Clock Collection

The collections of the Wien Museum contain around 7,000 clocks and objects related to watchmaking, of which around 700 are presented in the Clock Museum (Schulhof 2, 1010 Vienna). These range from basic clocks (hourglasses, water clocks, and sundials), church/tower clocks, and table clocks to pocket and wrist watches. The collection includes extraordinary artistic clocks, grandfather clocks with rich figurative decorations, picture clocks with hidden dials, and the famous Viennese "Laterndluhren" (lantern clocks) from the Biedermeier period.

The foundation of the museum was laid thanks to the large clock collection belonging to the middle school teacher Rudolf Kaftan (1870-1961). In 1917, the city council voted to acquire the collection and all its mechanisms, components, and books. Kaftan himself was rewarded by being appointed as head of the city’s newly established Clock Museum.

Before its opening in the "Harfenhaus", one of Vienna’s oldest buildings, in 1921, other important private collections had been acquired: a collection of pendant and pocket watches from the writer Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, the Leiner collection — with more than 100 bracket clocks — and the Nicolaus collection, which consisted of 450 watches (mostly pocket).

The main focus of the collection was and is on clocks/watches manufactured in Vienna. In addition to these timepieces, watchmaking tools and machinery, student work, models, and biographical information about watchmakers from all over Austria are also collected. The objects are cared for, restored, and scientifically studied in the museum’s own workshop. A specialist library supplies the necessary information — from recipe books for cleaning agents to literature on how to handle old materials.