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Stopclock - Venner Electronics, England, 1965 — view 1 of 1
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Clocks · Stopclock

Stopclock - Venner Electronics, England, 1965

DocumentedDocumented from the holding institution's catalogue record.
Maker / attribution
Unrecorded in source
Date
1965
Country of origin
England
Object type
Stopclock
Dimensions
23 cm (Length), 35 cm (Width), 10 cm (Height)
Holding institution
Museums Victoria, Melbourne
Accession / object no.
ST 36675
Catalogue title (original)
Stopclock - Venner Electronics, England, 1965 (English)

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Record summary

Held and catalogued by Museums Victoria, Melbourne (object number ST 36675), this is a stopclock, made in England, dated 1965. The Atlas places it in the Modern Mechanical Horology period (1945 – 1969) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: 23 cm (Length), 35 cm (Width), 10 cm (Height). 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

Summary — Museums Victoria

Electronic stopclock or laboratory time. Made by Venner Electronics Ltd, England, model TSA3314, 1965. Millisecond laboratory timer with 4-digit numerical display, and push buttton remote control. Used in laboratory at Maribyrnong Explosives Factory, Victoria. Purchased by them from H. Rowe & Co in 1966 for $490.00.

Physical description — Museums Victoria

Glass encased quartz crystal oscillator. Incandescent globe/projected numerals as digital display. In metal instrument case with carrying handle. Uses discrete transistor technology on circuit boards.

Provenance

Purchase

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

Quartz, digital and designer clocks

Transistors, integrated circuits and quartz crystals brought precise timekeeping into every household after the 1960s. Quartz clocks divide the 32,768 Hz vibration of a tuning-fork crystal down to one pulse per second to drive a stepping motor or a digital display. Digital clocks with flip cards, nixie tubes, LEDs and LCDs, and clock radios became emblems of modern design.

Designers such as George Nelson, Max Bill, Dieter Rams and Richard Sapper treated the clock as a field for industrial design; manufacturers including Junghans, Kienzle, Braun, Seiko, Citizen and Sony produced landmark models now collected and held by design museums.

What to look for

  • Battery compartments and quartz movement labels.
  • Display technology: split-flap cards, LED, LCD, vacuum fluorescent.
  • Designer names and model numbers on the base or back.

Dating clues

  • Transistorised clocks: from the late 1950s.
  • Consumer quartz clocks: from the early 1970s.
  • Radio-controlled clocks: from the mid-1980s.

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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