
Instruments · Stopwatch
Stopwatch by München Utzschneider und Liebherr, Germany, 1800–1823
- Maker / attribution
- München Utzschneider und Liebherr (maker)
- Date
- 1800–1823
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- Germany
- Place
- München
- Object type
- Stopwatch
- Materials / technique
- wood, metal
- Dimensions
- diameter (kello) 13,00 cm; height (box) 12,00 cm; width (box) 36,00 cm; depth (box) 20,00 cm
- Holding institution
- Tiedemuseo Liekki
- Accession / object no.
- HY201070a235
- Credit line
- Tiedemuseo Liekki (via Finna)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Sekuntikello; Kannettava sekuntiheilurikello (Finnish)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Tiedemuseo Liekki (object number HY201070a235), this is a stopwatch by München Utzschneider und Liebherr, made in München, Germany, dated 1800–1823. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Instruments collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: wood, metal. Recorded dimensions: diameter (kello) 13,00 cm; height (box) 12,00 cm; width (box) 36,00 cm; depth (box) 20,00 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
Description — Tiedemuseo Liekki
Sekuntikello puisessa kuljetuslaatikossa. Kellotaulu on metallinen ja pyöreä, laatikko suorakulmion muotoinen.
Shown in the original language of the source catalogue. An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.
Historical context
Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
Harrison solves longitude; Mudge invents the lever; Breguet's Paris workshop defines the modern watch.
The longitude problem was solved by the marine chronometer and lunar distance methods; dividing engines made precision scales possible, and observatories set time by transit instruments.
Read the period in the timelineMore instruments from this periodEarlier: Early Modern Horology
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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