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The Encyclopedia of Horology

Clock type · Specialist

Japanese Wadokei

Partially verified

Japanese clocks built for the pre-Meiji system of seasonally variable hours.

Movement & mechanism

  • Weight- or spring-driven movements adapted to unequal hours
  • Adjustable hour markers, or two balances of different rate for day and night
  • Hand-made construction, since production was small and not standardised

Identification

  • Movable hour plates on the dial, or a pillar clock with adjustable markers
  • Construction and decoration in Japanese rather than European idiom
  • Genuine examples are rare and should be assessed by a specialist

Terminology

  • Wadokei
  • Temporal hours
  • Shakudokei (pillar clock)

Known variations

  • Lantern, bracket and pillar clock forms

Collecting notes

Originality decides value and interest: check that movement, dial and case belong together, and prefer honest wear over refinishing. Movement work belongs with a clockmaker; cleaning a dial or case yourself commonly destroys the evidence that dates the clock.

Related photographs

Automaton clock, maker unknown, Germany, c. 1600-1615 - Waddesdon Manor - Buckinghamshire, England - DSC07705
Automaton clock, maker unknown, Germany, c. 1600-1615 - Waddesdon Manor - Buckinghamshire, England - DSC07705 — Daderot, Public domain. Wikimedia Commons file page
Automaton clock in the form of Diana on her chariot, South Germany, probably Augsburg, c. 1610, ebony, gilt bronze, silver, iron, brass - Metropolitan Museum of Art - New York City - DSC07058
Automaton clock in the form of Diana on her chariot, South Germany, probably Augsburg, c. 1610, ebony, gilt bronze, silver, iron, brass - Metropolitan Museum of Art - New York City - DSC07058 — Daderot, Public domain. Wikimedia Commons file page

No confidently matched photograph of this subject has been found yet. These photographs show a closely related record, and are not examples of the type described on this page.

Sources & references

  1. Britten, F. J., Old Clocks and Watches and Their Makers
  2. Loomes, B., reference works on British clockmakers (edition-dependent)
  3. Museum catalogue descriptions of comparable examples

Where sources disagree, the disagreement is stated rather than resolved silently.