The Yeregui family (18th-twentieth century)

Since their appearance in the Middle Ages, mechanical clocks and watches have been ingenious devices with complex assemblies of gears, cams and actuators, some of which have survived to the present day. Over the centuries, advances in mechanical engineering were applied to clockmaking, achieving clocks with ever-increasing precision. In the north of Navarre, the Yeregui family formed an outstanding family of mechanical clockmakers who, from the end of the eighteenth century until the middle of the twentieth century, designed, built, assembled and maintained tower clocks for five generations. Their first recorded clock was designed and assembled by José Francisco Yeregui Zabaleta for the village of Betelu and its deed dates from 15th April 1796. Subsequently, different members of the family manufactured numerous clocks for towns and cities in and around Navarre, including the old clock of Pamplona Town Hall, in operation for more than 150 years until 1991 and recently restored. This chapter briefly describes the most significant advances in mechanical clockmaking and delves into the history and work of the Yeregui clockmaking lineage.