Clocks · Bracket clock
Bracket clock by Daniel Vauguion, London, c. 1770–1780
- Maker / attribution
- Daniel Vauguion (maker)
- Date
- c. 1770–1780
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Materials / technique
- brass, mahogany
- Dimensions
- Height 34 cm
- Stock no.
- SKU 541
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (SKU 541)
- Catalogue title (original)
- DANIEL VAUGUION. A fine George III period mahogany brass dial hour striking bracket clock. (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number SKU 541), this is a bracket clock by Daniel Vauguion, made in London, England, dated c. 1770–1780. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: brass, mahogany. Recorded dimensions: Height 34 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 George III period mahogany brass dial hour striking bracket clock of great simplicity and elegance. The moulded and veneered case has a well figured and patinated surface and the arched top has three raised edged panels with a central brass carrying handle. The arched brass dial is mounted with a silvered chapter ring with two subsidiary rings in the arch for strike/silent and rise and fall regulation which flank an inset silvered brass cartouche signed by the maker. The matted centre has an aperture to view the day of the month above VI. The good quality 8-day movement has a spring suspended verge escapement and strikes the hours on a single bell. The backplate springs and case fixing brackets are beautifully engraved with interlacing foliate swags. Height : 13 ⅜ in (34 cm) Width : 9 in (23 cm) Depth : 6 ¾ in (17 cm) * Daniel Vauguion was working in St James’s, Westminster in the third quarter of the 18 th century and was probably of French origin. References: B.Loomes, Watchmakers and Clockmakers of the World: Complete 21st Century Edition , p.795 Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks, Catalogue 04 , p.55 HW6476
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:FuseeAnchor (recoil) escapement
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