Technical Characteristics: Yugoslavian Chess Clock

• Name. Yugoslavian Chess Clock.
• Model. Dark wood.
• Maker. Insa.
• Date. 1954.
• Country. Yugoslavia.
• Mechanism. Integrated Oscillating Bar.
• Material. Dark oak wood.
• Measurements. Length 9.65 in – Width 1.77 in – Height 4.80 in.
• Weight. 37.21 oz.

Description: Yugoslavian Chess Clock

The Yugoslavian INSA chess clock is a high quality analog mechanical clock manufactured by the Yugoslavian factory ‘INSA’ in the 1950s.

It is a chess clock assembled in a robust oak type heavy weight wooden casing. He assembles Yugoslav-made clocks based on mechanisms and technology of Soviet influence. It must be remembered that despite the political split between Josif Tito and Iosif Stalin shortly after the end of World War II, the factories of Communist-influenced countries still depended on Soviet technology in terms of component supply. It incorporates an oscillating bar as a push button, perfectly integrated in the design of the chess clock.

The Yugoslavian factory Insa was founded in 1950 in Zemun, an industrial area on the outskirts of Belgrade, now Serbia. At first they manufactured clocks and alarm clocks, later also chess clocks. This chess clock that I am showing you is one of the first models. Nowadays the factory continues to operate as a major producer of clocks and watchmaking mechanisms, as well as in a producer of water meters and many other products in the field of measurement technology and mechanics.

This chess clock in particular belonged to the Serbian chess master IM Nikola Karaklajić who was junior Yugoslav champion in 1945 and Yugoslav chess champion in 1955. He played as the 4th board at the Moscow Olympiad in 1956 where the Yugoslav team won a meritorious silver medal. He also contributed directly to the development of the Belgrade gambit created in the historic Chess Club of Belgrade in 1944 by Mihajlo Trajkovic.

The picture shows the late Serbian chess master Nikola Karaklajić during an international tournament representing his country.

Presence in Chess Tournaments

The Yugoslavian Insa chess clock has very possibly been used in tournaments throughout the former Yugoslavia in the 1950s and 1960s, although I have not yet found corroborating photographs.

Variations: Yugoslavian Chess Clock

The varieties of Insa chess clocks after this model have no special interest, the one from the 1970s was built entirely in plastic casing and the one from the 1980s, which the Insa factory still has in its catalog, is a model very basic made in lightweight solid wood.

Yugoslavian Chess Clock INSA 1970s

Yugoslavian Chess Clock INSA 1980s

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