ANTIQUE CLOCKS, AND UNDERSTANDING THE KEEPING OF TIME

 by Toffee

Date: May 25, 2026.

  Antique Clocks from many eras, made by various manufacturers, in all shapes and sizes, some with gongs, others without, some with melodious chimes, and were very artistic, representing the art forms of the time, mostly from Europe, and some from America, mainly the US. The European clocks represented the more classical versions.

From the early Ormolu mantle clocks to the large, famous French Mobier Besancon Wall clocks as big, and even bigger than the grandfather clocks that came later, right to clocks of the late nineteenth Century and the famous Vienna Regulators.

ORMOLU CLOCKS SHOWN BELOW FROM THE EARLY TO THE MID 1800S.

EARLY MOBIER BESANÇON CLOCK.

These were early masterpieces mainly from France, still available and made by famous clock makers, among whom are the Vincente and Cie and Japy Feres clocks. Some of these Ormolu clocks are driven by a "silk string pendulum spring," others by conventional springs that would continue to be used till the late 20th Century.

What these clocks and later timepieces had in common was "accuracy" in timekeeping.

What was accurate then is far from accurate today.

If you use  your mobile phone to adjust the time on these clocks, you'll find out what is being said here,

The clocks of these times were spring-driven.

When comparing an antique spring-driven clock to a modern quartz and a Cesium atomic clock, you are looking at vastly different eras of physics, spanning an accuracy difference of thousands of seconds per day to billionths of a second.

Daily Deviation: Varies from \(1\) to \(600) seconds per day depending on age, condition, and environment. It could be more, depending on the era the clock comes from, and the condition of the clock

How they work: These rely on a mechanical unwinding coiled spring as a power source and a pendulum or balance wheel as an oscillator.

Why they differ: Mechanical timepieces are highly susceptible to changes in temperature, gravity, air pressure, and friction. Furthermore, because the driving spring gradually uncoils over the course of a week, the clock may run slightly faster when fully wound and slower as it nears the end of its winding.

Now, compare this with the Quartz Oscillation clocks of today

Quartz Crystal Oscillation Clocks

• Daily Deviation: Typically \( 0.5 to  1\) second per day (often much less, at \(1-2\) seconds a month). [
• How they work: When an electric current is applied to a tiny, precisely cut piece of quartz, the crystal oscillates (vibrates) mechanically at an exact resonant frequency, usually \(32,768\) times per second. [1, 2]
• Why they differ: Because quartz relies on piezoelectricity and high-speed vibrations, it is entirely unaffected by gravity and less vulnerable to temperature changes than springs. It translates the rapid, stable vibrations directly into a digital signal, essentially eliminating mechanical gear slip.

Now, to give you a clearer picture of why you should not compare this time and even your wrist watch with the mobile handphones.

 Your mobile phone time is driven by a completely different system, called the Cesium atomic clock, and believe me, this is not the most advanced form of time keeping; there are others I'll not deal with here.

Cesium Atomic Clocks (The Standard)

These are the standard microwave-based clocks used to officially define the SI second (which is exactly $9,192,631,770$ oscillations of a cesium-133 atom).

Now what does that mean? 

• Accuracy: They lose or gain about 1 second every 100 to 300 million years.

• Where they are used: National metrology labs (like NIST in the US), GPS satellites, and keeping Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) synchronized globally.

So don't complain if you have to periodically adjust the times, even on your quartz watches and most of all your antique clocks.

Remember, your Antique clock belongs to another era; it is an ornate piece that brings History to your home, be it in the study, the living room, or even your dining space.