Clock and Watch Museum - Lange schipstraat 13, 2800 Mechelen, Belgium

Masterpieces

Jozef Op de Beeck also designs and manufactures special timekeepers. His work can be admired in the museum but it is also for sale in limited editions. All the pieces are numbered and signed. More information can be obtained here.

Wristwatches

Retrograde

This wristwatch has an elliptical dial in silver, white gold or lapis lazuli. The hour indicator is at the top and the minute indicator at the bottom. “Retrograde” hands jump and start again from zero after each cycle of 12 hours or 60 minutes respectively. This principle has already been experimented with in the 18th century. They then sought a way to make the dial more readable. Once every hour the hour and minute hands, after all, are right above each other. And for a short time very close to each other's neighbourhood. This makes it difficult to read the time. Retrograde or fly backhands basically read much clearer. It is however more difficult to achieve the mechanical linkage.
The case is made in 18kt yellow gold. There are two types of cases: with a hand-carved bas-relief or polished. The hand wound movement is modified to obtain the decentralizing of the hours and minutes. It has a 36 hours autonomy.

Persian cat & owl

Here again the movement is modified to obtain the decentralizing of the hours and minutes. In this case, the eyes of the animals serve as the hour and minute indicators. The left eye indicates the hours and the right eye the minutes.
The cases are hand cut in precious stone. The owl is made out of petrified mammoth bone or lapis lazuli. The cats are available in black onyx, white agate, blue agate and petrified wood. The eyes are in hand-painted rock crystal. The colours are blue or orange. The creation of these watches is also the work of Joseph Op de Beeck. He was inspired here by the fun clocks Oswald.

Turtle

The dial is set in the shell made of red or green agate and protected by a faceted rock crystal glass. The head and paws are in yellow gold and the eyes are made up of brilliants. The head of the turtle is the crown to set or wind the watch. An ETA2824/2 automatic movement animates the turtle.

Krugerrand 

The Krugerrand is a South African gold coin. Since there are four coins of different value, there are also four different types of wristwatches with different sizes. They all have an 18kt yellow gold case with 4 brilliants set on the bezel corresponding to the quarters and 8 screws that shut it at the dial. They have a sapphire glass and a see-through case back closed by 8 screws.
The four different types are:
    - 1 Krugerrand with skeletoned ETA2890 movement
    - ½ Krugerrand with hand wound movement
    - ¼ Krugerrand with an ETA 2000 automatic movement
    - 1/10 Krugerrand with Jaeger-Le Coultre movement

Magique

This wristwatch has a black elliptical dial. The case is in polished 18kt yellow gold. The length of the hands is adjusted to the position on the dial. It has a skeletoned ETA2892 automatic movement.

Clocks

Two wheel skeleton clock

This skeleton clock is entirely hand made. It runs 5 days with only 2 wheels in the going train. Hence the gear wheels are very large with an extreme number of teethes. The weights are filled with mercury. The winding key is made out of lignum vitae which is Latin for live wood (symbolic for the clock coming back to life, through a key made of the "living tree").

Intelligent mystery clock

This clock has a glass dial and two wooden hands turning freely on an axe in the middle of the dial. The clock on the picture above, indicates: 7 minutes to 2 o’clock. The hands each have a separate movement, which forces them into the right position to indicate the right time. Even when you make the hands turn manually, they will automatically come back to the right position. It’s based on the principle of balance, and the balance between the two weights. Also, this clock can be manufactured to your wishes. Below you can find an example for a "Tintin fan". The glass dial was engraved by hand and the minute hand carved as the sceptre of Ottokar.

Hourglasses

Long duration hourglasses

These are extraordinary hourglasses since they have a very long duration in relation to the amount of sand they use. The sand is perfectly white and runs through a ruby. This improves the precision and prevents wear and tear.
There are 3 standard types in a wooden frame:
    - 8 hours
    - 12 hours
    - 24 hours

Note: all durations shorter then 24 hours are possible.

Special type: Angelus 4 hour sandglass.

This sandglass has 4 balls on one side to indicate the divisions of the hours. Each hour one ball is emptied or filled. The glass is set in a metal frame.

The world’s smallest hourglass

This hourglass is only ½ inch high and runs approximately 6 seconds. It has a solid yellow or white gold frame. The hourglass runs true and is so small that it can be worn as a pendant.

Other hourglasses:

Because of frequent demand for more cost-effective alternatives, we also started to produce hourglasses with globes out of one piece. These hourglasses measure approximately 20 cm.

We have two varieties:

-	Non calibrated pieces: They have a variable duration that is not controlled and can be regarded as decorative sandglasses.
-	Calibrated pieces: They have a controlled duration that ranges between 5 minutes to one hour. (Currently we have in stock: 5, 7 ½, 10, 15, 20, 30, 50 min or 1 hour). Note: Because these hourglasses don’t have a ruby in the middle to control the flow of sand, they are somewhat less precise than our long duration hourglasses.

Finally, we have industrially manufactured hourglasses. There are specimens with a duration of 5 to 20 minutes.
More information can be obtained here.