Outer Case for the Table Clock with Skeleton Movement in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, May 2010

Table Clock with a Skeleton Movement, mid-16th century or earlier
South German
Case and dial of gilt brass; hand and movement of steel
1 5/8 x 2 1/2 in. (4.1 x 6.4 cm)
Gift of Mrs. Simon Guggenheim, 1929 (29.52.7)

The history of Renaissance clockmaking is one of continual improvement of the basic medieval invention. The substitution of a coiled spring for falling weights as the source of power so that clocks could be made portable was an important development of the early fifteenth century. By the second half of the sixteenth century, the major and probably most inventive center of clockmaking was southern Germany, where Nuremberg, Augsburg, and, to a lesser extent, Munich were the chief producers of portable domestic clocks of various kinds.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/29.52.7