The clock is probably the only surviving one that was made at the Cape during the eighteenth century. It was made by Johann Michael Junck who arrived at the Cape from Furfeld in Germany in the ship Bleijswijk in 1765. He first worked as a House Locksmith in the service of the Company at a salary of fourteen guilders a month. In 1769 he applied to the Governor Rijk Tulbagh to become a free burgher and to earn his living as a clock-maker. His request was granted but he did not enjoy the status of free burgher for long for he died on 26th May 1771. So it can be assumed that he made the clock between 1768 and 1771. It must have changed hands many times during the two centuries before it was acquired by Dr. H. van Broekhuizen and eventually by Professor Thom of Stellenbosch University.
