Watch movement, Germany, 1825 (German Clock Museum Museu_ProvidedCHO_museum_digital_59486__technical_number_) — view 1 of 1
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Movements & Components · Watch movement

Watch movement, Germany, 1825 (German Clock Museum Museu_ProvidedCHO_museum_digital_59486__technical_number_)

DocumentedDocumented from the holding institution's catalogue record.
Maker / attribution
Unrecorded in source
Date
1825
Country of origin
Germany
Object type
Watch movement
Holding institution
German Clock Museum
Accession / object no.
Museu_ProvidedCHO_museum_digital_59486__technical_number_
Catalogue title (original)
Taschenuhrwerk, um 1825 (German)

View the source record ↗

Record summary

Held and catalogued by German Clock Museum (object number Museu_ProvidedCHO_museum_digital_59486__technical_number_), this is a watch movement, made in Germany, dated 1825. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Movements & Components 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)

Taschenuhrwerk mit Ankerhemmung, gravierte Brücken, Hersteller unbekannt, um 1825 (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 An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.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 escapement invention: cylinder, duplex, lever, detent and many experimental escapements; compensation balances and fine finishing.

Read the period in the timelineMore movements & components from this periodEarlier: Early Modern Horology

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.

Read next:FuseeVerge escapement

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