Museum piece
The cream-colored porcelain case has gently curved sides and tapers toward the bottom. Its round dial is framed by a brass-colored bezel and features black Arabic numerals and slender gold-colored hands. Below the clock face, a mechanical kitchen timer—often called an egg timer—is built into the case. Its light-colored knob and circular minute scale add a practical function to the wall clock. The porcelain case has survived without damage.
A mechanical movement with a floating balance escapement drives the clock. It is wound using a matching clock key. The separately adjustable kitchen timer has a scale from 0 to 60 minutes. The clock has no chime.
Manufacturer
Schwenningen (now part of Villingen-Schwenningen) · Black Forest – Baden-Württemberg · Germany
The history of the Mauthe clock factory began in 1844, when Friedrich Mauthe established a business trading clock parts and Black Forest clocks in Schwenningen. By the late 1860s, the company had begun producing its own clock movements.
In 1876, his sons Christian and Jakob took over the business. They transformed the family enterprise into a major industrial clock manufacturer. A modern factory was built in 1881. By around 1900, Mauthe employed more than 1,100 people and produced alarm clocks, wall clocks, grandfather clocks, and mantel and sideboard clocks, among other timepieces.
After World War II, Mauthe expanded its range to include wristwatches. Among its better-known timepieces were watches awarded by Volkswagen to drivers whose cars had covered 100,000 kilometers without major engine repairs.
The growing popularity of quartz technology placed increasing financial pressure on the company during the 1970s. In 1975, the long-established clock manufacturer filed for insolvency. The Mauthe brand was revived by a new watchmaking company in 2011.