George's Antique Clocks

Lenzkirch Clocks, the Unsigned Story has taken over ten years of research and five years to write. It is a technical study of Lenzkirch clocks unlike anything ever written before. In my research I uncovered the secrets of the infamous Unsigned Lenzkirch clock. First I attempted to find one. After finding what I believed was an original unsigned Lenzkirch clock. Then I had to develop a method to authenticate it. This simple task turned out to be a monumental undertaking.

It was not enough to just to be able to show the reader how to authenticate an unsigned Lenzkirch clock. This was no simple task. To do so, I found that I had to document the evolution of the clock movements themselves. The more I studied the movements, the more variations in the movements I discovered. Even between trademarked movements the design changed over the years. It only stood to reason that the design of the movements evolved prior to the use of the trademark. This task was one that took me 316 pages of text and 428 photographs to accomplish.

In addition to documenting the changes which can be found in the various movements, Lenzkirch made many different movements for the varity of case styles in which they were installed. In the book I tried to document as many of the different movements as I could; one-weight, two-weight, spring-powered, miniatures, open escapement (both spring and weight powered), and even a jewelers regulator.

The book also contains data tables on the different movements. These tables contain the tooth counts and measurements of all of the wheels, pinions, spring barrels, winding arbors etc. for each type of movement.

I have also created a serial number date table from production/personnel data. By taking the production rates for years when the number of employees were know, you can extrapolate the data for the unknown years. I believe that production is directly proportional to the number of employees. I matched the results with every know bit of data that I could find as a cross check.

There is also an in-depth discussion about second quality parts and movements. How they may relate to the 2 and 2Q markings on the backs of some Lenzkirch spring powered movements.

As a collector, one of the things I always enjoyed was being able to identify the model number of a particular clock when ever possible. It seems to give the clock more of an identity. This is a model 93 Lenzkirch sounds much better to me than, This is a Lenzkirch. Through a couple of my German friends I was able to obtain some copies of Lenzkirch factory catalogs. I carefully chose five different catalogs to reproduce in the book showing many models that were previously unpublished. Including the 1855 catalog believed to be the first produced by the Lenzkirch clock factory.

There is also a 60 plus page color photo section of the clocks that I used in my research. It features many early models that up until now were thought to be just another clock.

Lenzkirch Clocks, the Unsigned Story is a book collectors will treasure for years to come. I predict it will open the door for the lost unsigned Lenzkirch clocks. Giving them identity and ensuring their rightful place as the crowning jewel of many a Lenzkirch collection and not just another look-a-like or I think it is. All the reader has to do is to identify and authenticate one unsigned Lenzkirch and this book will have paid for itself many times over.