
Clocks · Clock
Kienzle German Wall Regulator Clock, c. 1890
- Maker / attribution
- Kienzle (maker)
- Date
- c. 1890
- Historical period
- Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
- Country of origin
- Germany
- Object type
- Clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany
- Auction house
- LiveAuctioneers auction archive
- Lot
- Item 32234494
- Credit line
- Auction lot record: lot 245, Two Day Antique Auction Nov. 21 & 22 PART 1, Richard D. Hatch & Associates (2014), via LiveAuctioneers
- Catalogue title (original)
- Kienzle German Wall Regulator Clock, (English)
View the source record (auction lot) ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Catalogued by LiveAuctioneers auction archive (lot Item 32234494), this is a clock by Kienzle, made in Germany, dated c. 1890. The Atlas places it in the Industrial Revolution period (1850 – 1900) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: mahogany. 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
Lot description — Richard D. Hatch & Associates
50", circa 1890, mahogany case, strikes 1/2 hour & hours, working.
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
Regulators, wall and Vienna clocks
A regulator is a precision pendulum clock used as a time standard in observatories, workshops and railway offices. Typical features are a deadbeat or Graham escapement, a temperature-compensated pendulum (mercury jar, gridiron or later invar), maintaining power and a regulator dial that separates hours, minutes and seconds. George Graham's deadbeat escapement (c. 1715) and his mercury pendulum, together with Harrison's gridiron, set the pattern for two centuries.
Wall clocks span a much wider range: the elegant Viennese Laterndluhr and Dachluhr of the Biedermeier period, the Dutch stoelklok and staartklok, English 'dial' clocks used in schools, offices and railway stations, and mass-produced spring and weight wall clocks from Germany (Gustav Becker, Junghans, Kienzle) and America.
What to look for
- Deadbeat escapement and compensated pendulum (gridiron rods, mercury jar or wood rod).
- A regulator dial with a large central minute hand and separate hour and seconds dials.
- Vienna regulators: glazed cases, slender pendulum, small weights, enamel two-piece dials.
- German factory trademarks stamped on the backplate (e.g. Gustav Becker anchor and crown, Junghans star).
Dating clues
- Graham-type deadbeat regulators: from c. 1720.
- Viennese Laterndluhr: c. 1800–1850.
- German factory 'Vienna-style' regulators: c. 1870–1930; Gustav Becker serial numbers allow close dating.
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:Deadbeat escapementAnchor (recoil) escapementGrasshopper escapement
Related records
Clocks · 1920s
Alarm clock by Kienzle, 1920s
Työväenmuseo Werstas
Wristwatches · c. 1960s
Kienzle wristwatch, Germany Sport, circa 1960's
Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
Clocks · 1970s
Lucite & Brass Kienzle Wall Clock Modern Art 1970s
LiveAuctioneers auction archive
Clocks · 1960s
1960s Kienzle German Quartz World Time Clock
LiveAuctioneers auction archive
Clocks · c. 1850
Cuckoo / black forest clock, Germany, c. 1850
German Clock Museum
Clocks · 1850
Wall clock by Glatz und Co. Kreuzer, Germany, 1850
German Clock Museum
Clocks · 1858
Clock by Jacob Bäuerle, Germany, 1858
German Clock Museum
Clocks · 1860
Clock by August Tritschler, Germany, 1860
German Clock Museum
