ClockDoc – History and contributors
ClockDoc is currently managed by Eddy Odell (UK) with an informal group of ‘Friends of ClockDoc’, a group of world-wide collectors. The site had a major technical update in 2023 with significant changes in the underlying technology, reorganization and addition of much new material
History
The site was founded around 2010 by Jan van Harten, Fons Dehing, James Kelly and Gijs Veraart. Of the 4 founders, the last three remain as contributors. Sadly, Jan van Harten, who designed, built and managed the IT aspects of ClockDoc, passed away in September 2024.
In the early years most images were of clocks in the collections of a few European collectors. Over the years the number of contributors has increased and our thanks are due to many collectors worldwide, particularly the following (in no special order):
Michel Viredaz, James Kelly, David Read, Frank Dunkel, Nick Maag, Agustí Tantdetemps, John Hubert, Ted Bosschieter, Gijs Veraart, Peter Smith from Horologix, Rick Thomes, Tim Rickard, Bas Lokken, Pierhead Publications, The Regulator Clock Company and Barrie Smith.
John Hubert, Geoff Horner, J Alan Bloore, Richard Hatch and Fons Dehing have all provided header files and Peter Sweeney videos for the 2020 update and we are looking for more header file authors. Thank you all.
We are also grateful to the auction houses who have given permission to use their auction photographs and listing information, notably Gardiner Houlgate (UK) and Schmitt-Horan (US).
Jan van Harten 1938-2024
Jan van Harten passed away on 8th September this year, peacefully in his home in Leidschendam in The Netherlands. Jan came to clocks late in life, having previously collected antique typewriters, but was a long-term member of the Dutch and UK electrical groups. He had a great knowledge of European electromagnetic clocks, and latterly early quartz clocks. Initially an electrical engineer, Jan became an IT professional as the field developed from the 1960s. With Fons Dehing, James Kelly and Gijs Veraart helping with material and administration, he designed, built and managed the Clockdoc website. This was complex in the early days, but having identified the best open source technical solutions, he expanded it to be the largest digital repository for information on electrical clocks, with documentation, manuals, thousands of images and scanned books from the 1800s to the present day. He worked on it every day for decades, with a vision of the website becoming a digital museum. Jan will be sadly missed by his many friends and clock collectors, not only in Europe but those with whom he built up long-distance friendships through the internet worldwide.
He also worked as IT consultant for Oikocredit, an international cooperative that provides loans to socially meaningful projects in developing countries. He was always cheerful, unfailingly helpful and generous with his clock knowledge. He is survived by his wife Thea, son Jacob Jan and his ‘baby’ clockdoc, which will continue as he envisaged it.