Haagse Klok

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Haagse Klok (Mz. Haagse Klokken , Eng. Hague clock , dt. Hague AM ) is a type of federzuggetriebenen bracket clock with verge escapement and pendulum , in the second half of the 17th century in the Netherlands , first and primarily in The Hague built has been.

The Haagse Klok was immediately after introduction of the pendulum as a regulator by Christiaan Huygens in 1657, the Hague clockmaker Salomon Coster developed. Coster was the first watchmaker who was allowed to use Huygens' patent on the pendulum oscillator.

The basic structure of the case consists of a rectangular wooden box, glazed on the long sides, on the front of which the brass dial plate is attached to hinges in the form of a lockable door. The movement is attached to the inside of the dial plate and can be folded out of the case. In front of the dial plate there is a glass door, which is decorated with half-columns or pillars on the sides and has a gable in the form of a flat round arch on top. Typically the cases are completely black, veneered with ebony or blackened fruit wood , the dial plate covered with black velvet, from which the Roman numerals ring made of brass or silver, often “skeletonized” in fretwork, the plaque with the manufacturer's signature and sparingly cast Embellishments, stand out. The inside of the back wall is decorated with a star in marquetry .

Turned wooden feet, two of them on the underside of the glass door, as well as two eyelets on the back of the box allow both a use as a wall clock and a display.

Stylistically, the Haagse Klokken can be assigned to the late Renaissance ; their architectural similarity to a Renaissance portal, altar or epitaph is clear. This similarity is the reason for the name Pendule Religieuse for barrel clocks built at the same time as the Haagse Klokken in Paris, stylistically very similar and technically identical.

The movements of the Haagse Klokken are almost always equipped with a minute hand , due to the groundbreaking increase in accuracy and adjustability through the use of the pendulum, which, however, is provided for one rotation every two hours in some examples.

The impact mechanism is in most cases an additional device, which by the same tension spring as the going train is driven. In later models, from around 1690, the striking mechanism was built as an additional mechanism with its own drive. Occasionally there is a separate alarm clock in a corner of the case. All movements have a lock washer and a strike on a bell, which is usually attached to the top of the case, covered by the gable. Also typical is a striking spindle bridge decorated with engravings in fretwork.

Well-known and productive manufacturers were in addition to Coster z. B. Johannes van Ceulen , members of the Fromanteel watchmaking family , Bernard van der Cloesen , Johannes Tegelbergh and Pieter Visbagh . Production ended after around 1710, as the Haagse Klok was no longer competitive due to the import of more fashionable pendulum clocks and bracket clocks.

Haagse Klokken are exhibited in the Hessisches Landesmuseum Kassel and in the Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon in Dresden.

literature

  • R. Plomp: Spring-driven Dutch Pendulum Clocks 1657-1710 Interbook International BV, Schiedam 1979, ISBN 90-6397-021-8
  • Peter Heuer, Klaus Maurice: European pendulum clocks, decorative instruments of time measurement Callwey Verlag, 1988, ISBN 3-7667-0858-9