Museum piece
This round wall clock has a simple case made of dark-stained genuine wood. Instead of a printed hour track, the wooden dial carries twelve raised silver-colored numerals. Two slender, similarly silver-colored hands contrast with the warm wood grain. The winding opening sits below the center of the hands. Its restrained design places the emphasis on the natural wood grain and the dimensional numerals.
Inside is a mechanical movement by Schatz. The clock has no striking mechanism.
Manufacturer
Triberg · Black Forest – Baden-Württemberg · Germany
The history of the Jahresuhrenfabrik in Triberg began in 1881, when clockmaker August Schatz took over the equipment of a failed clockmaking workshop and began producing regulator clocks. Soon afterwards, he turned to the then-new anniversary clock with a rotating pendulum.
The idea for these clocks originated with Johann Anton Harder. His design used a slowly oscillating torsion pendulum that required little driving energy, but it was difficult to put into reliable practice. August Schatz and his employees further developed the design until it worked reliably. The first twelve anniversary clocks were sold in March 1882.
This marked the beginning of a success story in Black Forest clockmaking. The so-called 400-day clocks needed winding only about once a year. In 1884, the company became Jahresuhren-Fabrik AG. It later operated under various names and became known worldwide as Jahresuhren-Fabrik GmbH August Schatz & Söhne.
Alongside its famous anniversary clocks, the company made regulators, wall, kitchen and cuckoo clocks, as well as travel alarm clocks. Its clocks were exported in large numbers and found homes around the world.
During the twentieth century, the product range changed. Battery-powered movements and marine timepieces grew in importance alongside traditional mechanical clocks. The company's ship's clocks and instruments in the Schatz marine ranges became particularly well known.
Competition from electronic clocks and inexpensive quartz clocks placed traditional clockmaking under increasing economic pressure. In 1986, the company filed for bankruptcy.
The history of the Jahresuhrenfabrik has not been lost. Historical company records, patents, trademarks and order books are now held by the Baden-Württemberg Business Archives. The surviving clocks recall a company that decisively shaped the development of the German anniversary clock.
Sources:
https://blog.deutsches-uhrenmuseum.de/2019/01/03/jahresuhr/
https://www.wa-bw.de/jahresuhrenfabrik-gmbh-aug-schatz-soehne-triberg/