Do-It-Yourself Assembly Precision Pendulum Clock Kits

"Construct it, then own it" – the philosophy of our assembly kits

The Mechanica series of do-it-yourself assembly kits by Erwin Sattler is only available in assembly kit form, which of course makes it much more affordable than one of Sattler’s ready-to-use clocks. But, to our mind, it’s even more important, from the personal point of view, that you should take the time (and pleasure) to assemble it yourself. If you do, you’ve understood, indeed ‘grasped’, a piece of the history of ‘time’ and have, in the best sense, acquired the right to ‘own’ it. You will know the clock from the inside out and will understand its amazingly clear and simple construction and the laws of physics  that govern it.

A detailed booklet shows you (no technical watch- or clock-making experience necessary!) how to assemble the clock. No tools are necessary other than those provided in the assembly kit. The Mechanica cases are really easy to put together – it is made up of 13 solid wood components which are simply screwed together without drilling or gluing. There are three models to choose from, each either in a black varnish or in Cherry or Walnut wood.  

High-precision Horology: Riefler, Strasser and Sattler.

The history of mechanical clock-making reached its zenith around 1900, particularly where precise-to-the-second pendulum clocks and regulators were concerned. Two German firms, Riefler in Nesselwang and Strasser & Rohde in Glashütte, were world leaders. It’s incredible what they managed to achieve, using technical intelligence of the highest order and a full array of precision engineering skills and equipment. An example: the best of the Riefler standing clocks show a deviation of less than one second per month.

Erwin Sattler. Precision pendulum clocks.

Today there’s only one firm that makes clocks up to this standard – Sattler, whose precision clocks can be found in working order in (for example) the German Museum in Munich, and are the bench-mark world-wide for high-precision mantelpiece, wall and grandfather clocks.

The Sattler Mechanica Series.

The Mechanica construction kit builds pedigree high-precision pendulum clocks with all the quality features of its illustrious forbears. To list a few: hardened steel driving components, ground gold-plated cog-wheels, Graham escapement, blued (by an open-flame process) hands and indicators. The massive tungsten weight gives a full 14 or 30 days of operation before rewinding. Time deviation is a mere 3 seconds per month, and this figure remains unaffected by the winding-up process, thanks to a complex internal ‘anti-blocking’ mechanism that maintains power.