The watch collection

Composed of over fifty pieces, varied in typology and style, the clocks in the Peleș National Museum's horological collection come from the royal collection; most of the pieces were purchased by King Carol I of Romania, known for his punctuality. The collection also includes clocks belonging to Queen Maria, King Carol II, and a clock received by King Michael.

The clocks are diverse in typology, covering a wide range of models, from pendulum clocks – floor and wall – to cartel clocks, miniature clocks or console, mantel and table clocks; the collection also includes several alarm clocks and pocket watches. Chronologically, the clock pieces fall between the 18th–20th centuries, most dating from the late 19th century. Stylistically, most pieces belong to the historicist movement in the variants of the German and Italian Renaissance, German Baroque, Rococo and Neoclassicism, Empire and Art Nouveau styles.

An important segment of the current collection is the clocks that belonged to members of the Royal House. One such piece is the German-made pendulum table clock, which has always been in the office of King Carol I. Of architectural form, decorated with allegorical characters and grotesque masks, cast in silver-plated bronze, the clock is a serial piece, typically historic, frequently found in the neo-Renaissance interiors of Europe from the end of the 19th century.

Manufactured by the famous watchmaking firm, Philippe Patek of Geneva, after 1881, the pocket watch of the first King of Romania represents a special order, extremely valuable both due to the brand and the solid gold case, engraved on the obverse cover with the monogram "EC", surmounted by the closed crown and encrusted with diamonds and rubies.

The clock whip also belonged to King Carol I, who acquired it at the beginning of the 20th century. Made of wood, with a silver-plated handle, decorated with the royal crown, the whip is ingeniously equipped with a tiny clock, the Patent brand, with a circular dial and Roman numerals in black enamel.

Made by the Aron Herscovici workshops, the rectangular bronze plate table clock, framed in a box, in the form of a triptych, has documentary value due to the reference to a significant historical event, the return to the throne of Romania of King Carol II on June 8, 1930, according to the inscription under the dial and the monogram surmounted by the royal crown, executed according to the designs of A. Bordenache.

Manufactured in 1936, in Romania, with a cast chrome frame and base, with a rectangular movable dial, with an arched upper side and a dial supported by two cylindrical supports made of lacquered wood, the table clock, engraved on the support with the inscription "8. XI. 936 THE HUNTER FROM THE 2ND LEA OF THE MOUNTAIN" represents a gift received by King Michael on the occasion of his name day and at the same time, the only clock in the collection of the Peleș National Museum that belonged to the last sovereign of Romania.

The largest share of the entire collection is made up of watches manufactured in Germany and Austria (over thirty pieces), an aspect justified not only by the origin of the royal dynasty, but especially by the particular boom that the domain in question experienced in the mid-19th century in the Black Forest Mountains region, the birthplace of King Charles I. Around 1870, several watch workshops and factories timidly appeared in southern Germany, such as those led by Gustav Becker, the Junghans workshop or the one in Lenzkirch, undoubtedly inferior in precision to the watches consecrated by the Biedermeier era, but much more affordable for the average buyer.

Temporarily eclipsed by English and French productions, the watchmaking centers in the Black Forest Mountains region gradually gained their originality. They approached the entire existing typological range, but specialized in the manufacture of cuckoo clocks and musical clocks, to which they gave rustic local accents, in the decoration of the cases.

Although faithful to the German tradition, under which he placed the entire architectural and decorative project of the summer residence in Sinaia, King Carol approached the "noble" production of the era, the "court" pieces, more precisely, those typologies inspired by the recurrence of historicist models, in terms of watchmaking.

The clock, as a mark of Western civilization, is part of the interior decoration of the castle, either by incorporating it into the fixed furniture, as an integral part of it, or by placing it as a stand-alone object, both in the official and private spaces of the royal court.

On the western side of the Hall of Honor, on the noble level of the castle, the Czech architect K. Liman and his Viennese collaborator, B. Ludwig, designed the spacious and quiet Guest Library, framed by the copy of the Bremen Town Hall staircase, and the Catholic lodge, equipped with a clock. The clock measures not only the working hours, but also those dedicated to leisure: at the beginning of the 20th century, Carol I ordered the construction of the Billiard Room on the southwestern side, where he practiced his favorite hobby, together with close people, architects or distinguished guests. Decorated in the German neo-Renaissance style, the Room incorporates in its decoration an elegant clock with a dial, located in the center of the broken pediment, above the door that communicates with the Chess Room.

If in these cases, the clock is an accessory - indeed, indispensable - and the designers, experienced creators of casings, an extension of the interior decoration, then the tower clock represents a unique piece, of great historical value. Manufactured in 1907 by the Koeniglich Bayerische Hof-Thurmuhren-Fabrik Johann Mannhardt (Royal Bavarian Court Tower Clock Factory) it bears the name of the watchmaker, inventor and mechanic, Johann Mannhardt (1798 - 1878), who founded it in 1844. In the same year, Mannhardt moved to the capital of the Bavarian Kingdom, where, due to his seriousness, he came under the attention of the Court and King Ludwig I, personally, who appreciated his qualities as a watchmaker and inventor alike. However, his tower clocks brought him excellence, for which he received orders from all over Europe and even from the United States. One of the most important orders for Romania was the mechanical clock in the tower of the Black Church in Braşov. His premature death, which occurred in 1878, put an end to an exemplary destiny. As a sign of recognition, the factory bore his name until 1928, when it was taken over by another Bavarian company, Turmuhrenfabrik Philipp Hörz (Philipp Hörz Tower Clock Factory) in Ulm. Created in 1862 by the watchmaker Philipp Hörz, it experienced spectacular development, receiving in 1877 the patent to supply the princely House of Hohenzollern, namely Prince Karl Anton, father of King Carol I and Prime Minister of Prussia between 1857 and 1862.

The 15-minute clock in the main tower of Peleș Castle is a mechanical clock, with three dials decorated with the main astral symbols. The dials are oriented towards the three cardinal points, south, east and west. The mechanism is inscribed with the Johann Mannhardt Factory mark and the year of manufacture.
The Central National Archives in Bucharest preserve receipts that attest to the King's special care for the proper functioning of the clock: in 1911, the Swiss watchmaker, Enderle, was asked to check the mechanism and was promptly paid for his service. Enderle stayed for a few days in the Watchmaker's Room, decorated in the tower by the Austrian decorator Bernhard Ludwig, after which he left the picturesque landscape of Sinaia by royal train.

Between 1922 and 1933, his successors to the throne entrusted the same role to the watchmaker Meronovic, whose holographic signatures can still be deciphered today next to the clock mechanism.
The most important German and Austrian watchmaking companies that King Carol I contacted to purchase watch parts for his summer residence are Gustav Becker, Carl Werner, J. Jagemann, J. Volkenstein and Kienzle.

One of the most famous clockmakers in Germany from the end of the 19th century, Gustav Becker appears with a rotating (marine) clock, manufactured at the beginning of the 20th century, the singular piece as a typology in the Peleș Castle collection.

After years of apprenticeship in Germany and Austria, Becker opened a small workshop in Freiburg in 1850. Success did not elude him and two years later he won the gold medal at the Silesian Exhibition. He won numerous medals and prizes and soon became famous throughout the world. By 1880, the Becker company specialized exclusively in wall clocks, then diversified its production to over 400 models. His workshop received orders until 1935, when the Junghans Company – which still operates today – incorporated the Becker and Lenzkirch companies.

If the 18th century seems less interested in precision and more in the artistic value of the clock, the following century tips the scales in favor of technical performance, without neglecting the details of aesthetics. In keeping with the taste of his time, King Carol I orders neo-rococo and neo-baroque cases for the movements made by famous German watchmakers from the Meissen, Rosenthal, Schirholtz and Lönitz ceramic workshops.

Within the collection, an important segment is represented by the ten French watches, varied in style and material, of which three watchmaking pieces stand out, important through the famous watchmaking brands: Samuel Marti, AD Maugin and Commun& Manceau.

Samuel Marti&Cie is the brand of famous Swiss watchmakers, established in the mid-18th century in the French capital. In 1863, Marti joined forces with two other well-known watchmakers, Roux and Japy Frères. Together they gave birth to a true production of watch parts. Relatively quickly, the workshop founded by Samuel Marti came to produce the most competitive watch mechanisms in 19th century France and obtained numerous awards in recognition of its performances. In 1880, Samuel Marti was awarded a bronze medal, and in 1889, the silver medal. The crowning achievement came at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1900, when the workshop added the much-coveted gold medal to its trophies, and in 1931, the Grand Prix. The company collaborated with porcelain manufacturers such as Sevres, with famous silversmiths and goldsmiths. At the beginning of the 20th century, the workshop began a fruitful collaboration with the famous American designer, Louis Comfort Tiffany, who, in addition to the well-known iridescent glass pieces known as Favrille glass, lamps and jewelry, also engaged in the decoration of clock mechanisms.

At Peleș Castle, in the Yellow Room or Prime Minister's Apartment, an elegant piece of horology is preserved, more precisely, a table clock, the mechanism of which is inscribed in French "Samuel Marti. Medaille d'or. Paris. 1900". The case represents a draped mythological female character, with a snake and a mirror, probably a neoclassical embodiment of the goddess Venus, gracefully leaning on the circular dial of the clock. The double pedestal in white marble and bronze, decorated with a Greek wave, betrays influences of the late Louis XVI style.

One of the most artistically accomplished pieces of horology in the royal collection is the mantel clock, whose rotating disc mechanism was made by the famous Parisian workshop, AD Mougin. The Sèvres biscuit case, representing the "Three Graces", is a 19th-century replica of a statuary group made a century earlier by Falconet.

AD Mougin obtained two medals of excellence and competed constantly with the workshop of Samuel Marti&Cie. Less famous, the Commun&Manceau workshop in the French capital specialized in mechanisms for fireplace services, with historicist casings. Peleș Castle has in its watchmaking heritage an interesting fireplace service, unique in its stylistic approach. Inspired by the Retour d'Egypte style, the clock made of common metal and a black marble base has a pyramidal body, supported by two adjacent sphinxes and is decorated with deities, sacred animals and Egyptian hieroglyphs. The two candlesticks, in the shape of an obelisk, are decorated with hieroglyphs and finished with pharaohs' heads.

The small salon of the Imperial Apartment in Peleș Castle houses a valuable original piece, a roller-blind desk from the mid-18th century, made of wood veneered with exotic essences, decorated with Régence motifs in gilded bronze, whose railing is supplemented with a clock in a wooden box, equipped with a rear barometer, surmounted by a bronze female bust, in the costume of the Louis d'Orléans period.

The historical variant of the neoclassical style is represented in the Peleș Castle collection by a beautiful Sèvres blue porcelain fireplace service with gold highlights, consisting of a clock with a circular base, which incorporates the mechanism, on which, in a playful attitude, stands a winged Cupid with a trumpet. The two candlesticks depict two cupids, supporting a bobeșa.

French neo-Empire clocks are present in the museum's heritage thanks to a pendulum table clock, which completes the decoration of the Great Salon of Josephine of Baden's Apartment located on the "noble floor" of Peleș Castle. A combination of marble and gilded bronze, in the shape of a pavilion, surmounted by an eagle in ronde-bosse, with open wings, the symbol of Napoleon I's imperial power, it is the piece of clockwork that is closest in artistic representation to the original style.

The table clock in the Bedroom of Pelișor Castle, the residence of the Ferdinand – Maria couple, is part of a table service, along with two flower vases. The clock case, made of polychrome faience, by the Edmé Samson workshop in Paris, in the Dutch manner of the Rosenburg manufactory in The Hague, represents a classic example of Art Nouveau design, due to its undulating shape and floral and avimorphic decoration in green and brown.

Unlike other European areas, English watchmaking did not confine itself to luxury and export production. At the same time, watches for everyday use were manufactured on a large scale. From the second half of the 18th century, trade with the Ottoman Empire developed. The most ardent exporters of watches to the Ottoman world were Edward (ca. 1820–1868) and George Prior: they exported thousands of watches to Turkey in exchange for exotic products. After parting ways with George Prior, Edward Prior, one of the most famous London watchmakers, joined forces with William Chambers (1830–1875), intensifying the production of export watches. The most important order received by Edward Prior was the floor pendulum manufactured for the Ahmed Mosque in Constantinople.

In general, the typology of watches intended for the Turkish market is uncomplicated: watches have a triple case, a dial with Turkish numerals, and luxury pieces are abundantly decorated with precious stones. Enamel painting becomes a common practice at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the next century. Common and therefore much cheaper watches feature simple decorations, characterized by sobriety.

In the Peleș National Museum's watch collection, there are two pocket watches created by Edward Prior, both made of silver, with a white enameled dial, painted with Turkish numerals, dating from the end of the 18th century, which belonged to King Carol I. The table clock with a pendulum made of patinated and gilded bronze, on a marble base, created by the London firm Werheimer is one of the most refined pieces of the collection: the enamel dial of the clock is supported by an elegant fluted column-shaped leg. Supported by the dial is a sagalnic Cupid with a bow and floral garlands.

Varied in typology, support and quality, the royal collection from Sinaia reflects the fluctuations and searches of a world that hesitates between historicism and the modernity of Art 1900, but which gradually assumes the idea of change and technological progress.