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Wall clock by Junghans, Germany, 1938 — view 1 of 2
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Clocks · Wall clock

Wall clock by Junghans, Germany, 1938

DocumentedDocumented from the holding institution's catalogue record.
Maker / attribution
Junghans (maker)
Date
1938
Country of origin
Germany
Place
Germany
Object type
Wall clock
Holding institution
Kymenlaakson museo
Accession / object no.
MERE6:1
Credit line
Kymenlaakson museo (via Finna)
Catalogue title (original)
seinäkello (Finnish)

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Record summary

Held and catalogued by Kymenlaakson museo (object number MERE6:1), this is a wall clock by Junghans, made in Germany, dated 1938. The Atlas places it in the Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking period (1900 – 1945) of its Clocks collection. The record is illustrated with 2 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

Description — Kymenlaakson museo

Pyöreä, metallikuorinen seinäkello. Kellotaulu mattapintainen, kotelointi kromattu. Numerot ja osoittimet ovat mustat. Kellon ylälaidassa sekä molemmille sivuilla seinälle ripustamista varten silmukat. Kellotaulun suojana on kirkas lasi metallikehyksessä. Lasi on saranoitu. Kello 12:n, 3:n ja 9:n jälkeen asteikkoon on merkitty punaiset sektorit ja kello 6:n jälkeen vihreä sektori.

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 An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.

Inscriptions & marks

taustalevy 16.2.62; tyyppikilpi Posti- ja lennätinlaitos Radiokonttori No 9734; taustalevy -38; takapinta Aikala kello- ja kultaliike; kellotaulu Gustav Becker

Historical context

Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)

The wristwatch displaces the pocket watch; waterproof cases, self-winding and grand complications.

Between 1900 and 1945 clocks were electrified: master-clock systems ran factories and offices, synchronous mains clocks entered homes, and the Shortt free-pendulum clock set new standards of accuracy before the first quartz clocks (1927). Art Deco design reshaped mantel and table clocks.

Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Industrial Revolution

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.

Read next:Deadbeat escapementAnchor (recoil) escapementGrasshopper escapement

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