!!!Uhrenerzeugung

Watch and Clockmaking: Sundials, hourglasses and water clocks 
(clepsydrae) were succeeded, from the 13th century onwards, by 
mechanical clocks. The first sufficiently exact regulation of the 
time-keeping mechanism in the form of a verge escapement with a 
crossbar was mentioned in a document from 1328. Considerable progress 
was also achieved in precisely calculating gear ratios and 
manufacturing gear wheels. The first timepieces manufactured in 
Austria were made from iron by smiths and locksmiths; a guild of 
locksmiths and clockmakers was founded in Vienna in 1370. Once 
spring-driven timekeepers had been invented, the craftsmen 
specialising in portable timepieces (watches) separated from the 
locksmiths. Watch and clockmaking flourished particularly in the 18th 
century, when sophisticated Baroque clocks and a large variety of 
mantel and wall clocks were produced. In 1780 Emperor Joseph II 
invited watchmakers from Geneva to Vienna to start pocket-watch 
manufacturing, but the workshop was closed again in 1796. Another 
flowering of clockmaking followed during the Biedermeier era, when 
clocks richly decorated with paintings and musical clocks were made. 
Since 1839 tower and railway clocks have been manufactured in Vienna 
by the highly reputed E. Schauer Company. A clockmaking centre that 
specialised in particular in the manufacture of "Black Forest clocks" 
was established around the middle of the 18%%sup th/%  century near 
Karlstein in the Waldviertel region. A watch and clockmaking school 
was established there in 1875 (now a federal technical school and 
Hoehere Technische Lehranstalt). The history of watch and clockmaking 
is richly documented in the Watch and Clock Museum of the City of 
Vienna (founded in 1917), the Kunsthistorisches Museum and the Museum 
of Technology in Vienna, the Sobek Collection at Geymuellerschloessel 
in the 18th district of Vienna, the Krahuletz Museum at Eggenburg, and 
the Schmollgruber and H. Vit private collections at Steyr and St. 
Poelten, respectively.

!Literature
E. Wassermann-Jordan, Uhren, 1961; L. Stollberg, 
Steirische Uhren, 1979; E. Hellich, Alt-Wiener Uhren, 1978; Alte 
Uhren, exhibition catalogue, St. Poelten 1990.


%%language
[Back to the Austrian Version|AEIOU/Uhrenerzeugung|class='wikipage austrian']
%%

[{FreezeArticle author='AEIOU' template='Lexikon_1995_englisch'}]
[{ALLOW view All}][{ALLOW comment All}][{ALLOW edit FreezeAdmin}]