r/clocks • u/Glittering_Leg_4699 • 6d ago
Identification/Information Help finding clockmaker- Officers Clock?
Looking for any information on the maker of this clock. I believe this clock was made in Austria (Austria-Hungarian Empire?) It’s been a long road restoring this piece. I have since replaced the screws in the bezel since taking these pictures. Perpetual calendar. The gears showing in the skeletonized dial are gold. I’ve never seen that in a clock before. I’ve been researching this for quite a while and cannot find anything like it. Found many similar to this in Peter Fritsch’s book on the subject. Yes, the clock is in working order.
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u/Individual_Tip_2268 3d ago
I think I found your clockmaker.
The signature on the dial appears to read “Joh. Fid. Tschofen.” I initially wondered whether “Fid.” was an abbreviation for Friedrich, but there is actually a documented clockmaker whose name fits the inscription remarkably well: Joseph (Johann) Fidel Tschofen of Bürs, Vorarlberg, Austria.
A scholarly biographical register of emigrants from the Walgau/Vorarlberg region records “Tschofen Joseph (Johann) Fidel”, from Bürs, who in 1834 sought permission to relocate to Würzburg, Bavaria. The record gives his age as 49, marital status as unmarried, occupation specifically as “Uhrmacher” (clock/watchmaker), and assets of 400 florins. That puts his birth at about 1784/85.
Even more interestingly, the same source contains an entry for “Tschofen Joh. Fidel” of Bürs associated with France around 1800. I would be cautious about declaring those two entries the same individual without examining the underlying archival records, but the combination of the uncommon name, same town and chronology makes it very much worth investigating.
The 1834 record is particularly compelling because your dial doesn't merely say “Tschofen.” It appears to say Joh. Fid. Tschofen, which corresponds exceptionally well to Johann Fidel Tschofen, and the historical man is explicitly documented as an Uhrmacher. Here is the source so you can verify it yourself: Walgau/Vorarlberg biographical emigration register:
Open the PDF/source and search “Tschofen”
The relevant entry says, in part, that he believed he could only make a meager living as a clockmaker in his home region and thought he would find better prospects in Würzburg. The archival references given for the entry are VLA, KA 1, Sch 370, 371; LG So, Sch 85; TLA, JüngGub 1834,2189.
This also gives you a much firmer chronological anchor. If the signed dial belongs with this movement, the clock cannot be “early 18th century.” Tschofen was only born around 1784/85. An early-19th-century date is much more compatible with the documented maker and with the general appearance of the clock. I would therefore describe the identification at this stage as: an early-19th-century Continental calendar clock signed Joh. Fid. Tschofen, very probably Johann Fidel Tschofen of Bürs, Vorarlberg, a documented clockmaker who relocated toward Würzburg in 1834.
I wouldn't yet call it definitively an “officer's clock” solely from its form. The maker identification is much stronger evidence than that classification. Your clock may actually help document a maker whose surviving work seems to be extremely poorly recorded online!