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Gustav Becker German Vienna Silesia Regulator Walnut Wall Clock - $150 (NE Colorado Springs - Briargate)
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Antique Gustav Becker Silesia very large German wall clock Vienna regulator 1890
Best to text me at show contact info
Cleaned and appraised by the Tick Tock Shop in 2018
Has not been run for a couple years, but ran well prior to that. Still ticking while I was taking these photos. . .
Cabinet is missing a couple trim pieces, but they are not noticeable if you don’t know that they are missing.
Circa 1850-1945
From Wikipedia:
Gustav Eduard Becker (May 2, 1819 in Oels, Silesia - September 17, 1885 in Berchtesgaden) was a German clockmaker and founder of the brand Gustav Becker.
Success
His breakthrough came in 1852 at the Silesian Clock Fair. Crowds were drawn to his works because of the quality, and he was awarded the gold medal for the best clock in the fair. In 1854 he received large orders from the British Royal Mail, and the Silesian Telegraphy Centre. After the orders, he received a fortune from the Duke of Martibore, and with this money he could pay enough to make clock cases for train stations. In the 1860s, he began to create the Classical Gustav Becker clocks. Starting from fairly simple clocks, the clocks became complex and very ornamental, and sales rose to a peak in 1875, with over 300,000 clock orders. He won at clock fairs in London, Paris, Sydney, Melbourne, Berlin and Amsterdam.
The brand Gustav Becker
The brand was created in 1899, and in 1930 it merged with Junghans, a large clockmaker in Schramberg, Baden-Württemberg, in southwestern Germany. After the Second World War, the Gustav Becker factory's location was transferred from Germany to Poland, and clock production there ceased. Junghans continued to exist in West Germany, but clocks bearing the Becker brand were no longer produced.
Following Info from the Antiques Clock Guy:
https://www.clockguy.com/SiteRelated/SiteReferencePages/GustavBeckerHistory.html
One of the better quality/best-known German clockmakers from the mid to late 19th century was Gustav Becker. Born in 1819, Becker trained as a clockmaker in Germany and Austria. In 1850 he opened workshops in Freiburg, Silesia, Germany in 1850. Initially, Becker struggled with untrained help, but won the "Medaille d’Or" for design at the 1852 Silesia Trade Exposition. Becker incorporated that first medal and his initials, G.B., into his trademark and, as you will see below, into many components of his clocks, from movement mounts to wall standoffs to beatplates and pulleys.
This award gave him the recognition that he needed to attract skilled craftsmen to his workshops. Numerous awards and certificates followed, from trade expos as far-flung as Australia and as close to home as Vienna. He was very adept at leveraging this new-found notoriety to the benefit of his business enterprise.
Becker clocks are not too difficult to identify. Until 1880 and the introduction of the spring driven mechanism, almost all of Gustav Becker’s clocks were weight driven Regulator wall clocks. Becker’s clocks bear his trademark and serial number on the dial and weights are usually marked with his initials. Serial numbers reference the year of manufacture, so determining age is made very simple. An excellent resource for this information and more is available in the book "The Gustav Becker Story", by Karl Kochmann, and "Gustav Becker Clocks", by T.D. Ly.
After the introduction of the spring driven mechanism, a whole new variety of clocks was made possible. The Becker workshops at their height produced more than 400 varieties of clocks. The cases of these clocks reflect the furniture trends of the day and range from very simple to elaborately ornate. The casework is extraordinarily well done and often incorporates hand carving. Germany has never lacked for skilled carvers and the talent of the region’s artisans is evidenced in the Becker clock cases.
Becker clocks weren’t limited to wooden wall clocks, though. Everything from anniversary clocks to wristwatches is available with the Becker trademark.
Gustav Becker clocks are known for their quality workmanship and the Becker name on a clock will make it more valuable than lesser-known maker’s clocks of similar quality. These collectible works of art are not as expensive as their furniture counterparts and can range in price from $500 to $5,000 and more. Although Gustav Becker only lived until 1885, clocks bore his trademark until 1935. The Junghans Company absorbed Becker, Lenzkirch, Hamburg American, etc. into a clock company that continues in business to this day.