Performance Chess Clocks- a virtual chess clock museum

When posting the photos today for my brothers FIDE Chess Studio set, I noticed I had not shown all the photos I had taken for the Jerger Rook and Pawn clock, so here are the ones I missed. Sorry for the omission.

As you can see the box has a bit of wear, but considering it is from the early 60's I am amazed that it is in as good condition as it is.

One more photo of the clock. It is resting on one of my HoS boards with 2.25 inch squares, so a bit of quick calculation says the clock is almost 10 inches long. One more shot for comparison with my MOM clock for scale.

As you can see, it's a big boy. The MOM has bigger clock faces, but the piece carvings on the Jerger gives it something special.

Yeah, I feel like I have lucked out twice now. Now I have to get one more for the trifecta. I think my next purchase will be the board from ColoradoWoodWorker. I do have some new books coming in the mail though.

Good Lord PDX_Axe! You're quickly becoming one of my heroes.

Congrats @Typewriter! I don't know what your collecting history is, but that is a lovely addition, or perhaps the beginning of a rewarding new passion. Definitely a great pick-up.

Hello there!

There's something about that table and set up that screams...."This guy's good"!

@magictwanger Could it be the chess trophy? haha Or perhaps that lovely set of Zagreb pieces? At least I don't see a pile of advanced chess books.

@TYPEWRITER May I add that the table is lovely. Nicely aged patina, and the size...OMG! I love tables that have plenty of space on the sides for a book when it is time to study. I couldn't make a guess as to the age, but you can see where elbows have rested in concentration over the years.

I have really nice Zagreb pieces and a super cool display table with a Plexi covering over my sets and boards,which I rotate. Quite a few books too...but....somehow my chess ability has stalled,unlike TYPREWRITER.

I must be doing something wrong....Wait! Do I need to actually read these books?

I think I will be starting a new thread soon on some of the many chess books I currently have at my house. I have been doing a couple of things lately to try and improve my game and knock some of the rust off. I felt I needed a more structured approach, and as my brother is a member of ChessDojo, I can look at some of their requirements for various rating groups. I decided to start working through their recommended reading list. BOOKS BY RATING | Chess Dojo . They also have a newer list as they recently updated their required reading for players at various levels, and also put out separate recommendations from Kostya, David, and Jesse. BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS | Chess Dojo . On the books by rating, I am currently on the 1200 to 1300 level, having decided to begin at the bottom and work my way up.

Recently I have also done a lot of thinking after watching so many videos on YouTube. I decided I also wanted to get into the Soviet/Russian chess school, as for over 70 years they consistently produced the best players in the world, beginning with Alexander Alekhine, through the short break of Bobby Fischer, and ending with the rise of Vishy Anand. I have a pretty good selection of books written by Soviet/Russian authors, some of them rather valuable.

So why start on my books? Well I don't have any chess sets on order for my Mystery Knight thread, and I don't have any particular clocks currently on my radar either, so maybe now is a good time to start. I think it will be it's own thread though, as I don't want to confuse anyone about the content. Anyway, if you have an interest in books, keep an eye out, as I am thinking and organizing now and should have something posted pretty soon. Thanks guys!

Hi my friends! It has been quite a while since I posted anything here. I was speaking with my friend Ken (aka GalahadsGhost on Chess.com) during our meeting up at the Hillsboro Chess Club which meets twice a month. He had his tablet with him and started showing me some photos. It seems he has several nice clocks in his collection, including something I have never seen before. Ken has a Jaques chess clock. I didn't even know they made clocks! It is really quite lovely, and I have asked him to post some of his photos here. Hopefully he will get a chance to post some of them here soon. In the meantime, I am on a search of the internet for more images of Jaques clocks. If anyone finds some, please post them here. Happy hunting!

I found some photos of a couple of Jaques clocks.

And here is another I found.

I have never seen anything like these on eBay, so I will assume they are expensive to buy and probably only sold through antiques dealers or auction sites. I would imagine they are more common in Europe, so perhaps one of you will get lucky and acquire one.

Good Lord! A serious piece of what can easily be called chess furniture! Reminds me of my Thomasville bedroom set's armoire. I could live with one of those.

I have one old clock, and it's a HAU/HAC like the Jaques in the first pictures. Likewise, the orange clock with the Roman numerals has the crossed arrows or Pfeilkreuz logo pointing to that firm.

Holger Langer has written a very informative entry about this company on his website I would like to link: https://www.chess-collection.de/newpage75 (Production for Jaques is also mentioned).

The first clock, from time to time, I have seen offered (I mean not as Jaques, of course). The second one should be much more special (Jaques or no Jaques).

It was my suspicion that it was manufactured by another company but may have been specifically made for Jaques. Regardless, they are lovely. Were I a wealthier man I would probably pursue a set of Jaques pieces and one of these clocks, and of course a vintage board to put them on. I think the clock of my friend Ken appears to be a bit more modern than these, but it is hard to say for sure.

From a purely visual perspective, there is noting more beautiful than a classic Staunton Chess Set paired with one of the analog clocks displayed on this stream.

Hi again guys, I just have an interesting bit of trivia here. I was looking at the HAC clocks on Igor's clock site, and it seems they were the manufacturers of the clocks sold at Jaques, among other places. Then I saw the Coldfield-Sutton clocks and I do believe Ken has one of those as well. The real surprise came when I looked at the photos of the players connected to the clocks. One of them is a photo of Juan Bellon, who is Anna Cramling's father. He looked young and in his prime back in 1973, and was playing black against Panno, in Madrid, Spain. My brother was looking at it, and we decided to email a copy to Anna, as it is possible she has never seen it before. Who knows? Perhaps she will pay us a visit here in the forums. Here is the photo.

History and chess seem to go so well together.

A further bit of trivia: Panno was a strong GM from Argentina and is remembered in opening books for the Panno Variation in the King's Indian Defense. He placed highly in many tournaments.

I am pretty sure that most of the guys posting on this thread are collectors, rather than looking to sell their clocks. If you are looking to buy, it really depends on where you live. In bigger cities you might find older analog clocks at thrift stores, garage sales, flea markets, etc. Your chances go up if you live in Europe, as a lot of the best makers are there. Seeing that you are in Canada, I would recommend eBay, look at the things available, then just check often to find what you want at a fair price and in the condition you want.