Clocks · Longcase clock
Longcase clock by Berit Bergström, Sweden, 1953
- Maker / attribution
- Berit Bergström (Maker)
- Date
- 1953
- Historical period
- Modern Mechanical Horology (1945 – 1969)
- Country of origin
- Sweden
- Place
- Sverige Stockholm Stockholm Stockholm
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- Målning Trä
- Holding institution
- Nordic Museum Foundation
- Accession / object no.
- NM.0298550
- Credit line
- Nordic Museum Foundation
- Catalogue title (original)
- Golvur (Swedish)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Nordic Museum Foundation (object number NM.0298550), this is a longcase clock by Berit Bergström, made in Sverige Stockholm Stockholm Stockholm, Sweden, dated 1953. The Atlas places it in the Modern Mechanical Horology period (1945 – 1969) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Målning Trä. 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 Nordic Museum Foundation
H 20 cm, B 5,3 cm, Dj 2,4 cm Golvur till dockskåp, vitmålat trä. Pendelhus på rektangulär sockel, insvängd midja, rund svarmålad nedsäkning (föreställande glasruta) på framsidan. Rund huv med målad urtavla. På baksidan stämplad "NOLBYN / BB", tillverkad av Berith Bergström. Tillhör dockskåp inv. 298.529 (matsalen) Berith Bergström, Stockholm, ritade och tillverkade dockskåpsinventarier från 1930-tal till 1960-tal under namnet "Nolbyn". Bergström hade en affär "Värmländskt hantverk" på Sibyllegatan, Stockholm. Föremålen är tillverkade efter svenska förebilder i skala 1:10. Dockskåpet brukat av systrarna Christina (f 1948) och Margareta (f 1949) i Djursholm, döttrar till givarinnan. Inventering Sesam 1996-1999: H 20 cm, B 5,3 cm, Dj 2,4 cm Golvur till dockskåp, vitmålat trä. Pendelhus på rektangulär sockel, insvängd midja, rund svarmålad nedsäkning (föreställande glasruta) på framsidan. Rund huv med målad urtavla. På baksidan stämplad "NOLBYN / BB", tillverkad av Berith Bergström. Tillhör dockskåp inv. 298.529 (matsalen) Berith Bergström, Stockholm, ritade och tillverkade dockskåpsinventarier från 1930-tal till 1960-tal under namnet "Nolbyn". Bergström hade en affär "Värmländskt hantverk" på Sibyllegatan, Stockholm. Föremålen är tillverkade efter svenska förebilder i skala 1:10. Dockskåpet brukat av systrarna Christina (f 1948) och Margareta (f 1949) Hofman-Bang i Djursholm, döttrar till givarinnan. Bilaga; uppgifter om tillverkaren. BR 1976 Leif Wallin okt 1997
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
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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