Explore our historic collection of clocks and watches.
Norsk Urmuseum was founded in 1904 and has been a separate foundation since 1995, housed at The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology . The collection after the doctor Johan Knap was given to the museum in 1976 and consists of more than fifty watches. Several valuable watches from the collection are shown in the exhibition. The floor and wall clocks are mainly French and British. Many of the clocks were objects of status in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The first Norwegian watchmakers were educated in England. The watchmaking profession was fine mechanics combined with instrument making and optics. Over the past hundred years, the trade has developed from a highly specialized craft to a trade in industrially manufactured watches.
British wall clock from around 1800
This type of clock was a permanent fixture in the British inns and was called "tavern clock". The clock has anchor movement, that is, the pendulum that drives the clockwork swings back and forth like an anchor, and it has an eight-day movement. The case is decorated with Chinese series. It is signed James Tregent, London, who was one of Britain's most famous watchmakers at this time. He also had assignments for the Prince of Wales. From Johan Knap's collection.
Wall clock in the style of Louis XIV
The wall clock with console has a Boulle clock case covered with tortoise shell, decorated with brass intarsia and bronze. The brass movement is marked "Paris Baltazar Martinot" on the back. For a long time the clock was dated to 1678, but recent research shows that it was made in France at the end of the 19th century in Louis XIV's style. The watch was bought by opera singer Kirsten Flagstad in New York around 1950. From Johan Knap's collection.
