Clocks · Wall clock
Wall clock, Japan, 1800–1899
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- 1800–1899
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- Japan
- Place
- Japan
- Object type
- Wall clock
- Holding institution
- German Clock Museum
- Accession / object no.
- Museu_ProvidedCHO_museum_digital_57263__technical_number_
- Catalogue title (original)
- Wanduhr (Kake Tokei), Japan, 19. Jahrhundert (German)
Record summary
Held and catalogued by German Clock Museum (object number Museu_ProvidedCHO_museum_digital_57263__technical_number_), this is a wall clock, made in Japan, dated 1800–1899. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) 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)
Im 16. Jahrhundert brachten die Jesuiten die mechanischen Uhren mit nach Fernost. Noch bis 1873 galt in Japan ein spezielles Zeitsystem, das ursprünglich aus China stammte. Um die europäischen Uhren an ihre Zeitvorstellungen anzupassen, kamen die Japaner auf raffinierte Ideen. Der japanische Kalendertag begann mit Sonnenuntergang. Tag und Nacht wurden in je sechs Toki eingeteilt. Da sich im Laufe des Jahres Tag- und Nachtlänge ändern, sind auch die Toki unterschiedlich lang. Durch die Anpassung der europäischen Räderuhr an diese Zeitvorstellung entstand die japanische Uhr, die Wadokei. Um die Uhren nach diesem Zeitsystem laufen zu lassen, nutzten die Japaner zwei Möglichkeiten. Beispielsweise bauten sie Uhrwerke, die Tag und Nacht unterschiedlich schnell gingen - wie im Fall dieser Wanduhr (Kake Tokei). Dazu wurden zwei Waagbalken eingebaut, einer für die Toki der Nacht, der andere für die Toki des Tages. Das Umschalten erfolgte automatisch nach je sechs Toki bei Sonnenuntergang und Sonnenaufgang. (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 An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.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
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
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.
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