DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.23631#0072
In the 17th and 1 8th centuries, clock- and watch-making in Poland developed in conformity with the
progress of technique and changing western fashions, though with notable differences due to local tastes
and requirements. The traditionally rural way of life which continued in the Sarmatian period, evolved
a very specific sense of time, and consequently an equally specific attitude to the time-keeping instrument.
The idyllic rhythm of rural life was governed by the natural sequence of day and night and the different
seasons of the year. Little importance was attached to punctuality, nobody ever seemed in a hurry.
Watches and clocks were looked upon as a mechanical curiosity; clocks were frequently out of order,
seldom kept good time, but were wound up regularly just the same. Table clocks were produced in all
major towns in Poland until the early 18th century, as shown by makers' marks, dates and placenames
engraved on some clocks surviving in Poland and abroad. One of these is to be seen in the National Museum
in Warsaw. This is a turret clock, made in 1628 by Jakub Gierke of Vilna, which shows both the hours
and the movements of planets. It is surmounted by a figure of Christ among animals, and has the Polish
Eagle on the pedestal. The British Museum in London has another Polish clock, made in 1648 by Lukasz
Weydman of Cracow, presumably for King John Casimir who, like his father Sigismund III, was an
enthusiastic collector of clocks (NB the latter could have been an amateur clock-maker himself). Table
clocks or 'tile' clocks, which appeared in the 17th century, evolved directly from 'box' clocks, but were
infinitely superior to the latter since their mechanism was not made of iron but of brass and high-quality
steel, sometimes oxidized. They had angular casings of gilt bronze with square or hexagonal bases, glass
sides and richly ornamented corners. The mechanisms of these clocks spoke well of the skill and artistic
talent of Polish clock-makers. Almost every part of the clockwork was decorated with engraved leaves,
flowers, heads of birds and beasts. This was particularly true of the plate that protected the balance-wheel.
It should be noted, however, that the bronze-, brass- and goldsmiths who made the bodywork as a rule
remained anonymous, because only the makers of the clockwork, who assembled the whole, signed their
names. The principal centres of 'tile' clock making were Cracow, Poznan, Vilna, Lvov, Torufi and Gdansk,
though clockmakers plied their trade also in provincial towns such as Tarnow, Lublin, Pulawy and Lezajsk.
A quadrilateral 'tile' clock, made in 1685 by Stanislaw Pralnicki of Dukla, is preserved in the National
Museum in Cracow. Bracket weigh clocks were also made in that period, as well as watches worn on
chains round the neck, known as pectorals. The latter were in fact miniature 'box' clocks and were first
made in the latter half of the 16th century by Nuremberg watchmakers. Pectorals, often in the shape of
a cross, were made of gold and rock crystal, like the one which 'the Mother Superior of the Benedictine
Nuns in Lvov wore from 1 592', which was formerly in the Czartoryski Collection in Cracow. There
were also clocks shaped like monstrances, crosses or orbs, some of them presumably of Polish workmanship.
The next significant improvement in clockmaking was the pendulum, invented in circa 1656 by
the Dutch scholar Christiaan Huygens; somewhat later, the Vilna mathematician Adam Adamandy
Kochahski studied the same problem, with positive results. Pendulum clocks were made in Poland from
about the year 1700. Independently of each other, Huygens and Kochahski applied a hair spring to the
balance-wheel, which permitted the making of pocket watches and portable clocks, such as carriage clocks.
In point of fact, watchmaking being an international art, improvements and changes in fashion passed
rapidly from country to country, naturally with local differences due to specific tastes and requirements.
So-called plate clocks, also known as consoles, different versions of which were made, namely table and
wall clocks, became fashionable in 1 8th century Poland. The same period saw the appearance of bracket
table clocks and long-case clocks, often with carillons. The most fashionable watch- and clockmakers in
Cracow in the middle of the 18th century were Jan Jakub Lichta and Piotr jakub Rys, who worked hard
for full rights for the watch- and clockmakers1 guild. Jan Gotfryd Krosz made a name for himself in
the latter half of the 18th century, making bracket, mantelpiece and wall-clocks with casings in the
style of Louis XVI. Thanks to the patronage of Stanislaus Augustus, towards the end of the 18th century
Warsaw became the principal watchmaking centre in Poland. In the same period a guild of watchmakers
was formed in Warsaw, mainly thanks to the efforts of Antoni Nietuszewski and Michal Gugenmus.
The latter was the founder of a whole 'dynasty' of watchmakers, who specialized in pocket watches and
wall clocks. Michal's son Franciszek Gugenmus Was court watchmaker to Stanislaus Augustus and made
a great many gold watches which the king offered to his friends as gifts. In 1786, Stanislaus Augustus
ordered him to make a monumental clock for the Knights' Hall of the Royal Castle in Warsaw. Designed
by Giacomo Monaldi, it was a figure of Chronos (Time) bending under the weight of the Terrestrial
Globe, indicating the hours with the tip of his scythe. This design seems to have represented the principal
progress of technique and changing western fashions, though with notable differences due to local tastes
and requirements. The traditionally rural way of life which continued in the Sarmatian period, evolved
a very specific sense of time, and consequently an equally specific attitude to the time-keeping instrument.
The idyllic rhythm of rural life was governed by the natural sequence of day and night and the different
seasons of the year. Little importance was attached to punctuality, nobody ever seemed in a hurry.
Watches and clocks were looked upon as a mechanical curiosity; clocks were frequently out of order,
seldom kept good time, but were wound up regularly just the same. Table clocks were produced in all
major towns in Poland until the early 18th century, as shown by makers' marks, dates and placenames
engraved on some clocks surviving in Poland and abroad. One of these is to be seen in the National Museum
in Warsaw. This is a turret clock, made in 1628 by Jakub Gierke of Vilna, which shows both the hours
and the movements of planets. It is surmounted by a figure of Christ among animals, and has the Polish
Eagle on the pedestal. The British Museum in London has another Polish clock, made in 1648 by Lukasz
Weydman of Cracow, presumably for King John Casimir who, like his father Sigismund III, was an
enthusiastic collector of clocks (NB the latter could have been an amateur clock-maker himself). Table
clocks or 'tile' clocks, which appeared in the 17th century, evolved directly from 'box' clocks, but were
infinitely superior to the latter since their mechanism was not made of iron but of brass and high-quality
steel, sometimes oxidized. They had angular casings of gilt bronze with square or hexagonal bases, glass
sides and richly ornamented corners. The mechanisms of these clocks spoke well of the skill and artistic
talent of Polish clock-makers. Almost every part of the clockwork was decorated with engraved leaves,
flowers, heads of birds and beasts. This was particularly true of the plate that protected the balance-wheel.
It should be noted, however, that the bronze-, brass- and goldsmiths who made the bodywork as a rule
remained anonymous, because only the makers of the clockwork, who assembled the whole, signed their
names. The principal centres of 'tile' clock making were Cracow, Poznan, Vilna, Lvov, Torufi and Gdansk,
though clockmakers plied their trade also in provincial towns such as Tarnow, Lublin, Pulawy and Lezajsk.
A quadrilateral 'tile' clock, made in 1685 by Stanislaw Pralnicki of Dukla, is preserved in the National
Museum in Cracow. Bracket weigh clocks were also made in that period, as well as watches worn on
chains round the neck, known as pectorals. The latter were in fact miniature 'box' clocks and were first
made in the latter half of the 16th century by Nuremberg watchmakers. Pectorals, often in the shape of
a cross, were made of gold and rock crystal, like the one which 'the Mother Superior of the Benedictine
Nuns in Lvov wore from 1 592', which was formerly in the Czartoryski Collection in Cracow. There
were also clocks shaped like monstrances, crosses or orbs, some of them presumably of Polish workmanship.
The next significant improvement in clockmaking was the pendulum, invented in circa 1656 by
the Dutch scholar Christiaan Huygens; somewhat later, the Vilna mathematician Adam Adamandy
Kochahski studied the same problem, with positive results. Pendulum clocks were made in Poland from
about the year 1700. Independently of each other, Huygens and Kochahski applied a hair spring to the
balance-wheel, which permitted the making of pocket watches and portable clocks, such as carriage clocks.
In point of fact, watchmaking being an international art, improvements and changes in fashion passed
rapidly from country to country, naturally with local differences due to specific tastes and requirements.
So-called plate clocks, also known as consoles, different versions of which were made, namely table and
wall clocks, became fashionable in 1 8th century Poland. The same period saw the appearance of bracket
table clocks and long-case clocks, often with carillons. The most fashionable watch- and clockmakers in
Cracow in the middle of the 18th century were Jan Jakub Lichta and Piotr jakub Rys, who worked hard
for full rights for the watch- and clockmakers1 guild. Jan Gotfryd Krosz made a name for himself in
the latter half of the 18th century, making bracket, mantelpiece and wall-clocks with casings in the
style of Louis XVI. Thanks to the patronage of Stanislaus Augustus, towards the end of the 18th century
Warsaw became the principal watchmaking centre in Poland. In the same period a guild of watchmakers
was formed in Warsaw, mainly thanks to the efforts of Antoni Nietuszewski and Michal Gugenmus.
The latter was the founder of a whole 'dynasty' of watchmakers, who specialized in pocket watches and
wall clocks. Michal's son Franciszek Gugenmus Was court watchmaker to Stanislaus Augustus and made
a great many gold watches which the king offered to his friends as gifts. In 1786, Stanislaus Augustus
ordered him to make a monumental clock for the Knights' Hall of the Royal Castle in Warsaw. Designed
by Giacomo Monaldi, it was a figure of Chronos (Time) bending under the weight of the Terrestrial
Globe, indicating the hours with the tip of his scythe. This design seems to have represented the principal