Clocks · Clock
Clock by VEB Uhrenwerk Glashütte, Germany, 1968–1989
- Maker / attribution
- VEB Uhrenwerk Glashütte (Created)
- Date
- 1968–1989
- Historical period
- Quartz Revolution (1969 – 1990)
- Country of origin
- Germany
- Place
- Glashütte
- Object type
- Clock
- Materials / technique
- Kunststoff, Glas, Metall
- Dimensions
- ø 25,5 cm, h 6 cm
- Holding institution
- Museum Utopie und Alltag. Alltagskultur und Kunst aus der DDR
- Accession / object no.
- 7529/00-DDR
- Credit line
- Museum Utopie und Alltag. Alltagskultur und Kunst aus der DDR
- Catalogue title (original)
- Elektrochron Uhr (German)
View the source record ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Museum Utopie und Alltag. Alltagskultur und Kunst aus der DDR (object number 7529/00-DDR), this is a clock by VEB Uhrenwerk Glashütte, made in Glashütte, Germany, dated 1968–1989. The Atlas places it in the Quartz Revolution period (1969 – 1990) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Kunststoff, Glas, Metall. Recorded dimensions: ø 25,5 cm, h 6 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 Museum Utopie und Alltag. Alltagskultur und Kunst aus der DDR (German)
Die elektromechanische batteriebetriebene Wanduhr besitzt ein tiefes Kunststoffgehäuse in der Farbe Vistagrün. Das Ziffernblatt ist betont schlicht. Die Stunden sind mit schwarzen Balken markiert, wobei die Stunden Zwölf, Drei, Sechs und Neun zusätzlich hervorgehoben werden, indem deren Balken breiter gestaltet bzw. sie mit zwei parallelen Balken markiert werden. Während die Zeiger für Stunden und Minuten ebenfalls als schwarze Balken gestaltet sind, ist der Sekundenzeiger schmal und rot. Der Name des Herstellers sowie der Uhr sind auf das Ziffernblatt gedruckt. Das Ziffernblatt wird von einem konvex geformten Glas abgedeckt. Die 1962 entworfene und ab 1968 in Produktion befindliche Wanduhr erhielt 1978 die Auszeichnung „Gutes Design“. Hergestellt wurde sie bis in die 1980er Jahre hinein in zwei Größen, 26cm und 18cm, und in verschiedenen Ziffernblatt- und Gehäusefarbe-Varianten. Die kleinere Variante ist in der Sammlung unter der Inventar-Nr. 7422/08-DDR vorhanden.
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: Dagmar Lüder: Reif, nicht alt (1975); Günter Höhne: Penti, Erika und Bebo Sher. Die Klassiker des DDR-Designs (2001); Hirdina, Heinz: Gestalten für die Serie. Design in der DDR 1949-1985 (1988); Höhne, Günter: Das große Lexikon. DDR-Design (2008)
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
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 · 1960–1996
Electric clock by Efratom GmbH, Germany, 1960–1996
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · 1969
Clock by VDO, Germany, 1969
German Clock Museum
Clocks · 1970
Alarm clock by Werner Staiger, Germany, 1970
German Clock Museum
Clocks · c. 1970
Alarm clock, Germany, c. 1970 (no. 59356)
German Clock Museum
Clocks · c. 1970
Alarm clock, Germany, c. 1970 (no. 59389)
German Clock Museum
Clocks · c. 1970
Clock, Germany, c. 1970
German Clock Museum
Clocks · c. 1970
Table clock by Friedrich Mauthe, Germany, c. 1970
German Clock Museum
Clocks · 1971
Alarm clock by Kienzle - Uhrenfabrik, Germany, 1971
German Clock Museum