Skip to content
The Encyclopedia of Horology

Clock type · Specialist

Mystery Figure Clocks

Partially verified

Clocks where a figure holds a pendulum that swings without any visible connection to a movement.

Movement & mechanism

  • A figure holds a long pendulum that swings side to side
  • A hidden eccentric in the figure's hand or arm provides the impulse
  • The movement is concealed in the base

Identification

  • Large figure (often a woman or child) holding a pendulum
  • No visible gears or winding holes near the pendulum
  • Swinging motion appears 'miraculous'

Terminology

  • Swinging figure
  • Mystery clock
  • Junghans mystery

Known variations

  • Junghans and French versions

Collecting notes

Condition and originality are paramount. For technical clocks like regulators or atmospheric clocks, the completeness of the original mechanism is more important than case condition. For decorative clocks (Boulle, Empire), the quality of the case craft is central.

Related photographs

Mystery clock - Cartier (39600552471)
Mystery clock - Cartier (39600552471) — Tim Evanson from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0. 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., The Early Clockmakers of Great Britain
  3. Roberts, D., British Skeleton Clocks
  4. Museum catalogue records

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