What kind of German clock turns up most often?

A wooden-cased striking bracket or mantel clock. Between them, "bracket" and "mantel" account for a little over two-fifths of the titles listed on Sellingantiques. Walnut leads the case woods, with mahogany and oak behind it. Many carry a quarter strike, most often the ting-tang on two bells or gongs.

How old are these clocks?

The dated listings run from 1850 to 1960. Nothing is logged earlier or later. The 1890s is the single busiest decade, followed by the 1930s, then the 1920s and 1900s. A further group is dated only as "19th Century" or "Victorian", so the century's internal dating is looser than the decade counts alone suggest.

Are Black Forest and cuckoo clocks part of this category?

Yes. Black Forest is named in 18 titles and cuckoo in 10, together about a sixth of the category, and the group is more prominent in current stock than in the sold archive. They include carved walnut cuckoos, musical automaton cuckoos and one table-standing cuckoo with twin fusees. The region is where German clockmaking began, as a cottage trade in wooden-movement wall clocks.

Why do some listings say the case is English?

Several longcase and grandmother entries pair a German movement with an English oak or mahogany case. German factories were supplying movements into the British trade in quantity by the later 1800s. That pairing is the reason "longcase" appears at all in a category otherwise built on bracket, mantel and wall clocks.

Which examples sit at the top of the range?

Porcelain. The few porcelain-cased clocks and garnitures stand at the ceiling on their own, above everything in wood. Below them come the three-train chiming brackets, triple-weight musical wall clocks and the larger carved cases. Named factory attribution lifts a clock clear of the unattributed "German mantel clock".

Do Art Deco German clocks appear?

They make up about an eighth of the category, dated across the 1920s to 1950s. The forms are chrome desk clocks, a Bakelite alarm, Bauhaus-design wall clocks and brass world-time desk pieces. They sit at the small-format end, well away from the bracket and longcase work.

Home > Clocks > German Clocks > Page 3

Antique German Clocks

66 items · page 3 of 5

← Page 3 of 5 →

German domestic clocks made from the 1850s onward: spring-driven bracket and mantel clocks, weight-driven wall clocks, carved Black Forest cuckoos and later Art Deco desk pieces, built to tell the time in an ordinary room.