Clocks · Table clock
Table clock, Germany, 1970s
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- 1970s
- Historical period
- Quartz Revolution (1969 – 1990)
- Country of origin
- Germany
- Place
- Germany
- Object type
- Table clock
- Materials / technique
- plastic, aluminium
- Dimensions
- Pit. 6 cm, lev. 10,5 cm, kork. 12,5 cm
- Holding institution
- Työväenmuseo Werstas
- Accession / object no.
- tk_59568
- Credit line
- Työväenmuseo Werstas (via Finna)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Kello; Uutta aikaa - STS-RAHOITUS OY -kello, pöytäkello (Finnish)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Työväenmuseo Werstas (object number tk_59568), this is a table clock, made in Germany, dated 1970s. The Atlas places it in the Quartz Revolution period (1969 – 1990) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: plastic, aluminium. Recorded dimensions: Pit. 6 cm, lev. 10,5 cm, kork. 12,5 cm. The record is illustrated with 3 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
The source record does not include a narrative description. The structured fields above are reproduced from it.
Historical context
Quartz Revolution (1969 – 1990)
Seiko's Astron begins mass quartz timekeeping; traditional industries contract sharply.
Quartz movements and digital displays made accurate clocks cheap and ubiquitous after the early 1970s. LED and LCD clocks, clock radios and radio-controlled clocks appeared, while traditional mechanical clockmaking contracted sharply in Germany, France and Britain.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Modern Mechanical 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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