This paper is a preliminary research about Nam Byeongcheol (南秉哲, 1817-1863)’s mechanical clock, based on his “Explanation of a Time-checking Instrument (Heomsiui seol, 驗時儀說). Nam Byeongcheol was one of the utmost literary figures as well as an outstanding scholar of astronomy and mathematics in nineteenth-century Korea. Heomsiui seol was written as one chapter of his treatise on astronomical instruments, titled the Collection of Writings on the Scientific Instruments (Uigijipseol, 儀器輯說), which was compiled in the late 1850s. In Heomsiui seol, he gave detailed explanations on the mechanical clock’s structure, mechanism, making manuals, and its historical background.
As a result of this research, we understand the peculiarities of Nam Byeongcheol’s mechanical clock. (1) He tried to emphasize the mechanical clock as one of important astronomical instruments instead of a water clock; (2) He adopted two mechanical devices to make his mechanical clock: one is ‘Huygens’s escapement and pendulum’ invented in 1657, another is ‘rack striking system’ developed by Edward Barlow in 1676.