German clocks are clocks made in the German-speaking lands, a tradition that stretches from the Renaissance table clocks of Augsburg and Nuremberg to the mass-produced mantel, wall and cuckoo clocks of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Germany became one of the largest clock-producing countries in the world, exporting widely to Britain and beyond.
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Augsburg and Nuremberg makers produced elaborate gilt-brass table clocks and automaton clocks for wealthy patrons. In the Black Forest, a cottage industry of wooden clocks developed from the eighteenth century, giving rise to the cuckoo clock and the painted dial wall clock. During the later nineteenth century factories such as Junghans, Gustav Becker, Lenzkirch and Kienzle adopted industrial methods, producing regulators in the Vienna style, striking mantel clocks and alarm clocks in enormous numbers. Many carry trademarks on the movement or dial, which help with dating. German clocks are often good value compared with English examples, and quality varies from basic to very fine. Collectors look for original cases, dials and pendulums, and for well-made movements from the better factories.
