Clocks · Table clock
Table clock by Albrecht, David Nicolaus (17./18. Jh.) (Uhrmacher), Germany, 1700–1799
- Maker / attribution
- Albrecht, David Nicolaus (17./18. Jh.) (Uhrmacher) (creator)
- Date
- 1700–1799
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- Germany
- Place
- Berlin
- Object type
- Table clock
- Holding institution
- City Museum Berlin
- Accession / object no.
- item_D3UZQUH5NXLTNPQYPMTYHVZY7FL7VIJD
- Catalogue title (original)
- Horizontale Tischuhr im Lederetui (German)
Record summary
Held and catalogued by City Museum Berlin (object number item_D3UZQUH5NXLTNPQYPMTYHVZY7FL7VIJD), this is a table clock by Albrecht, David Nicolaus (17./18. Jh.) (Uhrmacher), made in Berlin, Germany, dated 1700–1799. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. 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
Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
Huygens' pendulum and balance spring transform accuracy; English makers develop the anchor and deadbeat escapements.
Huygens's pendulum (1656–57) improved clock accuracy from about a quarter of an hour to under a minute a day. The anchor escapement (c. 1670) and the long seconds pendulum created the longcase clock; London makers such as Fromanteel, Knibb, Tompion and Quare led European clockmaking, and French makers created the Boulle pendule.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Renaissance Horology
Atlas type guide
Bracket, table and spring-driven clocks
Spring-driven clocks freed timekeeping from the hanging weight. The coiled mainspring, documented from the fifteenth century, made portable table clocks possible; to even out its declining force, makers used the fusee, a conical pulley connected to the barrel by a gut line or chain. Renaissance table clocks from Augsburg and Nuremberg — drum-shaped, square or tower-shaped in gilt brass — were luxury scientific objects, often with astronomical dials and alarms.
After the pendulum, English makers developed the bracket clock: a wooden case with a carrying handle, a short pendulum with a verge escapement, and often repeating work to sound the hours on demand at night. Later examples use the anchor escapement. In the nineteenth century, 'table clock' became a broad term for spring clocks of every nationality.
What to look for
- A fusee in the movement (cone-shaped pulley) and the type of line — gut or chain.
- Verge escapement with a short bob pendulum, often with a decoratively engraved backplate.
- Repeat cords or buttons that make the clock strike again on demand.
- Gilt-brass engraved cases and horizontal dials on Renaissance pieces.
- Case shapes: inverted bell, bell top, break-arch, lancet or balloon.
Dating clues
- Drum and tower table clocks: c. 1520–1650.
- Ebony veneered English bracket clocks with verge escapements: c. 1670–1800.
- Engraved backplates were usual on English clocks until c. 1800, then generally plain.
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.
Related records
Clocks · 1600-1700
Clock, Germany, 1600-1700
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Clocks · 1600–1699
Table clock by #Hans_Christoph_II._Fesenmair_Künstler/in, Germany, 1600–1699
Fine Arts Museum Vienna
Clocks · 1600–1699
Table clock by Hans Jakob Mair (artist), Germany, 1600–1699
Fine Arts Museum Vienna
Clocks · 17th century
Table clock by Johann Heinrich Kleinschmidt, Germany, 17th century
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Clocks · 1600–1699
Table clock by unbekannt, deutsch, 17. Jh.; Uhrmacher, Germany, 1600–1699
Dresden State Art Collections. Royal Cabinet of Mathematical and Physical Instruments
Clocks · ca. 1625
Musical clock with spinet and organ by Veit Langenbucher, Germany, ca. 1625
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Clocks · 1624–1630
Table clock by Christoph Angermair (Künstler/in), Germany, 1624–1630
Fine Arts Museum Vienna
Clocks · 1625-1635
Upright table clock with winding key, by unknown maker, made in Augsburg, Germany, 1625-1635
Science Museum Group, London