Clocks · Bracket clock
Bracket clock by Barkley & Colley, London, c. 1780
- Maker / attribution
- Barkley & Colley (maker)
- Date
- c. 1780
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Materials / technique
- ebonised
- Dimensions
- Height 39.4 cm
- Stock no.
- Product 4862
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (product 4862)
- Catalogue title (original)
- BARKLEY & COLLEY. A George III ebonised bracket timepiece of small proportions. (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number Product 4862), this is a bracket clock by Barkley & Colley, made in London, England, dated c. 1780. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: ebonised. Recorded dimensions: Height 39.4 cm. The record is illustrated with 4 photographs.
Assembled from the source record's structured fields. Dates and attributions are given as the source states them; where a field is missing the Atlas leaves it blank rather than estimating.
Catalogue description
Dealer description — Howard Walwyn
A fine late George III ebonised bracket timepiece of small proportions from these successors to George Graham. The ebonised case has a three pad top surmounted by a brass carrying handle. It has a moulded base raised on brass feet, the front with gilt sight-moulding and foliate spandrels framing the dial. The 5 ½-inch white enamel dial has Roman hour numerals and outer Arabic five-minute divisions, finely pierced blued-steel hands, and there is a pin set alarm disc within the arch. Just below the maker’s name is signed Graham’s Succs., Barkley & Colley, London . The 8-day single chain-fusee timepiece movement has five latched and knopped pillars and a pivoted silent verge escapement. An independent pull-wind alarm train strikes three hammers on a single bell, mounted above the plates. The plain backplate is signed as the dial Graham’s Succs., Barkley & Colley, London . Height incl. handle : 15 ½ in (39.4 cm) Height excl. handle : 13 ½ in (34 cm) Width : 9 ¼ in (23.5 cm) Depth : 6 ½ in (16.5 cm) *Thomas Barkley and William Colley are recorded in partnership in London in the later 18th century. Their clocks, often of compact scale, combine refined ebonised cases with well-finished London movements. Pieces from this workshop (and its successor style) are frequently found signed Graham’s Successors to Barkley & Colley reflecting continuity of the business under a new proprietor while retaining the established reputation. In Brian Loomes’ Watchmakers and Clockmakers of the World: Complete 21 st Century Edition , Colley is listed on page 166, while Barkley is listed on page 40. HW6601
Historical context
Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
Harrison solves longitude; Mudge invents the lever; Breguet's Paris workshop defines the modern watch.
The age of the deadbeat escapement, compensated pendulums and observatory regulators. Domestic clocks spread through the middle classes: English longcase and bracket clocks, French gilt-bronze mantel clocks, Viennese Biedermeier wall clocks, Black Forest painted-shield clocks, and the first American shelf clocks.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Early Modern Horology
Atlas type guide
Bracket, table and spring-driven clocks
Spring-driven clocks freed timekeeping from the hanging weight. The coiled mainspring, documented from the fifteenth century, made portable table clocks possible; to even out its declining force, makers used the fusee, a conical pulley connected to the barrel by a gut line or chain. Renaissance table clocks from Augsburg and Nuremberg — drum-shaped, square or tower-shaped in gilt brass — were luxury scientific objects, often with astronomical dials and alarms.
After the pendulum, English makers developed the bracket clock: a wooden case with a carrying handle, a short pendulum with a verge escapement, and often repeating work to sound the hours on demand at night. Later examples use the anchor escapement. In the nineteenth century, 'table clock' became a broad term for spring clocks of every nationality.
What to look for
- A fusee in the movement (cone-shaped pulley) and the type of line — gut or chain.
- Verge escapement with a short bob pendulum, often with a decoratively engraved backplate.
- Repeat cords or buttons that make the clock strike again on demand.
- Gilt-brass engraved cases and horizontal dials on Renaissance pieces.
- Case shapes: inverted bell, bell top, break-arch, lancet or balloon.
Dating clues
- Drum and tower table clocks: c. 1520–1650.
- Ebony veneered English bracket clocks with verge escapements: c. 1670–1800.
- Engraved backplates were usual on English clocks until c. 1800, then generally plain.
General guidance written by the Atlas editors about this kind of object. It is not a statement about this particular piece; for that, rely on the source record above and on physical examination.
Read next:Anchor (recoil) escapement
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