Types of clocks
What kind of clock is it? 24 clock types explained: how each one works, where it came from, and how to recognize one.
Floor and tall clocks
Comtoise clockA sturdy iron clock from the mountain villages of eastern France, famous for its huge stamped-brass pendu…Mora clockA curvy, painted Swedish floor clock that farm families around Mora in Dalarna built in the winter months…
Novelty and art clocks
Binary clockA binary clock swaps digits for rows of lights that are either on or off. Once you know the trick, readin…Mystery clockA clock whose hands seem to turn on a clear glass dial with nothing driving them, an illusion perfected b…
Portable clocks
Carriage clockA small, spring-driven travel clock with a carrying handle, developed in France in the early 1800s and la…HourglassTwo glass bulbs and a trickle of sand: the hourglass never told the time of day, but for centuries it mea…
Public and outdoor clocks
Shelf, mantel and table clocks
Bracket clockA spring-driven pendulum clock in a wooden case, made in England from the late 1600s to sit on a table or…Lighthouse clockSimon Willard's patented alarm timepiece set a dial and movement under a glass dome on a slender column. …Skeleton clockA clock with its case stripped away and its plates pierced, so every wheel can be seen, usually displayed…
Special mechanisms
Anniversary clockA clock that runs for more than a year on one winding, thanks to a slowly twisting torsion pendulum, usua…Conical pendulum clockInstead of swinging to and fro, its pendulum sweeps a steady circle, so the clock runs almost silently an…Equation clockA sundial and a good clock rarely agree, and the gap can reach about 16 minutes. An equation clock shows …Musical clockSome clocks do more than strike. A musical clock plays whole tunes on bells or tiny organ pipes, and comp…Rolling ball clockA ball zigzags across a tilting tray, trips a lever, and the tray flips to send it back: a hypnotic early…
Time systems and signals
Japanese clock (wadokei)Until 1873 Japan kept hours that stretched in summer and shrank in winter, and for more than 200 years it…Master and slave clocksBefore networked time, one carefully kept pendulum clock could send electric pulses down a wire and move …Ship's bell clockA clock that tells time the way sailors did, striking one to eight bells over each four-hour watch instea…Tide clockA one-handed clock that tells you not the hour but the state of the sea: how long until high water, and h…Time ballBefore radio, a big painted ball dropping down a mast at exactly 1 p.m. or noon was how sailors in port c…Time clockClocking in began with a key. Willard Bundy's 1888 time recorder printed each worker's number and the hou…
Wall clocks
Banjo clockA slim, weight-driven wall clock patented in Massachusetts in 1802, named by later collectors for its res…Cartel clockA French wall clock dressed in swirling gilt bronze, where the case was the star and a small pendulum mov…Schoolhouse clockThe octagon-topped pendulum wall clock that hung in American classrooms and offices, sold by its makers a…
Looking for the classics? See the A to Z of clocks for sundials, pendulum clocks, quartz clocks and more.
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