Clocks · Bracket clock
Bracket clock by Charles Gretton, England, c. 1700
- Maker / attribution
- Charles Gretton (maker)
- Date
- c. 1700
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Materials / technique
- Ebony case, with engraved and pierced silver mounts
- Dimensions
- Height: 35.5 cm; Width: 22.5 cm (front); Depth: 15.5 cm
- Holding institution
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Accession / object no.
- M.54-1943
- Credit line
- Given by Herbert Sleigh
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Victoria and Albert Museum, London (object number M.54-1943), this is a bracket clock by Charles Gretton, made in London, England, dated c. 1700. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Ebony case, with engraved and pierced silver mounts. Recorded dimensions: Height: 35.5 cm; Width: 22.5 cm (front); Depth: 15.5 cm. The record is illustrated with 1 photograph.
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
Summary — Victoria and Albert Museum
Object Type This bracket clock with its ebonised case and silver mounts is a fine representative of a high-quality London-made time piece of the early 18th century. The complex mechanism is very characteristic of its maker, Charles Gretton. There is also a calendar mechanism, with a date aperture in the dial. The prominent silver mount on the top of the clock is pierced with scrolling foliage and bears the crest and cipher of Charles Bodville Robartes, 2nd Earl of Radnor (1685-1723). The clock has undergone some restoration. People Charles Gretton was one of the best London clockmakers of the early 18th century. He was apprenticed in 1662, became a member of the Clockmakers Company in 1672 and was Master of the Clockmakers' Company from 1700 to 1733. He made watches, long-case clocks and bracket clocks, many like this example with complex repeating movements.
Inscriptions & marks
Bears the arms, crest and cipher of Charles Bodville Robartes 2nd, Earl of Radnor; inscribed 'Charles Gretton in Fleet Street'
Provenance
Made in London and signed by Charles Gretton (apprenticed to the Clockmaker's Company 1662, Master of the Clockmaker's Company 1700)
Historical context
Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
Huygens' pendulum and balance spring transform accuracy; English makers develop the anchor and deadbeat escapements.
Huygens's pendulum (1656–57) improved clock accuracy from about a quarter of an hour to under a minute a day. The anchor escapement (c. 1670) and the long seconds pendulum created the longcase clock; London makers such as Fromanteel, Knibb, Tompion and Quare led European clockmaking, and French makers created the Boulle pendule.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Renaissance 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.
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