Clocks · Clock
Clock by Emilian Wehrle, Germany, 1832–1896
- Maker / attribution
- Emilian Wehrle (creator)
- Date
- 1832–1896
- Historical period
- Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
- Country of origin
- Germany
- Place
- Karlsruhe
- Object type
- Clock
- Holding institution
- Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe
- Accession / object no.
- item_FTR7GDCGD6EQGNTZKEVC7CO5IHMCQ4WU
- Catalogue title (original)
- Spiel- und Uhrwerk einer Trompeteruhr (German)
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe (object number item_FTR7GDCGD6EQGNTZKEVC7CO5IHMCQ4WU), this is a clock by Emilian Wehrle, made in Karlsruhe, Germany, dated 1832–1896. The Atlas places it in the Industrial Revolution period (1850 – 1900) 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 Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe (German)
Emilian Wehrle (1832-1896), als Sohn eines Bauern und Uhrmachers in Schönenbach geboren, eröffnete mit seinem Sold aus dem Militärdienst 1857 in Furtwangen eine Werkstatt. Obwohl er anfangs auch Orchestrien fertigte, wurde er durch seine mit Flötenwerken instrumentierten Uhren bekannt, bei denen zur vollen Stunde Trompeterfiguren erscheinen, um imaginär eine Melodie zu intonieren. Durch Partnerschaft mit dem Uhrenhersteller Franz Xaver Wehrle (ab 1866) gingen diese Produkte überwiegend nach England und in die USA.
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 An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.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
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
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.
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