Clocks · Clock
Clock, Germany, 1900–1999 (German Clock Museum Museu_ProvidedCHO_museum_digital_59377__technical_number_)
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- 1900–1999
- Historical period
- Modern Mechanical Horology (1945 – 1969)
- Country of origin
- Germany
- Place
- Schönenbach
- Object type
- Clock
- Holding institution
- German Clock Museum
- Accession / object no.
- Museu_ProvidedCHO_museum_digital_59377__technical_number_
- Catalogue title (original)
- Uhrwerk, A. Mayer, Schönenbach, 1945-1948 (German)
Record summary
Held and catalogued by German Clock Museum (object number Museu_ProvidedCHO_museum_digital_59377__technical_number_), this is a clock, made in Schönenbach, Germany, dated 1900–1999. The Atlas places it in the Modern Mechanical Horology period (1945 – 1969) 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 German Clock Museum (German)
Dieses Uhrwerk mit Holzplatinen stammt aus der Uhrenfabrik Alois Mayer in Schönenbach, wo Gehwerke dieses Typs zwischen 1945 und 1948 gefertigt wurden. Seniorchef Berthold Mayer berichtete 2002 über die Produktion: Aufgrund der materiellen Notlage nach Ende des Zweiten Weltkriegs war "selbst eine einfache Wanduhr herzustellen" eine Herausforderung für Schwarzwälder Uhrenfirmen. "So versuchte man es nach altem Schwarzwälder Vorbild. [...] Damit konnte die Nachfrage nach Zeitmessern wenigstens auf einfache Art befriedigt werden. In der schlechten Zeit dienten Uhren auch als wichtiges Tauschobjekt, um dafür andere Artikel und Lebensmittel zu erhalten. Die Reichsmark als Zahlungsmittel war ziemlich wertlos." (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 An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.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
Modern Mechanical Horology (1945 – 1969)
Tool watches for divers, pilots and astronauts; electric watches anticipate the electronic age.
Post-war clocks combined new materials and industrial design: plastic and metal cases, battery-powered transistor movements from the late 1950s, and design classics by George Nelson, Max Bill and others. The first caesium atomic clock (1955) moved the definition of time from astronomy to physics.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking
Atlas type guide
Quartz, digital and designer clocks
Transistors, integrated circuits and quartz crystals brought precise timekeeping into every household after the 1960s. Quartz clocks divide the 32,768 Hz vibration of a tuning-fork crystal down to one pulse per second to drive a stepping motor or a digital display. Digital clocks with flip cards, nixie tubes, LEDs and LCDs, and clock radios became emblems of modern design.
Designers such as George Nelson, Max Bill, Dieter Rams and Richard Sapper treated the clock as a field for industrial design; manufacturers including Junghans, Kienzle, Braun, Seiko, Citizen and Sony produced landmark models now collected and held by design museums.
What to look for
- Battery compartments and quartz movement labels.
- Display technology: split-flap cards, LED, LCD, vacuum fluorescent.
- Designer names and model numbers on the base or back.
Dating clues
- Transistorised clocks: from the late 1950s.
- Consumer quartz clocks: from the early 1970s.
- Radio-controlled clocks: from the mid-1980s.
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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