Electric clock
![Telechron synchronous electric clock manufactured around 1940. By 1940 the synchronous clock became the most common type of clock in the U.S.](/Images/godic/202502/14/Telechron_clock_2H07-Br_Administrator1234.JPG")
![Electromechanical self-winding clock movement from Switzerland.](/Images/godic/202502/14/Reform_clock_movement1234.JPG")
![One of Alexander Bain's early electromagnetic clocks, from the 1840s](/Images/godic/202502/14/Bain-clock1234.jpg")
![Master clock from synchronized school clock system. c.1928 Electromechanical movement winds each minute and impulses slave clocks each minute. Operates on 24 Volts DC](/Images/godic/202502/14/Standard_Electric_Time_Co._Electromechanical_Master_Clock_011234.jpg")
An electric clock is a clock that is powered by electricity, as opposed to a mechanical clock which is powered by a hanging weight or a mainspring. The term is often applied to the electrically powered mechanical clocks that were used before quartz clocks were introduced in the 1980s. The first experimental electric clocks were constructed around 1840, but they were not widely manufactured until mains electric power became available in the 1890s. In the 1930s the synchronous electric clock replaced mechanical clocks as the most widely used type of clock.