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"Memento Mori" is a reminder of mortality. Our " All Are Mine " clock is an excellent modern example that is the result of a long tradition of clockmaker artisans who remind us that life is short, and all things must pass. This clock tells us a story. In the upper left part of the clock, you'll see a rich man (with his bags of money and fine suit). Just above the 12:00 position, there is a carving of a king, and to his right there is a carved figure of a monk. Underneath the dial are carved representations of the young and the old; and at the bottom you can see the world. The clock bears the inscription, Alle sind mein , or "All Are Mine." Whether you are a rich person, royalty, a man of the church, young and old, all around the world, Death will eventually come to collect you. At the top, astride the foliott balance, the personification of the End of Life swings to collect his harvest. Along with my previous post , here are more very fine exam...

Here's a very interesting piece that recently sold at the Antiquorum Auctions . Perfect for all of you Steampunks and Goths, this piece is nearly 400 years old! This is a very interesting fusee with chain, verge escapement, and plain steel two-arm balance without spring. From the Watchismo Blog : During the first minute, the skull's expression seems to smile, the second minute it seems to laugh, the next appears to scream and finally, the jaws snap shut, as if the skull were trying to bite something. At the same time, one of the snakes slowly sinks back down into one of the eye sockets, while the other slowly comes out of the other eye, before retracting suddenly, as the first snake again springs out from its eye-socket. And to view the time, just open up the skull cap! It sold recently for $135,000. Designed & built in 1610 by Nicolaus Schmidt der Junger (Augsburg, Germany) as a skull set on two crossed shinbones and mounted on a gilt brass tripod, the hinged skull cap (r...

Via Make ...comes this amazing video of an x-ray trip through a barnacle-encrusted lump from a 17th century shipwreck. It reveals the workings of a very sophisticated, gorgeous watchwork mechanism inside. The researchers (from National Museums Scotland in Edinburgh) who used this x-ray technology are excited about the prospects of using it on future, similarly encrusted underwater finds. Via Nature : The watch was found on a wreck believed to be the Swan — a small warship that sank off the west coast of Scotland during the English Civil War. She formed part of Oliver Cromwell's forces that attacked the Royalist stronghold of Duart Castle in Mull, UK, but succumbed to a violent gale on 13 September 1653. The resulting reconstruction of the watch shows plenty of decorative touches and exquisite attention to detail. The top and bottom plates are held together by square-section Egyptian tapered pillars, first used around 1640. Other parts of the mechanism are engraved with a floral des...

Here's something to knock the socks off of any of you fans of automata. The newscast is in German, but anyone can get the drift. These are three mechanically animated figures. One plays the organ, one writes, and the other draws. To be clear: the organ isn't a player organ (that plays itself) while the figure sits in front and pretends to play... the figure ACTUALLY PLAYS the organ. The information for the tune is in her mechanics, so that her fingers and arms move to play the fairly complex little tune! These are housed in the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire in Neuchâtel, and were built by theologian, mathematician and watchmaker Pierre Jaquet-Droz, his son Henri-Louis and their colleague Jean-Frédéric Leschot in the early 1770s. They were first exhibited to the public in nearby La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1774! This is truly amazing stuff.. Unlike the two mechanical boys, the woman-organist's body and head move independently of her task, and she can sit and breathe and fidget (h...

In the late 19th century, an argument can be made that the most prominent clock makers were located in the U.K. (for example, J. J. Elliott of London). It can also be stated with relative certainty that these prominent U.K. clock makers manufactured the most expensive clocks produced during this period placing the clocks beyond the financial reach of all but the most affluent. This focus of the U.K. clock makers on the top-tier of the domestic clock market created an opportunity for the Black Forest clock markers to manufacture clocks that could be exported to, and marketed in, the U.K. to address the market for quality, but yet more affordable clocks. Naturally, this would mean that the German clock makers would have to adapt their clocks to suit the English market in terms of both function and style. This would necessitate the German makers to produce clocks powered with eight day fusee movements as opposed to the weight powered or 30-hour or 50-hour movements typically produced ...

Let's take a quick look at some of the terms that have been mentioned in recent posts.  To do that, we'll start at the basics of how mechanical clocks are usually powered. The clocks featured in recent posts are built before the general use of electricity.   Steam engines would normally be too large and inefficient to power such small devices, plus you would have continually stoke it to keep the clock running over night.  So what powers these clocks? We've discussed examples of the very earliest clocks that run on water power, but the tried and true method of running an accurate timepiece is to harness the power of gravity.  This is the original GREEN power.  Gravity is constantly renewable and reliable.  As long as we have a planet, we have gravity.  Weight-driven clocks also have the advantage of being very accurate.  The force of gravity is always constant in any particular location, so the clock won't speed up or slow down at any point because of an increase or ...

In a previous post we spoke about curious innovations made by Johann Baptist Beha , which never made it "main stream"...resulting in unique and unusual clocks left for us today. This next post I would like to share a clock, and an innovation that did make it main stream. This piece is a very early, and special shelf clock with automation made by Johann Baptist Beha in 1849. First off we would like to thank Dr. Wilhelm Schneider of Germany for his assistance in researching this piece. Dr. Schneider ,besides being the authority on the Beha factory… is also a accomplished author and a good friend. This early Beha was made in late 1849, and sold January 1850 to Mr. Spiengelhalder a dealer from Neukirch for 19 Gulden along with one other identical piece. This is the only know surviving piece of the two. The Spiengelhalder family operated a retail store out of London during that time. (As a side note worth mentioning...Johann Baptist set up his shop in Eisenbach in 1845, thi...

The James Burke television series of the '70s, Connections still remains immensely popular. He had a real knack for telling the history of change. In this episode Burke is talking about the history of the clock, and how it relates to the development of the computer as well as mechanized production and the development of the U.S. as an industrial power. He starts here by explaining early Arabic theories in astronomy and astrology, as well as European contemporaries' need for hourly prayer in the Dark Ages. Burke takes us through history, pointing out the need for an accurate clock and the rise of Christiann Huygens's important invention: the pendulum clock . By the end of the first segment here, Burke introduces the verge and foliott - the exact escapement found in our "Rock Clock" which was in use in the Black Forest in Germany in 1640. In the second segment listed here he talkes about a fusee mechanism and goes on to show other mechanical marvels like our cuckoo...