THE CHARM OF OLD CRAFTS IN KREMNICA

CLOCKMAKERS

Kremnica

Clock making was one of the most precise and specialized crafts. The clockmakers never formed a separate guild, because only a small number of masters worked in the town. The clock makers were divided into large (makers of tower and chamber clocks) and small (makers of pocket watches).

The parts of tower clocks, the clock mechanism, dial and hands were made of iron. The parts of the mechanism of a chamber clock, the system of wheels, the spring, anchor, weight, pendulum, dial, and hands were made of brass. The clock maker did not make the case of the clock himself, but got a joiner to help him.

The first mention of clock makers at Kremnica dates from 1465, when the account book records the cost of an iron chain for a clock. In 1567, Banska Bystrica appealed to the town clock maker, because their clock was broken, and they had heard that Jakub Schlosser, a skilled clock maker, lived in Kremnica. In 1582, a certain Georg is mentioned as a Kremnica clock maker.

The clock makers did not have their own guild at Kremnica, but we assume that in the second half of the 18th century, they formed a guild with the locksmiths. In 1777, during a great fire in the town, the clock maker and repairer Jozef Gamus, with two other men, saved the Little Tower of the Castle, where the town clock was. In 1797, Daniel Patky was accepted into the guild as a master, after making a grandfather clock as his masterpiece.

The clock-makers used the dial of a clock as their emblem. They chose St. Peter as their patron.

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Reprinted from: The Charm of Old Crafts, PhDr. Ludmila Nemeskurthiova
Published by © National Bank of Slovakia-Museum of Coins and Medals Kremnica 1998
Published in the Slovak Heritage Live newsletter Volume 7, No. 2, Summer 1999 T
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