Clocks · Bracket clock
Bracket clock, 1873
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- 1873
- Historical period
- Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Materials / technique
- Messing, Holz, Glas
- Dimensions
- H x B x T in cm: 43 x 42 x 16,5
- Holding institution
- Staatliche Schlösser, Burgen und Gärten Sachsen gGmbH, Schloss Weesenstein
- Accession / object no.
- WEE_IN_002929
- Credit line
- Staatliche Schlösser, Burgen und Gärten Sachsen gGmbH, Schloss Weesenstein
- Catalogue title (original)
- Uhr: Stutzuhr aus Messing (German)
View the source record ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Staatliche Schlösser, Burgen und Gärten Sachsen gGmbH, Schloss Weesenstein (object number WEE_IN_002929), this is a bracket clock, dated 1873. The Atlas places it in the Industrial Revolution period (1850 – 1900) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Messing, Holz, Glas. Recorded dimensions: H x B x T in cm: 43 x 42 x 16,5. 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 Staatliche Schlösser, Burgen und Gärten Sachsen gGmbH, Schloss Weesenstein (German)
Im Schloss Weesenstein, das im 19. Jahrhundert im Besitz der sächsischen Königsfamilie war, hat sich einer großer Teil des Originalbestandes erhalten. Die prächtige, mit Blattwerk und Rocaillen geschmückte Stutzuhr wird von einer gläsernen Haube geschützt. Über dem Uhrgehäuse sitzt ein Landsknecht mit Fahne. Unter dem Gehäuse sind verschiedene Gegenstände wie ein Dudelsack oder ein Rechen zu erkennen.
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 An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.
Provenance
Literature: Autorenkollektiv: Schloss Weesenstein. Heimliche Residenz der Wettiner. Geschichte und Ausstattung (2014)
Historical context
Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
American interchangeable-parts manufacture; railroad time standards; Swiss and German factory systems.
Factory production transformed the clock into an everyday object. American makers (Seth Thomas, Ansonia, Waterbury) and German factories (Junghans, Gustav Becker, Lenzkirch) sold millions of shelf, wall and alarm clocks worldwide; France produced standardised Paris movements and carriage clocks; electric time distribution began.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Precision & Scientific Horology
Atlas type guide
Bracket, table and spring-driven clocks
Spring-driven clocks freed timekeeping from the hanging weight. The coiled mainspring, documented from the fifteenth century, made portable table clocks possible; to even out its declining force, makers used the fusee, a conical pulley connected to the barrel by a gut line or chain. Renaissance table clocks from Augsburg and Nuremberg — drum-shaped, square or tower-shaped in gilt brass — were luxury scientific objects, often with astronomical dials and alarms.
After the pendulum, English makers developed the bracket clock: a wooden case with a carrying handle, a short pendulum with a verge escapement, and often repeating work to sound the hours on demand at night. Later examples use the anchor escapement. In the nineteenth century, 'table clock' became a broad term for spring clocks of every nationality.
What to look for
- A fusee in the movement (cone-shaped pulley) and the type of line — gut or chain.
- Verge escapement with a short bob pendulum, often with a decoratively engraved backplate.
- Repeat cords or buttons that make the clock strike again on demand.
- Gilt-brass engraved cases and horizontal dials on Renaissance pieces.
- Case shapes: inverted bell, bell top, break-arch, lancet or balloon.
Dating clues
- Drum and tower table clocks: c. 1520–1650.
- Ebony veneered English bracket clocks with verge escapements: c. 1670–1800.
- Engraved backplates were usual on English clocks until c. 1800, then generally plain.
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
Clocks · 1830–1870
Wall clock in a papier mâché case with painted decoration. English, mid 19th century.
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Clocks · 1840–1900
Alarm clock, mounted on model of coffin with skeleton, probably English, 1840–1900
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · 1840–1880
Clock dial marked "Potter, Railway Time" with two hands, unknown maker, British, 1840–1880
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · 1840–1877
Electric clock of the Bain type
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · 1840–1878
Mantel clock by A. Brocot, France, 1840–1878
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · 1840–1880
Wall Clock in octagonal case with Prince of Wales Feathers above makers name "W. Avison, Railway Time, York", made by William Avison, England, 1840–1880.
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · 1841–1870
Contact bar from electric clock, unsigned, London, England, 1841–1870
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · 1841–1870
Contactor from electric clock, unsigned, London, England, 1841–1870
Science Museum Group, London