Clockmakers
We now know the names of 60 clockmakers. The most famous clockmakers’ families were:

• Koogies
• Volger
• Van Rossen

The maker’s signature is stamped into the rear plate of the movement, engraved on the chapter ring or incorporated into the front ornament. Besides producing household clocks, the Zaan clockmakers were also know for their turret clocks such as those:

• in the Zuider Vermaning (Mennonite church) by D.T. Engel,
• in Akersloot by C.M. Volger,
• in De Rijp by C.M. Volger,
• in Durgerdam by D.J. Volger,
• by D.J. Volger exhibited in the Dutch Gold, Silver and Clock Museum in Schoonhoven.

Strangely, few pocket watches are attributed to Zaan clockmakers (see clocks 19 and 20). It is also quite remarkable that so many of the Zaan clockmakers had a Mennonite background.

Technique
The movement of the Zaan clock consists of a going train and a striking train placed behind each other and moved by an endless chord after that of Huygens, one weight and a small counterweight. The movements are usually located between several connected brass strips. There is always an alarm movement which is located separately in the case roof.  The going train has a vertical verge escapement, whereby the carrier hooks onto the pendulum loop. Thus the angle is reduced resulting in the pendulum having a lesser amplitude than, for instance, that of the Frisian stool clock. This enables the 75cm pendulum to swing within the hollow space in the wallboard. The striking train is fitted with a  nag’s head and does not therefore have a warning. There is a double locking plate and a switch mechanism to enable the ‘Dutch striking train’, a complete number of strikes on the whole hour (on the large bell) and on the half hour (on the small bell). Sometimes a quarter-hand is fitted under the chapter ring and this is connected to the striking chain switch. Heart-shaped spoke wheels are often used in both the going train and in the striking train.

Style and Decoration
The wallboard used in Zaan clocks varies. Those with the clocks placed on a straight wallboard are called ‘op schoolbord’ after the wooden school satchels used in those days. The vase-shaped wallboards are related to those used in Frisian stool clocks. The cast metal ornaments show heraldic illustrations, such as coats-of-arms surrounded by lions or angels, or Christian illustrations such as Faith, Love and Hope.


The bell is crowned by figures from classic mythology such as Atlas (carrier of the universe), Minerva (goddess of knowledge) or Mercury (god of trade). The pendulum weight often depicts a horseman. Four cherubs made of cast brass often decorate the four corners of the chapter ring on the rich man’s clocks.

The exhibition  was held at the Museum of the Dutch Clock in 2003.

© Prof. C. A. Grimbergen
With permision of the Horological Foundation