Dolmabahce Palace Clock Museum

[Originally distributed by TurkC-L. See http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TurkC-L ]

x0x Dolmabahce Palace Clock Museum

By ISMET SONMEZ

Clocks are used whenever needed however they are convicted
to be easily forgotten just because they are tools that indicate time.

On the other hand when watches and clocks unite with art, they become
an important document and reflect the fashion, the daily experience
and the culture of the period which they belong. Also the clocks that
are being exhibited in Dolmabahce Palace Clock Museum could be
considered as 'documents that enlighten the history' with their
mechanical features that reflect the time period that they had been
used. In the museum, you can see the examples of artistic clocks that
were made in the 18th and 19th centuries. We are proud to see the
works of Turkish clock craftsmen besides French and English.

ARTISTIC CLOCKS

The industry revolution in Europe had introduced the economy concept
and the saying "time is cash" to daily life. As a consequence the
clocks that indicate the exact time without any errors began to gain
importance.


The craftsmen not only produced clocks with least possible errors but
also they created different designs by improving their art. This
improvement reached at its highest level in the 18th and 19th
centuries. In houses, villas, palaces, over the fire places, consoles,
on the tables, walls or standing at the end of a corridor the clocks
not only were indicating time but also could be heard at the same
time. The effort that had been put in 'catching the right time' with
the new inventions which took centuries could be also noticed in
mechanics but at the same time, similar systems and their different
presentations saved watches and clocks from being monotonous. Being a
palace of the 19th century Dolmabahce is a good example to this
situation where artistic clock collections of the 19th century more
than the 18th century are exhibited. Some of the clocks had had been
given as a present, some bought, some custom-crafted; besides
indicating the time they had also been used for decorative purposes in
accordance with the structure of the palace.

BRILLIANT FRENCH CLOCKS

The French Clocks, mostly heavy, brilliant, bronze, gold filled,
marble, tortoiseshell and silver; because of being the productions of
artists, sculptors, foundrymen and clocks craftsmen all together, they
can be noticed by their outer appearences apart from their mechanical
foundation. Each of them look like a vase, a painting, a sculpture or
an extraordinary foundry that indicates time. French clocks are
mechanicaly reliable. The quality of the mainspring that are used in
clocks and audio set ups, the audio mechanism, the systems that were
developed for the non-stop performance of the pendulum, the high
quality materials and their sophisticated work; French watches and
clocks show tiny elegant differences related to their craftsmen while
they run perfectly.

HANDMADE ENGLISH CLOCKS

After the French clocks you can come across mostly with English clocks
and watches in the palace.

These clocks are mainly working, legged, can play music,
automat, have a calender, have a spiral mechanism unlike French clocks
they are crafted from wood, tortoiseshell, silver or crystal. These
elegant clocks have a large variety. Different from French tradition
sometimes instead of arranging the toothed-wheels back to back using
spacing shells, they use a construction which has a spiral mechanism
under a single shell.

The English watches and clocks that are in to music, have the ability
to ring in every quarters, calender system and mufflers are unique
mechanisms that hide everything inside. While French clocks are serial
produced in the 19th century, English clocks and watches reflect their
craftsman. The watches which use the same mechanical construction as
the English watches at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the
20th century that are German and American, are mostly in the
wall-clock form. Austrian clocks are like French mechanical style
clocks. They are small, stylish, porcelain table-clocks. In the
collection we can find classic wooden Vienna wall-clocks also.

TURKISH CLOCK-CRAFTSMEN

In the western world horography was run by philosophers and
mathematician, equivalent to this in the Ottoman Empire they are
called `muvakkit' (which means people who can calculate the exact time
using charts and indicators). Those people had to do exact
calculations due to the worshiping hours of the islamic religion. Most
of the mechanical clocks craftsmen were the grandfathers of those
muvakkits just like the Turkish craftsmen who are intellectual about
the astronomical time calculations. Turkish clock-craftsmen
(especially the grandfathers) had given fine examples of structural
formed clocks that, their both inner and outer construction, every
movement that they make and each turn could be seen at the same time.

In Dolmabahce Palace we can find the examples of the works of the most
famous horographs like Eflaki Dede, Mehmet Muhsin and Mehmet Sukru.

These people had crafted only a few clocks all through their lives.

All of the clocks that belong to Dolmabahce Palace
Clock Collection had been repaired in the Clock Restoration Service
Depot. They are all running, in safe hands, reliable and serviceable
even after centuries.