Foreign Clocks
A number of European countries including France, Austria, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Netherlands, Scandinavia, Spain, and Switzerland made important contributions to the clock industry. France, Germany, and Great Britain were the leaders.
The guild system that developed in France during the 16th century set standards for clockmakers. When the clockmakers’ guild was incorporated in 1544, it began regulating the conduct of shops and protecting the rights and privileges of its members. For example, it gave its members the right to work in silver and gold. Workers produced the elaborate wood and metal cases that became an accepted French style with the guild’s backing.
Eighteenth century French designs included marble, pillar, and statue, or figural clocks. The case designs became an integral part of the clocks’ character, and sometimes it took several workers to complete them.
Woodworkers created cases, stoneworkers produced a vast variety of marble designs. Other workers were employed to cast, finish, and guild the metal applications.
The French taste for ornate clocks continued into the 20th century. At that time, clockmaker Frederic Japy developed factories for the production of his clock works. His factories employed approximately 3,000 workers to produce unfinished movements in the late 1800’s. Because of the huge amount of labor force, untold numbers of clock movements were produced annually.
Peter Henlein of Nuremberg manufactured small portable clocks.
Augsbury clockmakers developed animated clocks that performed unusual movements, which created a market for workers to specialize in creating and decorating automatic clocks.
Clockmaking moved south to the Black Forest area, where workers made clocks with simpler designs, when Nuremberg and Augsburg began declining as clock centers. These clocks were in great demand in the early 19th century, as they were affordable to German citizens with lower incomes.
When cheaper imported American clocks began outselling Black Forest models, German clockmakers successfully copied American styles, producing higher profits than ever before. However, Germans stopped copying American clocks when they created more of their own original designs.
Gustav Becker, who lived from 1819 to 1885, built clock factories, which helped revitalize the German clock industry. Other clockmakers were encouraged by his success as sales soared, and followed suit by creating their own business. Soon all the clock factories were combined under the name Gustav Becker.
The Vienna regulator produced great success for Austrian clockmakers. Other Austrian clocks were popular as well. There was a metal wall clock with a painted dial, a single hand, and a “cowtail” pendulum.
Later on in 1926, Becker merged with Junghans. The Junghans firm was significant because it adopted American mass production techniques. Becker’s life marked the period when the American and German clock industries were competing for leadership.
The history of clockmaking in Great Britain is not as clear as it is in other European nations, however, turret clocks were built by the late 13th century. These huge structures could be seen at Canterbury in 1286; Westminister, London, in 1288,and St. Paul’s, London, in 1292. Several hunded years later, public clocks were present in other population centers of Great Britain.
English clockmakers continued to make larger and more sophisticated clocks, such as the turret, long-case, lantern, table, mantel, and bracket modes, which were sold to wealthier citizens. The decline of the English clock industry began when England started importing large numbers of very inexpensive, but reliable, clocks from Connecticut, and inexpensive clocks from Germany and Austria.
Even though the English were once world’s leader in clock making, they have no prominent names as the French do. Their emphasis on quality, rather than quantity, caused their decline.
