I purchased a supposed “German” 8-day pendulum wall clock from an antique store in 1980. I was told it was made around 1900, but there’s no manufacture date or clockmakers label on it.
I’ve never seen another one like it except on the HBO series Deadwood in Al Swearengen’s office. Any idea who might have made it, and when? It runs great and keeps perfect time as long as I remember to wind it once a week. The link below should work.
I’m betting Gustav Becker or Friedrich Mauthe; google around for pendulum wall clock wooden case for either of those makers. You should be able to find a maker’s mark somewhere in the works but you might not be able to get to them in ordinary operation?
Thanks Kimstu. I looked through scores of pictures of clocks made by Becker and Mauthe, and while I didn’t find an exact match, I found some fairly close ones made by Becker. I then did a reverse Google image and it brought up lots of clocks being sold in Germany made by Becker. I was hoping to find an exact match since I thought this was a very common wall clock from the turn of the previous century. I plan to take it down and remove the works to see if I can find a name or marking somewhere that will confirm the maker. I guess not all makers put there name on the clock face like they do today.
Cool, let us know what you find!
The closing of the loop on the number “2”-is that uncommon?
Not so very, here’s a Mauthe with a very similar clock face.
And the works (and face) are often from a different person then the one who made the case.
Can I assume that the case maker is the one credited with manufacturing the clock and not the maker of the clockwork, assuming they are two different people?
I’m no expert, but AIUI it’s the clock mechanism that is the chief part of the clockmaker’s manufacture. The wooden clock case may be more of an artistic achievement, or more valuable as an antique, but the case is not the clock.
A major clockmaker like Gustav Becker or Junghans would have lots of different people carving the cases and machining the works, but the “maker” of all the clocks would be the company as a whole.
That makes sense. It’s a lot harder to make the clock works than the wooden container it goes into.
Yup. Now could somebody kindly advise how to flush out my persistent earworm of the Mary Poppins Returns song “A Cover Is Not the Book” generated by my unwise choice of the phrase “the case is not the clock”?
Sing it. Out Loud. In public. Problem solved. 