Clocks · Regulator clock
Regulator Clock - Riefler, Munich, 1910
- Maker / attribution
- Mr Sigmund Riefler (Maker)
- Date
- 1910
- Historical period
- Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
- Country of origin
- Germany
- Place
- Munich, Bavaria, Germany
- Object type
- Regulator clock
- Dimensions
- 46.5 cm (Length), 21.5 cm (Width), 150 cm (Height)
- Holding institution
- Museums Victoria, Melbourne
- Accession / object no.
- ST 24606
- Catalogue title (original)
- Regulator Clock - Riefler, Munich, 1910 (English)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Museums Victoria, Melbourne (object number ST 24606), this is a regulator clock by Mr Sigmund Riefler, made in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, dated 1910. The Atlas places it in the Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking period (1900 – 1945) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: 46.5 cm (Length), 21.5 cm (Width), 150 cm (Height). The record is illustrated with 3 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
Summary — Museums Victoria
Regulator clock with free pendulum, Sigmund Riefler, Munich, no. 289, 1910. Used by the Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology, Melbourne.
Physical description — Museums Victoria
Rectangular wooden case with glass panels at side and full length glass door showing movement and pendulum. Free pendulum movement: it is attached independently of the clock train and the energy impulses are imparted through the suspension spring. See also Trade Literature.
Inscriptions & marks
Dial marked 'Dr. S. Riefler, Munchen, no. 289, 1910. D.R.P. No 50739, D.R.P. no 100870'. Movement stamped 'Riefler Munchen No. 260'. Plate acknowledging donor is inside case, marked: Riefler Regulator Clock Donated by the Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology'.
Provenance
Loan & Subsequent Donation from Australia: Bureau of Meteorology, Apr 1959
Historical context
Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
The wristwatch displaces the pocket watch; waterproof cases, self-winding and grand complications.
Between 1900 and 1945 clocks were electrified: master-clock systems ran factories and offices, synchronous mains clocks entered homes, and the Shortt free-pendulum clock set new standards of accuracy before the first quartz clocks (1927). Art Deco design reshaped mantel and table clocks.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Industrial Revolution
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
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