops and railway offices. Typical features are a deadbeat or Graham escapement, a temperature-compensated pendulum (mercury jar, gridiron or later invar), maintaining power and a regulator dial that separates hours, minutes and seconds. George Graham's deadbeat escapement (c. 1715) and his mercury pendulum, together with Harrison's gridiron, set the pattern for two centuries.

Wall clocks span a much wider range: the elegant Viennese Laterndluhr and Dachluhr of the Biedermeier period, the Dutch stoelklok and staartklok, English 'dial' clocks used in schools, offices and railway stations, and mass-produced spring and weight wall clocks from Germany (Gustav Becker, Junghans, Kienzle) and America.

What to look for

  • Deadbeat escapement and compensated pendulum (gridiron rods, mercury jar or wood rod).
  • A regulator dial with a large central minute hand and separate hour and seconds dials.
  • Vienna regulators: glazed cases, slender pendulum, small weights, enamel two-piece dials.
  • German factory trademarks stamped on the backplate (e.g. Gustav Becker anchor and crown, Junghans star).

Dating clues

  • Graham-type deadbeat regulators: from c. 1720.
  • Viennese Laterndluhr: c. 1800–1850.
  • German factory 'Vienna-style' regulators: c. 1870–1930; Gustav Becker serial numbers allow close dating.

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.

Read next:Deadbeat escapementAnchor (recoil) escapementGrasshopper escapement

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