Antique Novelty Clocks
Novelty clocks
Clocks have always exerted fascination because of their complex mechanisms. Since the 17th century clockmakers have created unique timekeepers that incorporate musical work, mechanical figures, elaborate cases and dials, and complicated striking mechanisms. Most novelty clocks available today were produced during the 19th century (particularly in France), when in the face of mass production there was a great demand for unusual clocks. These novelty clocks were fashioned in numerous designs and with a great variety of intricate and complicated mechanisms.
AUTOMATON CLOCKS
One of the most popular types of novelty clock was
the automaton clock, featuring automata or mechanical figures. The earliest automaton clocks were made in the late 16th century, especially in Germany and central Europe, and include such devices as griffins that flapped their wings and opened and closed their beaks at the striking of each hour. In the 18th and 19th centuries rocking ships, phases of the moon (on a revolving dial), and figures of musicians playing were
common. These features were often fitted in the dial arch of longcase and bracket clocks. Some of the most elaborate 19th-century examples from France and Switzerland have very ornate cases with figures appearing through doors, windmills with turning sails, and rocking ships.
Most automaton clocks available today are of eight-day duration and are spring-driven, with a third winding hole for winding the concealed automaton mechanism, musical work,
and/or a quarter-hour striking mechanism. Many automata have minor damage, and prospective buyers should always make sure that the automata work before purchasing.
BLACK FOREST CLOCKS
Clocks have been made in Germany’s Black Forest region since the late 17th century, but most pieces on the market today are from the 18th and 19th centuries. In the 18th century a cottage clockmaking industry grew up, making wall-hung, weight-driven, 30-hour clocks with anchor escapements and long pendulums. With the great local tradition of woodcarving, and the high cost of brass, clockmakers used wood for almost all features of the clock: the shield-shaped, painted wooden dial, often decorated with floral motifs, was fixed onto a wooden
frame housing the movement – also mostly of wood.
In the 19th century the clockmaking industry turned to mass production in the face of competition from mass-produced, wooden-cased clocks from the USA. Painted shield clocks were still popular, but most
19th-century examples have steel or brass rather than wooden movements. One of the most famous types of Black Forest clock is the cuckoo clock, supposedly first made by Franz Anton Kctterer c.1730; table
cuckoo clocks were made from the 1850s. Cuckoo
clocks have elaborate, carved wood cases, often in the form of a hunting lodge or chalet. Some have a matching carved pendulum bob and
weights modelled as pine-cones. The wooden
cuckoo usually pops out of an aperture on
the hour and the half hour; the finest clocks
also feature musical work, with birdsong
emitted by two small pipes with miniature
bellows inside the case. The more unusual
trumpeter clocks, from c.1857, are similar,
but have trumpeters rather than a cuckoo.
SKELETON CLOCKS
The skeleton clock evolved in France in the mid-18th century, probably out of the desire of the great French сдщсльфлукы of the time to show off their skill. The pierced or fretted brass frame revealed the mechanism, which typically featured cut and pierced brass plates secured by blued-steel screws. The base was usually of marble or wood, decorated with elaborate gilt-bronze Mounts, and the clock was covered with a glass dome to protect the movement from dust. Most dials were of white enamel, with the centre often cut out to reveal the movement behind. Usually made to commission for wealthy patrons, French clocks were of extremely high quality, featuring sophisticated mechanical refinements, calendar-work, and often fine gridiron pendulums.
The skeleton clock was not introduced in Britain until c.1820; production tailed off by 1890 and stopped in 1910. British skeletons usually have a fusee movement, an anchor escapement, an engraved and silvered or lute-painted brass dial, and blued-steel hands. Dials ere often pierced or fretted, with the dial centre cut out. Because the movements were on display, they were usually very finely finished, and the frame was lacquered gilded. Like French skeletons, British pieces usually ,at on marble or wooden bases, often with a velvet creel centre; the base had a step or groove to hold -lit glass dome cover.
Before the mid-19th century fine skeleton clocks were made in Britain by a few individual makers; after that time following the Great Exhibition of 1851) they were produced in large numbers by specialized manufacturers. Skeleton clocks became virtuoso pieces of design, with elaborate, scalloped, pierced, and fretted frames, often modelled on famous buildings — on some pieces the hands are hardly visible against the profusion of miniature spires and arches. Early skeleton clocks are timepieces, whereas these complex clocks strike the hour and sometimes the half hour on a gong, visible behind the clock. Some of the most elaborate skeleton clocks strike on two or more bells or have musical chimes.
MYSTERY CLOCKS
The earliest mystery clocks date from the 17th century, but the principal period of mystery clock production was the 19th century in France. They are so called because there is no apparent connection between the pendulum and the movement; or no apparent connection between the movement and the hands. These perplexing clocks were usually spring-driven, and the visible pendulum, which mysteriously appears to swing unaided, was therefore a mainly decorative feature added for intrigue. The pendulum was often held by a bronze or spelter (an alloy of zinc) figure, and the movement in the marble base: each impulse of the escapement caused the figure to rotate virtually imperceptibly to the right and left, and this rotating movement in turn enabled the pendulum to swing. Another design was that of a glass dial supported by a column: the dial kept the time without any visible connection to the movement. The quality of the figure determines the price of the clock — those with bronze statues are the most highly sought after.
Automaton clocks
• DESIGNS automata were often combined with complex musical workings
• CONDITION automata should always be original and in good working order as they are difficult to fix
Black Forest clocks
• CONDITION wooden cases, dials, and movements may suffer from woodworm or be cracked or split; wooden carvings should be intact
• COLLECTING the finest examples also play music
Skeleton clocks
• DESIGNS the best pieces have ornate pierced and fretted frames (perhaps modelled as a cathedral), an original glass dome, complex striking, and sometimes chimes
• CARE cleaning should be carried out by specialists; broken or missing glass domes are difficult to replace
• COLLECTING the more complicated the design and mechanism, the more collectable the clock; original domes are important
Mystery clocks
• COLLECTING figures should be original; bronze is more desirable than spelter; bad repairs reduce value