As the bourgeoisie increased during the renaissance, so did the demand for smaller horizontal table clocks and neck watches increase. These clocks were driven by a spring and used a balance as regulator which enabled them to be transportable. They originated in Southern Germany, particularly in Augsburg and Nuremberg. In Holland, clockmakers such as Salomon Coster, Severijn Oosterwijck and Jan Janse Boekelts were also developing these clocks in cities such as Haarlem, Amsterdam and The Hague. Examples originating from Danzig (Pomerania) were, for instance, designed by Johann Eichstedt, Wolfgang Günther and Johann Anton Horn.

A review of the literature appears to indicate that authors in the English language have distinguished the importance and specifics of Dutch clockmaking much at a much earlier stage and with rather more verve than their Dutch colleagues. This phenomenon is shared in other areas. Great Dutch architects like Berlage and Dudok, and even the old masters of the 'Golden Age of Dutch painting'seems to attract greater interest abroad than in the Netherlands itself.

The recent discovery of an extremely interesting clock signed Thuret A Paris reveals that this clockmaker was much more closely involved in the development of a clock to be used for finding longitudes at sea than has generally been assumed. Isaac Thuret was the clockmaker who made for Christiaan Huygens the first watch with a spiral spring regulating the movements of the balance wheel in 1675.

On 26 December 1657 Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695) writes to the French astronomer Ismael Boulliau (1605-1694) that he had made his first pendulum clock "yesterday just a year ago", and that since June he had been showing the construction to everybody interested

This last remark is related to the fact that on 16 June 1657 Salomon Coster (c. 1620-1659) had obtained the exclusive rights ('privilege') for a period of 21 years to make and sell these clocks.

History of the American Clock Business for the Past Sixty Years, and Life of Chauncey Jerome by Chauncey Jerome, 1793-1868.