Clocks · Astronomical clock; replica
Astronomical clock by Thwaites and Reed Ltd., England, 1974
- Maker / attribution
- Thwaites and Reed Ltd. (maker); Thwaites and Reed Limited (maker); Giovanni Dondi dall'Orologio (maker)
- Date
- 1974
- Historical period
- Quartz Revolution (1969 – 1990)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- Brighton, Brighton and Hove, England, United Kingdom, Brighton
- Object type
- Astronomical clock; replica
- Holding institution
- Science Museum Group, London
- Accession / object no.
- 1974-386/1
- Credit line
- Thwaites and Reed Limited
- Catalogue title (original)
- Reconstruction of Dondi's Astronomical Clock, 1974
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Science Museum Group, London (object number 1974-386/1), this is an astronomical clock; replica by Thwaites and Reed Ltd., made in Brighton, Brighton and Hove, England, United Kingdom, Brighton, dated 1974. The Atlas places it in the Quartz Revolution period (1969 – 1990) 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
The source record does not include a narrative description. The structured fields above are reproduced from it.
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
Astronomical, musical and automaton clocks
Astronomical clocks display more than the hour: the positions of the sun and moon in the zodiac, the phase of the moon, the calendar, sometimes the planets and eclipses. From Richard of Wallingford's and Giovanni de' Dondi's fourteenth-century clocks to the Prague Orloj and the Strasbourg cathedral clocks, they demonstrated the order of the cosmos. Renaissance makers in Augsburg and Nuremberg built celestial globe clocks and monstrance clocks as princely treasures.
Automaton and musical clocks entertained as well as informed: figures move, birds sing, organs and carillons play tunes from pinned cylinders. The eighteenth-century trade with China ('sing-songs') and Ottoman Turkey created a market for elaborate English, Swiss and French automata.
What to look for
- Subsidiary dials for moon phase, calendar, zodiac and planetary positions.
- Celestial globes or armillary spheres turned by the movement.
- Pinned cylinders, bellows and pipes or bells for music.
- Figures on cams and levers; separate trains for automaton work.
Dating clues
- Renaissance astronomical table and globe clocks: c. 1550–1650.
- English and Swiss automaton clocks for the Chinese market: c. 1760–1820.
- Picture clocks (clockwork pictures) are mostly nineteenth century.
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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