Clocks · Wall clock
Wall clock by Audinet, France, 1730
- Maker / attribution
- Audinet (creator)
- Date
- 1730
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- France
- Place
- France
- Object type
- Wall clock
- Holding institution
- German Clock Museum
- Accession / object no.
- Museu_ProvidedCHO_museum_digital_57132__technical_number_
- Catalogue title (original)
- Wanduhr, Pendule, Audinet, Paris, um 1730 (German)
Record summary
Held and catalogued by German Clock Museum (object number Museu_ProvidedCHO_museum_digital_57132__technical_number_), this is a wall clock by Audinet, made in France, dated 1730. 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
Catalogue description from German Clock Museum (German)
Diese Pendule trägt die Signatur "Audinet A Paris" auf ihrem Uhrwerk. Vermutlich wurde sie vom Pariser Uhrmacher François Audinet gefertigt, der dort seit 1722 als Uhrmachermeister tätig war. (Deutsches Uhrenmuseum Furtwangen)
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 An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.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
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
Regulators, wall and Vienna clocks
A regulator is a precision pendulum clock used as a time standard in observatories, workshops and railway offices. Typical features are a deadbeat or Graham escapement, a temperature-compensated pendulum (mercury jar, gridiron or later invar), maintaining power and a regulator dial that separates hours, minutes and seconds. George Graham's deadbeat escapement (c. 1715) and his mercury pendulum, together with Harrison's gridiron, set the pattern for two centuries.
Wall clocks span a much wider range: the elegant Viennese Laterndluhr and Dachluhr of the Biedermeier period, the Dutch stoelklok and staartklok, English 'dial' clocks used in schools, offices and railway stations, and mass-produced spring and weight wall clocks from Germany (Gustav Becker, Junghans, Kienzle) and America.
What to look for
- Deadbeat escapement and compensated pendulum (gridiron rods, mercury jar or wood rod).
- A regulator dial with a large central minute hand and separate hour and seconds dials.
- Vienna regulators: glazed cases, slender pendulum, small weights, enamel two-piece dials.
- German factory trademarks stamped on the backplate (e.g. Gustav Becker anchor and crown, Junghans star).
Dating clues
- Graham-type deadbeat regulators: from c. 1720.
- Viennese Laterndluhr: c. 1800–1850.
- German factory 'Vienna-style' regulators: c. 1870–1930; Gustav Becker serial numbers allow close dating.
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 · 1590–1610
Clock, France, 1590–1610
MAK – Museum of Applied Arts
Clocks · 1600–1699
Table clock by Charles Goret, France, 1600–1699
German Clock Museum
Clocks · 1640
Table clock, France, 1640
Rijksmuseum
Clocks · late 17th century
Clock with case of tortoiseshell inlaid with brass, Paris, late 17th century
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Clocks · 1650
Crucifix Clock, signed W. H. Arnstad, mid- 17th century.
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Clocks · ca. 1690
Clock with pedestal by Case attributed to André Charles Boulle, France, ca. 1690
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Clocks · 1690
Table clock by Marc Boucher, France, 1690
German Clock Museum
Clocks · ca. 1700–1710
Traveling clock with alarm and calendar by Probably by Joseph Paulet, France, ca. 1700–1710
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York