Waterford Museums - Eamonn McEneaney

Published: June 26, 2022, 12:45 p.m.

b'Ireland\\u2019s National Horological Museum features the oldest Irish-made grandfather clocks, table clocks and watches in the world and celebrates the incredible skills of the virtuoso craftsmen who, since the seventeenth century, created timepieces of remarkable beauty and technological genius. The collection is not limited to Ireland, also on display are early European timepieces, some dating back to the mid-sixteenth century along with a display of clocks and watches from Switzerland, England, Germany, France, Italy, Austria, the Netherlands, Russia and as far away as Japan. A highlight of the collection is the London made William Clement clock from 1663, the earliest example in the world of his innovative mechanism which transformed accurate timepiece-making for subsequent generations. Working turret clocks from the 1590s and 1760s help both children and adults to explore the complex mechanisms, and a special section of the exhibition called \\u2018How it works\\u2019 is bound to engage young minds and foster a burgeoning interest in science.'