Clocks · Clock
Clock, 1930–1939
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- 1930–1939
- Historical period
- Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Clock
- Dimensions
- Höhe: 28.00 cm, Breite: 13.00 cm, Tiefe: 19.00 cm
- Holding institution
- German Clock Museum
- Accession / object no.
- 2005-101 (inventory number) 59637 (technical number)
- Credit line
- German Clock Museum
- Catalogue title (original)
- Schwingquarz, Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt, Berlin, 1930er Jahre (German)
View the source record ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Held and catalogued by German Clock Museum (object number 2005-101 (inventory number) 59637 (technical number)), this is a clock, dated 1930–1939. The Atlas places it in the Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking period (1900 – 1945) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: Höhe: 28.00 cm, Breite: 13.00 cm, Tiefe: 19.00 cm. The record is illustrated with 2 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
Catalogue description from German Clock Museum
Schwingquarz für eine Quarzuhr, Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt, Berlin, 1930er Jahre. Baugleiche Schwingquarze wurden 1932 bis 1934 in den ersten Quarzuhren von Adolf Scheibe und Udo Adelsberger verwendet, mit denen sie die jahreszeitliche Schwankung der astronomischen Zeit nachweisen konnten. Diese Erkenntnis erschütterte die Zeitmessung in den Grundfesten. Erstmals war ein von Menschen geschaffener Apparat genauer als die bisherige Referenz der Erddrehung. (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 An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.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
Domestic clocks
A clock combines four systems: a source of power (falling weight, coiled spring, or later electricity), a gear train that divides time, an escapement and oscillator that regulate it (foliot, pendulum or balance), and an indicating system of dial and hands or a bell. Its history runs from the large iron weight-driven clocks of the late thirteenth century to Renaissance spring-driven table clocks, the pendulum revolution of 1656, the factory clocks of the nineteenth century and electric and quartz clocks of the twentieth.
Domestic clocks also reflect regional furniture and decorative traditions — English longcase and bracket clocks, French pendules, Viennese regulators, Black Forest and American shelf clocks — and therefore record changing tastes as much as technical progress.
What to look for
- How the clock is powered: weights, spring barrel, fusee, electric coil.
- The oscillator: foliot, short pendulum, long seconds pendulum or balance.
- Whether it strikes: hour only (count wheel) or hours and quarters (rack striking).
- The maker or retailer's name on dial and movement, and any factory trademarks.
- Signs of alteration — replaced dials, converted escapements, 'married' cases.
Dating clues
- Before 1656 clocks used foliots or balances; after, most domestic clocks have pendulums.
- Anchor escapements spread after c. 1670; minute hands became common at the same time.
- Factory production in America and Germany transformed prices after c. 1840.
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 · 1890–1930
Clock with 8-inch impulse dial, by the Synchronome Company Limited, England, 1890–1930.
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · c.1900
Clock by Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott, Bedfordshire, c.1900
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Clocks · c. 1900
Clock, black basalt, brass, Josiah Wedgwood and Sons, Etruria, c. 1900
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Clocks · c.1903-1904
Clock, pewter, made for Liberty& Co., England. 1903-4.
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Clocks · c. 1900
Alarm clock by Union Clock Company, Germany, c. 1900
German Clock Museum
Clocks · 20th century
Base Metal, 20th c. Bronze, marble and ivory clock by Chiparus
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Clocks · 1900–1939
Clock by Cox-Walkers of Darlington, England, 1900–1939
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · 1900–1999
Clock by Französisch (Schule), 1900–1999
Fine Arts Museum Vienna