A brass dial, tall-case clock made by Sauer around 1735 became the earliest American-made clock in the collections of the Library Company of Philadelphia. Witt went on to apprentice another important clockmaker in the German tradition, Christopher Sauer (1695-1758).
It is believed that Witt gave the Dial of Ahaz to Benjamin Franklin as a gift. The group’s interests in mathematics and the astronomy used to calculate the time of the millennium made them prime candidates for clockmaking.Īn entire school of clockmakers trained under another Pietist, Christopher Witt (1675-1765), who arrived in Germantown in 1704 and began making clocks as early as 1706. This group, dissatisfied with Protestant and Catholic ritual and led by Johannes Kelpius (1667-1708), came to Pennsylvania in 1694 and settled in Germantown. 1531-1608) in Germany in 1578 and arrived some time before 1700 with a mystical religious group known as the Pietists or the Hermits of the Ridge. The Ahaz sundial was made by Christopher Schissler (ca. One of the earliest clocks to make its way to the Philadelphia region was the “ Dial of Ahaz,” named after the King of Judah who supposedly invented the sundial in the eighth century B.C.E. These immigrants included many skilled artisans from northern Europe, including clockmakers, making Pennsylvania a prime site for producing high-quality clocks. Although English Quakers dominated Philadelphia, William Penn’s “ holy experiment” attracted tens of thousands of settlers from Germany, Switzerland, and Ireland. However, Pennsylvania in particular became noted for the influence of German designs on its clock production. ( Metropolitan Museum of Art)īefore 1750 the majority of clockmakers in the colonies were trained in England. The case is made from mahogany and has tulip poplar, white pine, brass, and iron pieces within it. The two had worked together earlier on an astronomical clock of Saxton's invention.Įdward Duffield, who worked in Philadelphia, completed this tall clock between 17. Saxton, a founding member of the Academy of Natural Sciences, was an inventor and clockmaker from Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. In addition to his work on the clock at the State House, he made a clock for the Second Bank of the United States. Lukens was the son of Seneca Lukens, a clockmaker from Horsham, Pennsylvania. Stretch's clock was replaced in 1828 by one constructed by Isaiah Lukens and Joseph Saxton. Though Stretch's clock was later removed, a replica was constructed in 1973 on the side of Independence Hall, just a few years before the bicentennial celebrations took place in Philadelphia. In 1752 Isaac Norris selected Stretch to construct the State House clock. The clock resembled other tall clocks he constructed throughout his career. Stretch was born in England and emigrated to Philadelphia with his father, Peter, in 1702. This image of the Pennsylvania State House by Charles Willson Peale shows the original construction of the structure and the clock built by Thomas Stretch into the west side in 1753.
Charles Willson Peale, View of State House
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