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Antique terrestrial globe, circa 1900, mounted atop a patinated brass mechanical clock base featuring a Roman numeral dial, exposed gearing, and encompassing brass meridian and equatorial rings.
Antique terrestrial globe, circa 1900, mounted atop a patinated brass mechanical clock base featuring a Roman numeral dial, exposed gearing, and encompassing brass meridian and equatorial rings.
Detail of exposed brass gear train between globe mount and clock base, showing meshing spur gears, meridian strap, and gilt ball finial.
South polar detail showing Antarctic region, graduated brass meridian strap, exposed brass gear train, and gilt ball finial corners of clock base.
North polar view of terrestrial globe showing Arctic regions, Greenland, and converging paper gores within brass meridian and equatorial rings.
Close-up of printed paper gores showing East Asia with period designations including Chinese Empire, Manchuria, Empire of Japan, and Formosa.
Close-up of printed paper gores showing Europe and North Africa with period designations including Austria-Hungary, Tripoli, and Fezzan.
Close-up of printed paper gores showing United States and Dominion of Canada with state boundaries, cities, and railroad lines.
Top-down view of terrestrial globe showing North Pacific, Dominion of Canada, and brass meridian and equatorial ring intersection at pole.
Globe detail showing the Pacific Ocean with Hawaii or Sandwich Islands, Fiji, ocean currents, and island groups within brass rings.
Globe detail showing Asia and Australia with period designations including Chinese Empire, Siam, and Western Australia, within brass rings.
Globe detail showing Africa with colonial-era designations including German East Africa, Rhodesia, and Cape Colony, within brass rings.
Globe detail showing the Americas, Caribbean Sea, and Atlantic Ocean with printed place names, ocean currents, and brass equatorial ring.
Patinated brass clock base with Roman numeral dial, spade hands, and winding arbor on gilt pedestal.
Back view of gilt-brass clock base showing flat panel with keyhole aperture and ball finial corners on stepped plinth.
Underside of gilt-brass clock base on unfinished metal plate with four screw mounts.
Antique terrestrial globe clock, ca. 1900, three-quarter view with $100 bill for scale, approximately 15 inches high overall.

Globe, Specialty, Clock, 7-Inch Terrestrial World, Continental, c. 1900 (sold)

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7-inch Terrestrial Globe Clock
Continental for the English market, circa 1890-1907
Gilt metal rectangular stand
15 inches high, 4.75 inches wide, 3.5 inches deep

An antique terrestrial globe clock featuring an unsigned 7-inch terrestrial globe canted at 23 degrees within a brass half meridian and framed by a brass equatorial horizon band engraved with the hours of the day in Roman numerals, alongside corresponding solstice and equinox bands. The globe gear assembly is raised on a rectangular gilt metal clock case featuring a paper dial with Arabic numerals. The clock is powered by an unsigned, one-day spring-wound movement. Although the globe is unsigned, it features place names in English, as manufactured for export to England or the United States. Railways, steamship routes, and ocean currents are delineated. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries various Continental, English, and American clock makers produced similar models of a terrestrial globe turning by clockworks on a base with internal works powering a standard clock face with hour and minute hand set within the base. They were designed for parlor or business use to serve as a functional clock to keep local and international time, while also functioning as a decorative arts object. To operate the instrument, the user adjusts the clock hands to local time and rotates the globe until the user’s specific geographic location aligns with the correct time on the equatorial hour circle. Once set, the winding of the clockworks not only powers the traditional clock face but simultaneously turns the globe counterclockwise, completing a full rotation once every twenty four hours. This mechanism allows the user to determine the current local time for any place in the world simply by referencing the equatorial hour circle against the globe’s longitude lines.

Product description continues below.

Description

Certain cartographical features date the globe to between 1890 and about 1907. For example, modern-day Oklahoma is divided between Oklahoma, referring to Oklahoma Territory in the west, and Indian Ter., an abbreviation for the Indian Territory in the east. These boundaries reflect the 1890 Oklahoma Organic Act, which created the Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory out of a combination of the region’s “unorganized” Indian Territory, Greer County, and the Oklahoma panhandle. Prior to the incorporation of the panhandle into Oklahoma Territory, it had been designated as a “neutral strip” starting in 1820 with the drawing of the 36°30′ line in the Missouri Compromise. In 1907, Oklahoma achieved statehood, and was indicated on globes as such at that time or shortly thereafter rather than a territory in any part. A second telling feature is the division of the Dakotas, named Nth. Dakota and Sth. Dakota, in accordance with the  admission of North Dakota and South Dakota as the 39th and 40th states in November 1889. In addition, St. Petersburg is indicated in the Russian Empire, consistent with a date before about 1914; regardless Oklahoma prior to statehood dates it earlier as set forth above.

Clocks are exceptionally well suited to be combined with globes because world time is inherently based on the full rotation of the Earth every 24 hours. The time of day or night varies with longitudinal location, divided into twenty four standard time zones across the world. Traditionally, globes are divided into twenty four longitudinal lines set fifteen degrees apart. It takes the Earth one hour to turn fifteen degrees and thus a full rotation of 360 occurs once a day.

Reference:

“Globe Clocks.” NAWCC Bulletin, June 1999, p. 423. 

Additional information

Century

20th Century