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Stopwatch by Lemania, Switzerland, 1950–1970 — view 1 of 1
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Instruments · Stopwatch

Stopwatch by Lemania, Switzerland, 1950–1970

DocumentedDocumented from the holding institution's catalogue record.
Maker / attribution
Lemania (maker)
Date
1950–1970
Country of origin
Switzerland
Place
Switzerland
Object type
Stopwatch
Materials / technique
glass, metal
Dimensions
width: 5,0 cm
Holding institution
Museokeskus Vapriikki
Accession / object no.
TMT 001683:1-2
Credit line
Museokeskus Vapriikki (via Finna)
Catalogue title (original)
Kello; Kellokallen kello; Lemania Nero sekuntikello ja kangaspussi (Finnish)

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Record summary

Held and catalogued by Museokeskus Vapriikki (object number TMT 001683:1-2), this is a stopwatch by Lemania, made in Switzerland, dated 1950–1970. The Atlas places it in the Modern Mechanical Horology period (1945 – 1969) of its Instruments collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: glass, metal. Recorded dimensions: width: 5,0 cm. 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

The source record does not include a narrative description. The structured fields above are reproduced from it.

Historical context

Modern Mechanical Horology (1945 – 1969)

Tool watches for divers, pilots and astronauts; electric watches anticipate the electronic age.

Electronic instruments, quartz frequency standards and the first atomic clocks transformed precision timing in laboratories and broadcasting.

Read the period in the timelineMore instruments from this periodEarlier: Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking

Atlas type guide

Timers, stopwatches, chronoscopes and time recorders

Instruments for measuring short intervals or recording when something happened form a large and practical branch of horology. Sports stopwatches and split-seconds timers, laboratory chronoscopes (such as Hipp's, which measured thousandths of a second for psychology and ballistics experiments), metronomes for music, watchmen's clocks that recorded patrol rounds, and the time recorders that clocked factory workers in and out all derive from clock and watch technology.

These objects matter historically because they show timekeeping leaving the observatory and the drawing room and entering industry, science and sport. Many were mass-produced, and their dials, scales and patents chart the rise of electrification and industrial management.

What to look for

  • Scales graduated in fifths, tenths or hundredths of a second, or decimal minutes for industrial use.
  • Start, stop and reset push-pieces; a second hand that can be stopped independently (split seconds).
  • Recording devices: paper discs or tapes, printing mechanisms, keys or punches.
  • Patent numbers and dates on the dial or case, which give a terminus post quem.

Dating clues

  • Hipp chronoscopes were made from the 1840s into the twentieth century.
  • Employee time recorders spread from the 1890s (Bundy, IBM, International Time Recording Co.).
  • Quartz and electronic timers replaced mechanical stopwatches in sport from the 1970s.

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:Flyback chronograph

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