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World Clock - Research Engineering Company, Eltham, c. 1985 — view 1 of 2
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Clocks · World clock

World Clock - Research Engineering Company, Eltham, c. 1985

DocumentedDocumented from the holding institution's catalogue record.
Maker / attribution
Unrecorded in source
Date
c. 1985
Country of origin
Unrecorded in source
Object type
World clock
Dimensions
5 cm (Height), 25.2 cm (Outside Diameter)
Holding institution
Museums Victoria, Melbourne
Accession / object no.
ST 44739
Catalogue title (original)
World Clock - Research Engineering Company, Eltham, circa 1985 (English)

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Record summary

Held and catalogued by Museums Victoria, Melbourne (object number ST 44739), this is a world clock, dated c. 1985. The Atlas places it in the Quartz Revolution period (1969 – 1990) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: 5 cm (Height), 25.2 cm (Outside Diameter). 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

Summary — Museums Victoria

World wall clock, invented by Alan Heath, Research Engineering Company, Eltham, Victoria, circa 1985. The inventor has applied for Australian and USA patents.

Physical description — Museums Victoria

The clock face consists of a rotating disk on which is arranged a map of the world with the international time zones segmenting the disk and marked at intervals around the edge. At the centre of the clock face is a small hand which in two directions indicates the minutes after the hour. There is also a sweep second hand. See also Trade Literature.

Provenance

Donation from Mr Alan Heath, Jul 2000

Historical context

Quartz Revolution (1969 – 1990)

Seiko's Astron begins mass quartz timekeeping; traditional industries contract sharply.

Quartz movements and digital displays made accurate clocks cheap and ubiquitous after the early 1970s. LED and LCD clocks, clock radios and radio-controlled clocks appeared, while traditional mechanical clockmaking contracted sharply in Germany, France and Britain.

Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Modern Mechanical Horology

Atlas type guide

Domestic clocks

A clock combines four systems: a source of power (falling weight, coiled spring, or later electricity), a gear train that divides time, an escapement and oscillator that regulate it (foliot, pendulum or balance), and an indicating system of dial and hands or a bell. Its history runs from the large iron weight-driven clocks of the late thirteenth century to Renaissance spring-driven table clocks, the pendulum revolution of 1656, the factory clocks of the nineteenth century and electric and quartz clocks of the twentieth.

Domestic clocks also reflect regional furniture and decorative traditions — English longcase and bracket clocks, French pendules, Viennese regulators, Black Forest and American shelf clocks — and therefore record changing tastes as much as technical progress.

What to look for

  • How the clock is powered: weights, spring barrel, fusee, electric coil.
  • The oscillator: foliot, short pendulum, long seconds pendulum or balance.
  • Whether it strikes: hour only (count wheel) or hours and quarters (rack striking).
  • The maker or retailer's name on dial and movement, and any factory trademarks.
  • Signs of alteration — replaced dials, converted escapements, 'married' cases.

Dating clues

  • Before 1656 clocks used foliots or balances; after, most domestic clocks have pendulums.
  • Anchor escapements spread after c. 1670; minute hands became common at the same time.
  • Factory production in America and Germany transformed prices after c. 1840.

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:Verge escapementAnchor (recoil) escapementFoliot

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