
Movements & Components · Tower clock movement
Tower clock movement by te Melle-Buer (D) Korfhage, Netherlands, 1920–1940
- Maker / attribution
- te Melle-Buer (D) Korfhage (Maker)
- Date
- 1920–1940
- Historical period
- Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
- Country of origin
- Netherlands
- Place
- Nederland, Europa
- Object type
- Tower clock movement
- Dimensions
- Hoogte: 1600 mm, diameter: 1300x900 mm
- Holding institution
- Museum Klok & Peel
- Accession / object no.
- 3115
- Credit line
- Museum Klok & Peel
- Catalogue title (original)
- Torenuurwerk (Dutch)
View the source record ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Museum Klok & Peel (object number 3115), this is a tower clock movement by te Melle-Buer (D) Korfhage, made in Nederland, Europa, Netherlands, dated 1920–1940. The Atlas places it in the Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking period (1900 – 1945) of its Movements & Components collection. Recorded dimensions: Hoogte: 1600 mm, diameter: 1300x900 mm. 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
Catalogue description from Museum Klok & Peel
In de laatste periode dat er nog mechanische torenuurwerken gebouwd werden - tussen 1920 en 1950 - zijn deze al bij de bouw voorzien van elektrische opwinding voor de gewichten, zoals bij dit uurwerk dat door de Fa. van de Kerkhof uit Aarle-Rixtel verhandeld werd. Dit uurwerk beschikt naast gangwerk en gezamenlijk slagwerk voor half- en heeluurslag ook over een bijzonder slagwerk voor de Angelusslag.
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 An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.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
Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
The wristwatch displaces the pocket watch; waterproof cases, self-winding and grand complications.
Precision lever movements, electric clock mechanisms and new alloys (invar, elinvar) characterised the period.
Read the period in the timelineMore movements & components from this periodEarlier: Industrial Revolution
Atlas type guide
Clock and watch movements
The movement is the mechanism of a clock or watch, without its case and dial. It consists of the power source (weight or mainspring in its barrel, sometimes with a fusee), the going train of wheels and pinions, the escapement and oscillator, the motion work that drives the hands, and in many cases additional trains for striking or complications.
From the eighteenth century watch movements were increasingly produced in stages: Swiss and French ébauche makers supplied rough movements that finishers, repasseurs and retailers completed and signed. Calibre numbers — first used systematically by American and Swiss factories in the nineteenth century — make it possible to identify movements, find spare parts and date watches.
What to look for
- Plate and bridge layout: full plate, three-quarter plate, Lépine bar calibre, bridges and cocks.
- Jewel count and whether jewels are set in chatons or rubbed in.
- Signatures, calibre and serial numbers on the plate or under the dial.
- Finishing: Geneva stripes (Côtes de Genève), perlage, bevelled edges, blued screws.
- Fusee and chain, going barrel, or electrical components.
Dating clues
- Full-plate English movements dominate before c. 1850; three-quarter plate and Lépine calibres after.
- Jewelled movements spread after Facio and Debaufre's patent of 1704, mainly in English work until c. 1800.
- Calibre numbers and factory serials allow close dating for industrial production after c. 1850.
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
Movements & Components · 1908
Tower clock movement by Eijsbouts te Asten, Netherlands, 1908
Museum Klok & Peel
Movements & Components · 1900–1999
Clock movement by Friedrich Mauthe, Germany, 1900–1999 (no. 59468)
German Clock Museum
Movements & Components · 1900–1999
Clock movement by Friedrich Mauthe, Germany, 1900–1999 (no. 59469)
German Clock Museum
Movements & Components · c. 1900
Clock movement by Mathias Bäuerle, Germany, c. 1900
German Clock Museum
Movements & Components · 1900–1999
Clock movement, Germany, 1900–1999 (no. 59377)
German Clock Museum
Movements & Components · 1905
Clock movement by Lorenz Furtwängler Söhne, Germany, 1905
German Clock Museum
Movements & Components · 1907
Clock movement, Germany, 1907
Vienna Museum of Science and Technology
Movements & Components · 1909
Clock movement by A. G. für Uhrenfabrikation Lenzkirch, Germany, 1909
German Clock Museum
