New case designs

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My browsing recently brought me to an interesting Danish website. The website owner has a radio museum, amongst other things. Even more interestingly, for me,  he had a number of unusual Telavox clocks in his collection:

Here is a link to the website:

Funder.Nr.Hede Banen & Funder Radiomuseum -

Just click on the clock and your will be able to admire enlarged images in succession by clicking on the arrows below the images. 

There are also a good number of old photographs on the website with a distinctive nostalgic feel. I can remember steam road rollers working on the rural roads in my childhood. Steam trains were still in regular service in the UK until my teens.

Funder is near Silkeborg in mid Jylland, Denmark. I wouldn't normally mention the localion of any clock, or its owner, but in this case I imagine visitors are welcome at the museum when it is open. There is even a YouTube video of the narrow gauge railway in action busy carrying passengers.

This is a unique case style I would never have recognised as Telavox had it not been for the typical metal Telavox label displayed just below the clock. I really cannot remember ever seeing anything quite like it on my travels. Though it does have certain similarities to weight driven wall clocks where the weights and pendulum hang exposed below the dial. The hands are not like any other Telavox I have seen either. The dial is similar to some single handed, Danish, church clocks but the alignment of the hands here is pure chance rather than suggesting a single hour hand. The stamped numbers on the label look slightly odd too but one cannot discount it as non-Telavox on these grounds. I would very much like to examine this clock but as the museum is over 150km away that is rather unlikely in the near future.

Shown below is compact, square, wooden case with a different, but pleasing, appearance similar to those I already know. It is similar to the one which appeared in an auction on eBay but with added detail at waist height on the case sides. The lack of a mains plug suggests it may still have its original Telavox movement unlike the example on eBay.

This clock has the solid chapter ring similar to others of this family of case designs. The hands are typical Telavox and the number on the label suggests an early clock. It may be a non-striker or perhaps it has a bell.  There seems to be a hanging loop just visible at the top at the back of the clock case suggesting that it was wall mounted. Or had that facility if needed.

I am very grateful to the owner of the website for allowing me to share his excellent photographs here. The numbers of all the Telavox clocks in his collection have all been added to the database. One clock even has has a close serial number and similar datestamp to another already in the list. Further confirming such date stamping and chronological versus serial case numbering weren't just coincidence.

This later wall dial has a protective housing for the Telavox movement. The first I have seen on any Telavox clock. I have translated the instructions label below into everyday English:

 A 4.5 volt battery will be found in the packaging. The clips on the movement wires should be attached to the battery and the battery placed into its housing. The clock is fitted with an anchor escapement which is driven by a spring. The spring is wound a little every hour with the help of a little motor. Before the clock can run one should ensure that the spring is fully wound. This happens when the hands are advanced four times completely around the dial. Each time one should wait for 20 seconds as the minute hand passes 12 o'clock to allow the spring to be wound a full hour's worth by the motor. If you bring your ear near the clock you will be able  to hear when the motor stops. Once the spring is fully wound by the foregoing procedure the clock will run by itself. After each change of battery the clock should be rewound again.To start the clock it should be held upright and shaken with a brisk backward and forwards rotating motion.

REMEMBER TO REWIND WITH EACH CHANGE OF BATTERIES

It is very satisfying to discover yet more Telavox case designs. As soon as I become complacent and it seems that I have discovered them all along comes another quite distinctive style. Being able to add yet more clocks to the database all helps to identify trends in case and dial design over time and relative to their serial numbers.

Click on any image for an enlargement..

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