Progress versus tradition – traditional craftsmanship and attempts at industrial tower clock production in the Czech lands in the 19th century

With the growing need for accurate timekeeping, the demand for clocks on public buildings increased in the 19th century. The only way to meet the demand, however, was to produce individual items by hand. Due to the conservative and protectionist influence of the clockmaker’s guilds and the absence of a specialised clockmaking education, technical innovations from abroad were slow to be adopted. Despite this, there are significant innovative watchmaking personalities, such as Josef Božek at the beginning and Václav Krečmer in the second half of the century. There were also several attempts at factory mass production of tower clocks, which, however, were not developed until the 1880s by the company of Ludvík Hainz.