Clocks · Table clock
Table clock by Amedée Christin, c. 1774
- Maker / attribution
- Amedée Christin (Maker)
- Date
- c. 1774
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Table clock
- Dimensions
- Höhe: 83.0 cm, Breite: 83.0 cm, Tiefe: 35.0 cm
- Holding institution
- Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe
- Accession / object no.
- 94/814 (Inventarnummer)
- Credit line
- Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe
- Catalogue title (original)
- Tischuhr (94/814) (German)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe (object number 94/814 (Inventarnummer)), this is a table clock by Amedée Christin, dated c. 1774. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: Höhe: 83.0 cm, Breite: 83.0 cm, Tiefe: 35.0 cm. The record is illustrated with 4 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
Catalogue description from Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe
Die Automatenuhr ist die erste nachweisbare Uhr, die in der "Uhr- und Stahl-Fabrik" in Pforzheim hergestellt wurde. Markgraf Karl Friedrich von Baden-Durlach (1723-1811) gründete 1767 im Pforzheimer "Zucht-, Waisen- und Tollhaus" jene Manufaktur, die zum Ausgangspunkt der Weltgeltung der Pforzheimer Uhren- und Schmuckindustrie werden sollte. Der Schweizer Amedée Christin aus Bern, einer der ersten Uhrmacher, die von Markgraf Karl Friedrich angeworben wurden, fertigte die Automatenuhr. Neben verschiedenen Indikationen und Glockenschlag verfügt die Uhr über ein Automatenwerk, das zwei "Gärtnerinnen" rechts und links in Aktion treten lässt. Auf einem dunkelbraunen Sockelkasten steht die von vier Säulen gestützte Uhrtrommel. Die drei Ziffernblätter im Zentrum des großen emaillierten Ziffernblattes geben die Wochentage mit den Tagesregenten, die Monate mit den Tierkreiszeichen sowie mit Hilfe einer wandernden Mondscheibe die Mondalter und -phasen an. Die Bekrönung des Ziffernblattes führt Motive aus Wissenschaft, Kunst und Handwerk zusammen. Auf dem Sockelkasten sind beidseitig der Uhr technisch raffinierte Automaten angebracht: Auf jeder Seite findet sich die Nachbildung eines Gartenpavillons, eine weibliche Figur sowie eine Brunnenminiatur, deren Pumpschwengel mit dem Klöppelmechanismus der Glocke verbunden ist. Alle Viertelstunde treten die Figuren aus dem Pavillon um aus dem Brunnen zu schöpfen. Dadurch wird der Mechanismus ausgelöst, und die Glockenschläge erklingen im Vierviertelschlag.
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 age of the deadbeat escapement, compensated pendulums and observatory regulators. Domestic clocks spread through the middle classes: English longcase and bracket clocks, French gilt-bronze mantel clocks, Viennese Biedermeier wall clocks, Black Forest painted-shield clocks, and the first American shelf clocks.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Early Modern 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.
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