Skip to content
Lucite & Brass Kienzle Wall Clock Modern Art 1970s — view 1 of 4
View 1 of 4 · Image: Le Shoppe Auction House / LiveAuctioneers · original image source (opens another website in a new tab)

Clocks · Clock

Lucite & Brass Kienzle Wall Clock Modern Art 1970s

DocumentedDocumented from an auction catalogue; attribution as stated by the auction house.
Maker / attribution
Kienzle (maker)
Date
1970s
Country of origin
Germany
Object type
Clock
Materials / technique
brass, lucite
Lot
Item 65447737
Credit line
Auction lot record: lot 64, Detroit Mid Century Modern Furniture & Art, Le Shoppe Auction House (2018), via LiveAuctioneers
Catalogue title (original)
Lucite & Brass Kienzle Wall Clock Modern Art 1970s (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 65447737), this is a clock by Kienzle, made in Germany, dated 1970s. The Atlas places it in the Quartz Revolution period (1969 – 1990) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: brass, lucite. The record is illustrated with 4 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 — Le Shoppe Auction House

For your consideration is a small, circular, lucite wall clock with a brass face, circa the 1970s. Excellent. The dimensions are 12" (1') Dia x 2" D.

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

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