From 1800 to Today – The History of the Car Clock
1955 Chevy Bel Air’s dashboard clock / Credit: Pixels
Napoleon's carrying clock / Credit: Breguet
Timepieces designed specifically for transport date back to 1798, when Breguet made a carriage clock for Napoleon. Napoleon Bonaparte was a general in the French Army, before becoming the first emperor of France in 1804.
In 1798, as a 29-year-old general in the French army, Napoleon was preparing for a campaign against Egypt and Syria to defend French trade routes. Just a few weeks before leaving for his campaign, he purchased a Breguet carriage clock, to help time his military advances. The record of his purchase can still be found in books at Breguet’s boutique in Paris. It was a quarter repeating calendar clock, which also included a moon-phase complication, and can be viewed at its new location at the Swiss National Museum.
These early travel or ‘carry’ clocks were bulky and would typically be bound in a leather case and used for timekeeping by the affluent in the era before cars. As pocket watches became more affordable throughout the 19th century, they would typically be hung over the front board of the carriage.
1886, Carl Benz’s patented automobile / Credit: Daimler
Another development came at the end of the 19th century, on January 29th, 1886, when Carl Benz applied for a patent for his ‘vehicle powered by a gas engine’. Marking the birth of the automobile.
When the earlier versions of automobiles came out, like Carl Benz model no. 1 above, most did not include a dashboard feature. As dashboards became a norm in automobiles, the need to fill that space became more crucial. It was only when mass-produced automobiles became the norm that, replacing the horse-drawn carriage, that people’s desire to view the time in these new vehicles saw clocks be added to dashboards. This would require slight design deviations from Napoleon's famous carrying clock made by Breguet.
The first car clocks resembled a pocket watch and were made by companies that were already manufacturing watches and clocks. The initial movements of the automobile clock were either wound through the crown or by using a key. They were essentially large pocket watches, with extra shock proofing technology built in.
Speedometers were available as standard technology in vehicles as early as 1908 and most speedometer companies started to produce clocks as an ‘aftermarket’ luxury.
Consumers were enjoying the car clock and automobiles were becoming increasingly affordable as a result of Henry Ford, further boosting the car clock’s popularity. Many companies started to shift gears and focus on this growing industry, these included the Phinney-Walker Clock Company, the Stewart Speedometer Company, and the Boston Clock Company.
The ‘Time of Trip’ was a chronograph developed and patented by Heuer in 1911. It indicated the time of day on the main dial, while two hands measured out the length of journey on the other two dials.
The ‘Time of Trip’ was the first dashboard chronograph, patented by Heuer in 1911 / Credit: SJX
Marine clocks and automobile clocks were very similar and a few companies decided to design and market both. Waltham, a major supplier of car clocks, marketed identical timepieces for both automobiles and boats. In addition, clockmakers during this time rarely developed car clocks for specific models of cars, rather they were ‘off the shelf’ purchases and would be installed that way by consumers, car manufacturers, and dealers.
Stem and wind clock, a Waltham 8-Day car clock circa 1920 / Credit: Heritage Auctions
The winding mechanisms progressed from key-wind, to stem wind and then to rim wind, where you would turn the rim of the clock to wind it. Swing clocks grew in popularity, notably in the English market. This was another form of manual winding where the clocks movement could be ‘swung’ out from the rear, and manually set from behind. There were also many unique approaches to the car clock throughout the 1920s: the mirror clock was adopted to free up space from the increasing number of gadgets on the dashboard, while ashtray clocks and glove compartment clocks were another quirky example of the car clock.
There were a few innovations that consisted of displaying your pocket watch through various means within the car, but those slowly faded out as the pocket watch became less popular in the 1920s in favour of wristwatches. As such, the idea to allow one to easily read their watch while driving emerged. This was to have the case curved, angled towards the driver, to give the driver the ability to quickly glance at the time while their hands were on the wheel.
The curved case of these early driver's watches – Patek Philippe ref. 576 / Credit: Antiquorum
By the 1930s the auto industry had introduced automatic winders which used a motor that rewound the spring. So, while mechanical clocks were still being offered, electronic automobile clocks started to appear.
This was a revolutionary technology, but it depended on the end user to keep the clock lubricated and let the clock’s battery recharge while in park. This would often cause issues, and car clocks during this time developed a reputation for being unreliable.
By the 1940s, the dashboard was filled with various meters and gauges that had become a relative norm. These showed things like temperature, speed, oil pressure, and the generator status. During the 1950s, as the technology continued to improve on electric clocks, companies were beginning to incorporate that into their automobile clock designs. This would be the start of using electricity to fully wind clocks on a massive scale.
1956 Chevrolet Bel Air Dashboard / Credit: Pixels
During this period of the 1950s and 1960s, electric clocks took over the automobile clock market. This technology reigned supreme in the industry, until quartz came along and eventually digital displays in the 1970s.
1974 Ford digital analog clock / Credit: Autoweek
As you can see, the development consisted largely of innovating on mechanical wind clock movements, their shape, function, and placement within the car. This also was coupled with developing ways to incorporate pocket watches in various forms throughout the car, leading to the introduction of automatic clock movements, then electric clock movements, followed by quartz, and ultimately landing upon digital displays. Today we see GPS, clocks, and other emerging technologies combined into the dashboard in one display – we’ve come a long way since Breguet’s carry clock.
By: Eric Mulder
Read more:
Reddinger, Paige. “Time Travel: 8 Things You Didn’t Know About the Legendary Watchmaker Breguet.” Robb Report, May 9th, 2019, https://robbreport.com/style/watch-collector/the-history-of-breguet-watches-unknown-facts-2848683
“Company History.” Daimler, https://www.daimler.com/company/tradition/company-history/1885-1886.html#:~:text=On%20January%2029%2C%201886%2C%20Carl,1.
“Dashboard Car Clocks.” Queensland Association of Watch and Clock Collectors Inc., https://www.queenslandclocksandwatches.com/car-clocks.
“Time On The Road - A Dash of Dashboard Clock History.” Watchismo, June 12th, 2007, https://watchismo.blogspot.com/2007/06/time-on-road-dash-of-dashboard-clock.html.
“History.” TAG Heuer, https://www.tagheuer.com/gb/en/history-1887-1933/precision-on-the-world-stage.html.
Katz, John F. “Faces of Time: Exhibit showcases history of car clocks: Also featured: Vacationing, enthusiast-style.” Autoweek, May 1st, 2005, https://www.autoweek.com/news/a2077906/faces-time-exhibit-showcases-history-car-clocks-also-featured-vacationing/.
“History of Car Clock.” Classic Car Clock, http://classiccarclock.com/history-of-car-clocks.html.
Filipponio, Frank. “The history of the car clock.” autoblog, June 14th, 2007, https://www.autoblog.com/2007/06/14/the-history-of-the-car-clock/.