Hi Ted,
Thank you for allowing Mearto to appraise your wall clock.
TITLE:
Golden oak, two train, spring driven, 8 or 14 day time and half hourly striking wall clock, 'Box' model, Unsigned, attributed to Junghans, retailed by Felix Kimmel of Hainfeld, Austria, made in Germany, circa 1910.
DESCRIPTION:
Case: 30" x 12” light blond oak clock case with a gently arched pediment above a rectilinear two part door with rounded case corners. The upper section has a round glazed aperture for the dial with a solid oak surround, while the lower section has four leaded and beveled glazed compartments allowing one to view the arc of the pendulum. There is a horizontal base molding with a similarly shaped pedestal below...
Dial: A brass bezel encloses this silver anodized dial with bold Arabic hours, closed minutes, steel skeletonized hands (a variant of the 'Spade' hand commonly sused by both the Junghans and the Hamburg American Clock companies in the Black Forest region of Germany). The upper dial is marked with the retailer name/location...
Movement: Not shown, but would likely be a brass fenestrated, double spring driven movement with anchor escapement, of 8-14 day duration (both were made) and striking on metal rods inside the wooden case with an ebonized pendulum rod and brass bob with concentric rings, swinging inside the lower case. The brass movement sat on a seatboard that slid into a shelf inside the case and was held in place with screws...
Condition: In working condition. There is mild to moderate oxidation of the silvered metal in the dial, but the dial remains quite legible. The case itself is excellent...
HISTORIC:
The so called 'BOX' clock was the last in a line of Teutonic wall clocks that began as the famous Vienna Regulator, a weight driven, time only wall clock from the late18th century, made in and around Vienna, Circa 1780-1860. Beginning with elegant timepieces in walnut cases, these popular and accurate clocks went through various phases: Transitional & Serpentine case period (C. 1860-1870), Aldeutsch & Baroque period (c. 1870-1900) and the Industrial Factory era (c. 1900-1930). Spring driven, factory made box clocks were mass produced post 1900 and aided in the complete demise of the weight driven regulators of earlier times. In addition to the German made box clocks the English made their own variety primarily during the first fifteen years of the new century. They could match the German products in their design and accuracy, but not in pricing and the English box clocks soon disappeared from the marketplace.
Commentary: The attribution of this clock to Junghans is primarily because of the style of the hands and the fine proportions of the various case parts. It was also likely that Junghans exported their Black Forest clocks to the eastern European countries while the Hamburg American Clock Company (related by family to Junghans and eventually brought into the larger Jungans conglomerate) primarily exported their product to America. Other companies in Germany made the box clock as well ( e.g. August Schatz and Gustav Becker)
Made in very large numbers, box clocks became quite inexpensive to buy, then as well as now. Yet, this is a handsome and classic example of such a wall clock from over a century ago.
Thank you for letting me appraise your 'family' wall clock. My fair market estimate is based on recent auction sales of comparable items. Retail sales would be somewhat higher.
Best regards,
David