Klaipėda Clock and Watch Museum

An exhibition 'Manufacture and deal in watches and clocks in the 19th - early 20th c Lithuania', which works until now, was opened in Klaipėda Clock and Watch Museum in May 1994. There are exhibited clockmaker's studio equipment, the parts of clocks and watches, and, of course clocks and watches, which were made at the beginning of that century. As it was mentioned in the source - book, the first Lithuanian tower clock was the clock of Vilnius Cathedral (1557). Jonas was the first clockmaker. He came together with the manor of Žygimantas Augustas from Krakow. In 1543-1572, he had worked in Vilnius. Other important clockmakers of that period were Leonard Frenk, a German who had worked in 1557. Conrad Grisas repaired a clock of Vilnius Town Hall in 1597, Jonas Strožickis, who worked in 1580-1583. Jokūbas Gerkė was an eminent Lithuanian clockhmaker. He worked in Vilnius in 1616-1664. The caseses of clocks had a shape of hexagon or square box. The legs were made from bronze. The clocks were richly decorated with carvings. The first clockmakers, who worked in Lithuania, were the member of hammersmith, coppersmith, and locksmith guilds. In 1779, clockmakers set up their own guild. At the beginning of the 19th century there worked 31 masters. The quality of clocks and watches, made by Vilnius clockmakers guild, was just as good as the quality of clocks and watches, made in Western Europe. Tower, table, cupboard clocks, watches, calendar notes, and hour and quarter strike mechanisms were made in Lithuania at that time. Taking into account the remained protocols of clockmakers guild, masters and apprentices registration books, two thirds of watchmakers, who worked in Vilnius in the 19th century, were Germans, Lithuanians and Polish. Only after having apprentices of the master for some and having a certificate, they got the right to make the trial clock or watch, which had to be introduced to the guild committee. If such a clock or watch was evaluated well, the apprentices got the name of clockmaster. In 1872, A. Dašnevskis made a stopwatch, which was highly evaluated and awarded in Paris and Petersburg exhibitions. On 18 March 1893 local handicraft guilds together with clockmakers, were eliminated by the order of Vilnius government administration. According to this act, it was tried to destroy Lithuanian trade in the bud. The clocks and watches, which were made by remained handicraftsmen, could not compete with imported ones. The alarm - clocks, wall clocks were imported from Germany, table clocks, alarm - clocks from France cupboard clocks from England. The main firms, which supplied clocks and watches to Lithuania were 'Cyma', 'Zenith', 'Omega', 'Paul Buhre' (Switzerland); 'Gustav Becker', 'Junghans' (Germany); 'Moster' (France), 'Tobias' (England). Tthe clocks and watches were not produced in Lithuanian Republic in 1918 - 1940. At that time just the trade and maintenance of clocks and watches was spread. Most part of the shops was in Kaunas (23). Thus were eight specialised shops in Klaipeda in 1931. The main part of clocks and watches, their details and mechanism were imported to Lithuania in 1938. Klaipeda Clock and Watch Museum exhibition 'Manufacture and deal in watches and clocks in the 19th - early 20th c Lithuania' tells about all of this.