Trenkle Brass Twin Bell Wind Up Alarm Clock, West Germany, c. 1960–1980
Viridian Eclection
The Piece
A small brass alarm clock with two bells standing over the case, a carry handle arched between them, and a band of applied filigree running right round the drum.
The case is a brass drum on three cast ball feet, and the side of it is where the work went. A panel of openwork filigree is applied the whole way around, scrolls and rosettes built up from beaded wire and set proud of a plain ground, framed top and bottom by a beaded border. It is the sort of decoration usually kept for jewellery boxes rather than spent on the side of a clock nobody looks at from the side.
Two domed bells sit above on threaded posts with turned finials, with the striker standing between them, and the handle arches over the top so the whole thing can be picked up and carried to a bedside.
The dial is gilt, engine turned with a scrolled ground, and set with twelve black cartouche numerals in white Roman figures. The hands are blued steel, pierced and shaped in the old manner, with luminous inserts, and small luminous dots sit at the hour positions. Under the numerals at the bottom edge it reads WEST GERMANY, and at the centre, Trenkle.
The back is a plain gilt plate with the winding key still in it, two knurled winding arbors, a regulator slot marked plus at one end, and small engraved icons showing which arbor drives the time and which the bells.
History & Provenance
This clock dates itself, and it does so from two places rather than one. WEST GERMANY is printed on the dial and stamped again on the back plate.
That is a hard bracket at both ends, which is rarer than it sounds. The Federal Republic came into being in 1949 and its export goods carried that marking from then; before it, goods from the western occupation zones were marked differently again. At the other end, reunification on 3 October 1990 ended the country and the marking with it. So this clock was made between 1949 and 1990 and it cannot have been made outside those years. No amount of style argument moves either end.
Within that span the object narrows itself. It is a mechanical clock, wound with a key, with two separate trains and two separate arbors, one for going and one for the bells. Quartz movements took the alarm clock market through the later 1970s and mechanical wind up alarms became a specialist product afterwards. And the design, a heavily ornamented brass drum in an old fashioned idiom with applied filigree, ball feet, Roman numerals and a carry handle, belongs to the West German decorative export trade of the 1960s and 1970s, when small Black Forest and Swabian works sold this kind of thing in quantity into America and Britain.
Trenkle is a Black Forest clockmaking name. Clocks marked Trenkle West Germany of exactly this type survive in reasonable numbers, which tells you it was a production line rather than a one off, and that the works knew what they were doing with a brass case.
It is worth saying plainly what this clock is not. It is not a nineteenth century object and it cannot be presented as one. The two words on the dial rule that out completely, and a piece that carries its own date is better catalogued honestly than stretched.
Product Details
| Era | c. 1960–1980. Dated from the mark and the movement. WEST GERMANY appears on the dial and again stamped on the back plate, which brackets the clock hard between 1949, when the Federal Republic was founded, and October 1990, when reunification ended both the country and the marking. Within that span the key wound mechanical movement with separate going and alarm trains, and the ornamented brass export style with applied filigree and ball feet, place it in the 1960s and 1970s, before quartz took the alarm clock market |
| Maker | Trenkle, a Black Forest clockmaking name. Signed on the dial |
| Form | Twin bell alarm clock. Brass drum case on three cast ball feet, arched carry handle, two domed bells on threaded posts with turned finials |
| Movement | Mechanical, key wound, with separate going and alarm trains and two knurled winding arbors. Regulator slot to the back plate. Winding key present |
| Dial | Gilt and engine turned with a scrolled ground, twelve black cartouche numerals in white Roman figures, luminous dots at the hours, pierced blued steel hands with luminous inserts. Signed Trenkle and marked WEST GERMANY |
| Decoration | Applied openwork filigree band round the whole case in beaded scrollwork and rosettes, between beaded borders |
| Marks | Trenkle and WEST GERMANY to the dial. WEST GERMANY stamped to the back plate |
| Dimensions | Approximately 4 in. wide by 3 in. deep by 6 in. high to the top of the handle |
| Condition | Good honest condition, offered as found. Case sound and complete with all three feet, both bells, both finials, the striker and the handle present and firm. Filigree band complete with no loss found. Winding key present. Glass in place with light surface scratching. Dial sound with minor spotting and some dust and fibres behind the glass. Brass with light tarnish and handling marks, not polished. The movement has not been tested, is not warranted, and the clock is offered as a decorative object; a mechanical clock of this age would normally be expected to want a service |
Why It Belongs in Your Home
Small brass objects are how a room stops looking arranged and starts looking lived in, and a clock is the only one of them that also has a reason to be there.
The filigree is why this one is worth more than the ordinary brass alarm clock. Run a thumb round the case and you can feel every scroll standing off the ground. Most clocks of this size were given a plain drum and a printed dial; this one was given a band of applied openwork that catches light from any angle and reads as worked metal rather than as a shape.
It has the right presence for the places a big clock cannot go: a bedside table, a bookshelf, a bathroom windowsill, a desk, the corner of a mantel already carrying something taller. The handle means it can move with you rather than living in one spot.
For a shop, small gilt and brass runs well because it photographs well and ships cheaply, and a signed West German maker with a legible dial gives a customer something to hold on to when they are deciding.
Every piece is packed with professional-grade materials: multiple foam layers, double-boxing, directional and fragile handling labels. For large furniture we use custom timber crating. We photograph packing before dispatch and can provide images on request.
White-glove delivery is complimentary within 100 miles of Reno, NV. National shipping quotes provided at checkout. All shipments are photographed and documented. Damage claims must be filed with the carrier; we provide all documentation needed to support your claim.
Local pickup is available at Viridian HQ (Reno, NV) with 2–4 days notice. Contact us to arrange. Private viewings also available.
All antique and vintage items are sold as described and all sales are final. Each listing includes detailed condition notes and photographs so you can make a fully informed decision. We encourage buyers to ask questions — about condition, dimensions, finish, provenance — before purchasing.
Antiques are irreplaceable and one-of-a-kind. Carrier handling is outside our control once a piece has left our facility, and major carriers including FedEx do not insure antiques. We do everything within our power to ensure safe transit, but cannot accept liability for carrier damage. If damage occurs in transit, we will provide full documentation to support your carrier claim.
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