Clocks · Clock
Record-shaped clock printed with photograph of David Bowie performing on the Serious Moonlight live tour, 1983
- Maker / attribution
- Popclox (designed and made by)
- Date
- 1983
- Historical period
- Quartz Revolution (1969 – 1990)
- Country of origin
- United Kingdom
- Place
- Great Britain
- Object type
- Clock
- Materials / technique
- Machine-cut and printed vinyl, plastic, metal and paper Cardboard and plastic box
- Dimensions
- Diameter: 17.5 cm (Clock); Width: 22.6 cm (Whole box); Length: 21.7 cm (Whole box); Depth: 4.5 cm (Whole box)
- Holding institution
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Accession / object no.
- LOAN:AMERICASFOUNDATION.1406:1 to 3-2024
- Credit line
- Lent by the V&A Americas Foundation through the generosity of Jones/Tintoretto Entertainment Company LLC
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Victoria and Albert Museum, London (object number LOAN:AMERICASFOUNDATION.1406:1 to 3-2024), this is a clock by Popclox, made in Great Britain, United Kingdom, dated 1983. The Atlas places it in the Quartz Revolution period (1969 – 1990) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Machine-cut and printed vinyl, plastic, metal and paper Cardboard and plastic box. Recorded dimensions: Diameter: 17.5 cm (Clock); Width: 22.6 cm (Whole box); Length: 21.7 cm (Whole box); Depth: 4.5 cm (Whole box). 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
V&A — Physical description
Record-shaped clock printed with photograph of David Bowie performing on the Serious Moonlight live tour, 1983. A small wall-clock made of vinyl disc, printed in the centre with a photograph of David Bowie performing on the Serious Moonlight live tour. The clock has white printed numbers and metal hands. The reverse of the clock has a plastic and metal battery pack attached. A plastic and cardboard storage and display box.
Inscriptions & marks
MPO UROK 4_1; A LOVELY BIT OF ARTWORK DONE BY WILB! AT GRAPHICS FOR NEXT TO NOTHING PHONE 0254-676962 ALL RIGHTS OF THE PRODUCER AND OF THE OWNER OF THE RECORDED WORK RESERVED. UNAUTHORISED PUBLIC BROADCASTING AND COPYING OF THIS RECORD PROHIBITED EURO-K; START STOP QUARTZ TOCHIGI TOKEI LTD. NO(0) JEWELS UNADJUSTED PAT. PEND. JAPAN; POPCLOX; POPCLOX ALL REPRODUCTION RIGHTS PAID PRICE NOT INCLUSIVE OF BATTERIES WARRANTY THIS CLOCK MECHANISM IS GUARANTEED FOR A PERIOD OF 12 MONTHS FROM DATE OF PURCHASE, EXCLUSIVE OF MISHANDLING OR BREAKAGE OF SPRING OR CRYSTAL PURCHASE DATE: DEALER'S STAMP: PURCHASER'S NAME AND ADDRESS (BLOCK LETTERS PLEASE) *REURN THIS WARRANTY REGISTRATION WITHIN 7 DAYS TOl LIGMELL ART LTD., 44 BRANTFELL ROAD, BLACKBURN, LANCASHIRE
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
Domestic clocks
A clock combines four systems: a source of power (falling weight, coiled spring, or later electricity), a gear train that divides time, an escapement and oscillator that regulate it (foliot, pendulum or balance), and an indicating system of dial and hands or a bell. Its history runs from the large iron weight-driven clocks of the late thirteenth century to Renaissance spring-driven table clocks, the pendulum revolution of 1656, the factory clocks of the nineteenth century and electric and quartz clocks of the twentieth.
Domestic clocks also reflect regional furniture and decorative traditions — English longcase and bracket clocks, French pendules, Viennese regulators, Black Forest and American shelf clocks — and therefore record changing tastes as much as technical progress.
What to look for
- How the clock is powered: weights, spring barrel, fusee, electric coil.
- The oscillator: foliot, short pendulum, long seconds pendulum or balance.
- Whether it strikes: hour only (count wheel) or hours and quarters (rack striking).
- The maker or retailer's name on dial and movement, and any factory trademarks.
- Signs of alteration — replaced dials, converted escapements, 'married' cases.
Dating clues
- Before 1656 clocks used foliots or balances; after, most domestic clocks have pendulums.
- Anchor escapements spread after c. 1670; minute hands became common at the same time.
- Factory production in America and Germany transformed prices after c. 1840.
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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