See historical clocks and watches in Denmark’s national clock and watch collection
Below ground level in the 1974 neighbourhood, you will find 400 historical clocks and watches from the late 14th century and up until the 20th century which reflect the development of timepieces in Denmark.
See sundials, grandfather clocks, table clocks, lantern clocks and pocket watches. There is even an exhibition of watches with miniature paintings and a unique display of Danish and foreign pocket watches.
The exhibition even includes the Girard Perregaux pocket watch, which has been described as the most beautiful mechanical watch ever made.
Tourbillon – precision in a whirlwind
This pocket watch was manufactured by Girard Perregaux in Switzerland between 1889 and 1900. The company, which still exists today, is renowned for producing watches that are exceptionally accurate.
The watch’s wheels, axles and bearings are arranged in a carousel mechanism, or ‘tourbillon’, which rotates once a minute.
Tourbillon means ‘whirlwind’ in French.
Before 1900, only 70 pocket watches like this one were made. The one at Den Gamle By is number 18.
Each watch takes 1,500 hours to produce
In 1981, Girard-Perregaux succeeded in reproducing a single pocket watch of the same quality. The technique was on the verge of being lost to history, so it took several years of research and 1,500 hours of work before the watch began to tick.
The Pope presented the watch as a token of honour
Den Gamle By received the pocket watch in 1941 from watch wholesaler Oscar Wandschneider. He explained that the former Pope had, on several occasions, given Girard-Perregaux pocket watches as tokens of honour to special guests.
Stolen in the year 2000
The tourbillon pocket watch was stolen from what was then the Clock Museum at Den Gamle By in the year 2000. Four years later, Den Gamle By received the watch back – wrapped in kitchen roll in an unstamped envelope with no return address.
The Tourbillon pocket watch is now on display once again in the highly secure Kunstkammer at Den Gamle By.
