GERMAN LIGHTHOUSE AUTOMATON CLOCK, BY JUNGHANS
CIRCA 1900
£227
Auction: Day 2 - Thurs 15th May from 10am | Lots 314 to 602
Description
printed celluloid dial with Arabic numerals, the painted and enamelled metal case in the form of a lighthouse, with a cupola set to the top surrounded by a balustrade, over a tapering body set with the dial to the front above a lower ring of balustrades, on a naturalistic circular base with moulded plaster waves, the single train timepiece movement with an anchor/deadbeat escapement and impulsing an arm to rotate inside the turret of the lighthouse
Dimensions
50cm high, 22cm diameter
Provenance
Acquired in Bruges by the current vendor's great uncle during WWI
Footnote
This unusual timepiece, the ‘World Time Lighthouse’ clock, was produced by Junghans circa 1900-1910 in limited numbers, likely encouraged by the adoption of International Times Zones in the 1880s. It appears to have been inspired by French lighthouse automata clocks of the late nineteenth century, by makers such as Guilmet and movements by Legrand Aine. Although this example is made from more rudimentary materials its concept is very similar. The upper movement impulses the arm in the turret to move on the hour, the end of the arm originally rotated a fan of eight subsidiary dials indicating the times of major global cities (San Francisco, Paris, Greenwich, New York, Amsterdam, Petersburg, Peking and Madrid). The one turn per hour advancing the time on all eight subsidiary dials. Some examples were later retro-fitted with a small mirrored surface that would have imitated the flashing of a light.