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Learn MoreBrass Orrery Clock
- This exceptional orrery clock exemplifies the ingenuity and artistry of mechanical horology
- The mechanism integrates a fully functional orrery, a model of the solar system
- Planets from Mercury through Saturn orbit a brass sun, while the moon revolves around Earth
- Housed beneath an impressive glass dome, this example captures the era’s enduring fascination with celestial mechanics
- Get complete item description here
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Circa 1895
This exceptional orrery clock exemplifies the ingenuity and artistry of mechanical horology. More than a timekeeper, it integrates a fully functional orrery, a model of the solar system, within its skeletonized brass frame. Planets from Mercury through Saturn orbit a brass sun with astonishing precision, while the moon revolves around Earth. This remarkable mechanism is set atop a silvered dial indicating the months and signs of the zodiac. The silvered. . .
Circa 1895
This exceptional orrery clock exemplifies the ingenuity and artistry of mechanical horology. More than a timekeeper, it integrates a fully functional orrery, a model of the solar system, within its skeletonized brass frame. Planets from Mercury through Saturn orbit a brass sun with astonishing precision, while the moon revolves around Earth. This remarkable mechanism is set atop a silvered dial indicating the months and signs of the zodiac. The silvered clock dial also accounts for the date with markers for the equinoxes and the solstices.
This ingenious design, paired with the pendulum-driven skeleton clock, places the instrument within a distinguished lineage of astronomical devices that stretches back centuries. Named after Charles Boyle, the 4th Earl of Orrery, the orrery became a popular educational and philosophical tool in the 18th century, used to illustrate the complex motions of the solar system. By the 19th century, orrery clocks like this one emerged as both scientific marvels and decorative showpieces, combining precision engineering with a reverence for Enlightenment ideals. Housed beneath an impressive glass dome, this example captures the era’s enduring fascination with celestial mechanics and humanity’s unending quest to understand the universe.
Orrery Clock: 16 1/4" high x 11" wide x 8 1/2" deep
Dome: 23 1/2" high x 14 1/4" wide x 14 1/4" deep

Period: | 19th Century |
Type: | Other |
Depth: | 8.5 in. (21.59 cm) |
Width: | 11.0 in. (27.94 cm) |
Height: | 16.25 in. (41.28 cm) |

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