Good performance for low wages was the most important reason why the number of women in the clockmaking industry steadily increased. Financially, women were discriminated against in three ways. First, the best-paid technical jobs for workers were held by learned mechanics, precision mechanics, and clockmakers, who had worked three or four years as apprentices. But women and girls had, for a long time, no chance of being admitted to this kind of qualifying training. By 1930 or so, girls were finally admitted into clockmaking apprenticeships, but very few in fact became apprentices.

Secondly, work done by men or women with the same qualifications was paid differently. According to a collective agreement in 1936, an unskilled male adult could earn 0.55 to 0.66 marks per hour, while a female worker earned 0.39 to 0.47 marks, 29 percent less. Thirdly, and this was the most important factor, men started from a higher level. Their better qualifications from their training on the job were rewarded with higher wages. Women, on the other hand, were kept in bottom-wage groups no matter the time spent on their jobs. Many certainly had the qualifications for, at least, semi-skilled labor. A striking example was recorded in Badenian clock factories in 1903:

Percentage in wage groups:

Another example, from 1950, in the Baden-Württem-berg clock and watch factories:

All of these discriminating practices were slowly modified in the twentieth century, but never abolished.

The Industry in Contemporaneous Media

Many photos have been published showing women at work in clock and watch factories, in front of a punching machine, or in assembly lines. Some of these pictures were made for advertisements and portray carefully posed happy girls in clean workplaces. In addition, there were millions of realistic snapshots, but most of these no longer exist. The illustrations for this article come from a period before photos made up a major portion of images in widely distributed publications.

Lithographic prints and steel and wood engravings were in vogue in the nineteenth century.  These printmaking forms were the usual means of transferring artwork to print. The name of the painter would appear on one side, the name of the engraver on the other. Pirated editions were common, therefore, it is difficult for a collector to discover who the artists were and where the engraving was first published.

Some painters were interested in Black Forest clockmaking. Many illustrations included women—a picturesque addition to a serious subject. An often published picture of this type (Figure 1) deals with the production of musical clocks in Neustadt. The artist has placed in the center of the illustration a young mother in traditional Black Forest costume, but obviously she is a visitor and not a co-worker. Another well-known theme shows a young woman customer asking an old master for advice (see front cover).

The author could only find two pictures that show females taking part in clock production; a steel engraving from 1840 (Figure 2), and an 1874 wood engraving (Figure 3). A lithographic print of 1855 shows a young woman painting a dial (Figure 4). Similar illustrations follow (Figures 5 and 6). Two oil paintings of female clockmakers continue the sequence (Figures 7 and 8). And, as mentioned earlier, a Black Forest 8-day clock signed Nothburga Eschle on the back plate and shield is shown in Figures 9 and 10.

This article is a first attempt to deal with a complex subject that has obviously not been studied in depth. There is no doubt that women’s work was essential for Black Forest clockmaking. In the cottage industry period, female labor was considered a self-evident contribution to family welfare, and was not defined or evaluated. Later factory records show what has previously been hidden—women and girls were a big part of the clockmaking work force. But records of wages paid are not adequate indicators of their level of participation in industrial development or their influence on productivity. The many thousands of female workers and employees in clock and watch factories worldwide deserve more recognition and appreciation.

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