Joseph spirit

Joseph Geist (* around 1770 in Vienna ; † 1824 in Graz ) was an Austrian watchmaker and is considered to be the founder of the first Austrian watch factory.

Life and horological achievement

Geist, son of a watchmaker, attended grammar school in Graz after an apprenticeship with his father and turned to studies in physics and astronomy . In 1797 he passed the master's examination as a watchmaker, but appeared neither as a teacher nor at meetings of the watchmaker's guild. After his father's death in 1810, he took over his business and concentrated entirely on watchmaking. After a few years of preparation, he designed and manufactured precise pendulum clocks that were used in the Vienna University Observatory and the Polytechnic Institute in Vienna. In addition, some floor clocks with a second pendulum have been preserved. Around 1819 he founded the first watch factory of the Austrian monarchy together with his son-in-law Bernhard Jäckle (also: Jeckle ) and his brother.

Well-known watches

• Drive mechanism of the clock in the Graz clock tower (1821), City Museum Graz
• Floor standing clock by Joseph Geist, precision pendulum clock by Joseph Geist - annual runner. Originally mentioned in the Polytechnic Institute in Vienna, then lost for more than 100 years, now resurfaced in the private possession of a Styrian watch collector.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Lukas Stolberg: The Graz clockmaker Joseph Geist in Old Clocks [...] . Callwey, Munich 1984. p. 47ff.

2. Lukas Stolberg: Joseph Geist in Die Steirischen Uhrmacher , Verlag Poletz & Ausserhofer, Graz 1979. S. 421ff. 3. Jürgen Ermert: Joseph Geist, Graz, in precision pendulum clocks - Volume 2 , JE-Verlag, Overath 2017. S. 457ff.