Clocks · Comtoise clock
Comtoise clock with quarter striking, France, second half of the 18th century
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- Second half of the 18th century
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- France
- Object type
- Comtoise clock
- Dimensions
- Höhe: 42.00 cm, Breite: 28.00 cm, Tiefe: 19.00 cm
- Holding institution
- German Clock Museum
- Accession / object no.
- 2012-152 (inventory number) 57150 (technical number)
- Credit line
- German Clock Museum
- Catalogue title (original)
- Comtoiseuhr, Frankreich, 2. Hälfte 18. Jahrhundert (German)
Editor's note
The museum dates this quarter-striking comtoise to the second half of the 18th century ("2. Hälfte 18. Jahrhundert"); the earlier Atlas date of 1851–1900 was a century late. The museum's own title places it in France ("Frankreich").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 2012-152 (inventory number) 57150 (technical number)), this is a comtoise clock, made in France, dated Second half of the 18th century. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: Höhe: 42.00 cm, Breite: 28.00 cm, Tiefe: 19.00 cm. The record is illustrated with 5 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
Comtoiseuhr mit Viertelschlag, Hersteller unbekannt, 2. Hälfte 18. Jahrhundert (nur Werk ausgestellt). (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 An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.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
Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
Harrison solves longitude; Mudge invents the lever; Breguet's Paris workshop defines the modern watch.
The age of the deadbeat escapement, compensated pendulums and observatory regulators. Domestic clocks spread through the middle classes: English longcase and bracket clocks, French gilt-bronze mantel clocks, Viennese Biedermeier wall clocks, Black Forest painted-shield clocks, and the first American shelf clocks.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Early Modern Horology
Atlas type guide
Longcase (tall-case or grandfather) clocks
The longcase clock was born from two seventeenth-century innovations: Christiaan Huygens's pendulum (1656–57) and the anchor escapement (c. 1670). A long seconds pendulum, nearly a metre long, swings with a small arc, and enclosing it together with the driving weights in a tall wooden case protected the mechanism and created a new piece of furniture. London makers such as Ahasuerus Fromanteel, Thomas Tompion and Joseph Knibb set the pattern.
By the eighteenth century longcase clocks were made throughout Britain, the Netherlands, Scandinavia (the Swedish Mora clock), France (the Comtoise from the Franche-Comté), Germany and colonial America. Eight-day movements with two weights became standard in better clocks; thirty-hour clocks with one weight and a rope or chain were cheaper alternatives.
What to look for
- Winding holes in the dial: two (eight-day, going and striking) or none (thirty-hour, pulled up by a chain).
- Brass dials with applied chapter rings (earlier) versus painted iron 'white' dials (after c. 1770 in Britain).
- Moon-phase arches, date apertures, seconds dials and maker's name on the dial.
- Case woods and style: ebonised, walnut marquetry, lacquer, oak or mahogany; regional styles from London, Lancashire, Scotland or America.
- Whether the movement and dial match the case — 'marriages' are common.
Dating clues
- Square brass dials suggest c. 1670–1720; arched brass dials c. 1715–1790.
- Painted (white) dials were made by Birmingham dial-makers from about 1772.
- Comtoise clocks with repoussé pendulums are mostly nineteenth century.
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.
Read next:Anchor (recoil) escapementDeadbeat escapementAnchor escapement
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