Early letterhead for the Synchronome company, showing several networked dial clocks next to a female figure and an allegorical representation of Time

The museum at The Clockworks displays over 100 examples of electrical clocks and associated technologies from across Europe, spanning c.1840 up to the 1970s. The collection charts the development of electrical and precision horology, and the concept of synchronised, or ‘universal’ time.

In a world where almost everyone has access to accurate time, we live our lives by the clock. For centuries before, people lived by the sun – which, in Britain, rises 30 minutes earlier on the east coast compared to the west. With the development of railways, factories and pub licensing hours in the nineteenth century, the discrepancies of ‘local time’ caused increasing confusion, and gave a new urgency to the quest for accurate time. For many, electricity was the answer.

The instantaneous transmission of intelligence by [electricity] to distant places, and its influences upon society, are as yet only partially developed; but enough has already been accomplished to show how speedily the whole world may be brought together by its mysterious and centralizing agency”

Alexander Bain, ‘A Short History of the Electric Clocks’, London, 1852

The museum at The Clockworks includes objects from the earliest days of electric and synchronised time up until the mid-twentieth century. It tells the story of developing technology, of designers and innovators, and the emergence of the modern world.

Networked time

The collection includes clocks produced for time distribution and synchronisation in houses, hospitals, factories and city-centres, from London and Paris to Brno and Russia.

An electric-mechanical turret clock by Johann Antel formerly in the railway station at Brno
A dial clock synchronised by Lund's Standard Time Company
Switch on an electric clock made by Alexander Bain

Precision timekeeping

In contrast to ‘everyday’ clocks, astronomical regulators are precision instruments intended for laboratories or observatories. The Clockworks has major examples by makers including Matthias Hipp, John Godman, W. H. Shortt, and Feodosii Fedchenko, and the firms of L. Leroy, Etalon, Brillié, and Zenith.

A Leroy regulator
Astronomical regulator by L. Leroy
A close up of the maker's name and logo on a clock by S Riefler
Precision regulator by Sigmund Riefler

Designers and innovators

The development of synchronised time in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was partly due to the efforts of pioneering electric clock companies, and their designers and engineers. At The Clockworks, the English firms of Synchronome and Gent are particularly well represented by a range of timekeepers that chart their periods of experimentation, as well as their innovations.

Dial on a Synchronome Electric clock
A Synchronome electric wall clock
Gent Powerstation Monitoring C7 Master Clock
A power station monitoring clock made by Gent, 1947

Though The Clockworks primarily focuses on horology, the collection also includes significant examples of related networked technologies, including fire alarms and electric telegraphs.

Book your visit

The museum is currently open by appointment, Monday – Friday. To book a slot, please follow the link below. You can also email curator@theclockworks.org with any questions.

Please note: The museum will be closed for collection photography between 18 June – 18 July.