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The Encyclopedia of Horology

Clock type · Specialist

Planetarium Clocks

Partially verified

Clocks featuring a mechanical model of the solar system (a planetarium) driven by the movement.

Movement & mechanism

  • Gear trains calculated to show the orbits of planets at their relative speeds
  • Usually features the sun, earth, moon, and visible planets
  • Often architectural in scale

Identification

  • Three-dimensional model of the solar system
  • Rotating planets around a central sun
  • Exceptional technical complexity

Terminology

  • Orrery
  • Heliocentric
  • Planetarium

Known variations

  • Cathedral and domestic table 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

The Prague Astronomical Clock in Old Town - 8559
The Prague Astronomical Clock in Old Town - 8559 — Jorge Royan, CC BY-SA 3.0. Wikimedia Commons file page
Czech-2013-Prague-Astronomical clock face
Czech-2013-Prague-Astronomical clock face — Godot13, CC BY-SA 4.0. 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.