Burgundy Clock Spring Power

The oldest surviving clock powered by a mainspring is the Burgunderuhr (Burgundy Clock), an ornate, gilt chamber clock, currently at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg, whose iconography suggests that it was made around 1430 for Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy.

“I consider my clock to be one of the first, perhaps the first, to be built with a spiral mainspring fitted with a fusee; the coats of arms and emblems which adorn this small masterpiece also prove the authenticity of its origin; I, therefore, maintain until proof to the contrary, that my clock independent of the memories which are attached to it and of the interest that it can inspire as an object of art, constitutes a historical monument proving that the application to watchmaking of the spiral spring regulated by a musical string rocket [fusee] dates from at least 1430 this is an important fact that fills in the history of Ihorlogeric, this gap that we will still find open in all your many special works that I have cited in the current of this manual.”

Title:  Notice on the Gothic clock built around 1430 for Philippe III, dit le Bon, duc de Bourgogne.

Author:  Leber, Maximilian von. Author of the text

Publisher:  the author (Vienna)

Publication date:  1877