Clocks · Bracket clock
Bracket clock by Haley, London, c. 1810–1820
- Maker / attribution
- Haley (maker)
- Date
- c. 1810–1820
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Materials / technique
- enamel
- Dimensions
- Height 35.5 cm
- Stock no.
- SKU 358
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (SKU 358)
- Catalogue title (original)
- HALEY, WIGMORE STREET. A fine English Regency period enamel dial bracket clock (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number SKU 358), this is a bracket clock by Haley, made in London, England, dated c. 1810–1820. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: enamel. Recorded dimensions: Height 35.5 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 English Regency period enamel dial bracket clock the 8-day movement with hour strike and pull hour repeat. The elegant shallow arch ebonised case of rare small proportions stands on four brass ball feet and has delicate scrolling brass inlays and a dentil moulding. The stepped moulded inlaid top terminates in a brass acorn set on a dentil moulded block. The 5 inch enamel dial has twin winding holes, Roman numerals and original blued steel hands. It is signed by the maker Haley, Wigmore St, London below XII The substantial quality movement which fills the case has shaped plates and a wheatear engraved border on the backplate which is repeated on the original brass lenticular pendulum bob. The backplate also bears the maker’s signature below the bell stand. The clock comes complete with a bespoke matching ebonised and brass inlaid wall bracket. Height : 14 in (35.5 cm) excluding brass finial Width : 8 in (20.25 cm) Depth : 5 ⅛ in (13 cm) * Charles Haley is listed on page 336 of Brian Loomes’ Clockmakers of the World: 21 st Century Edition . He was appointed to Brockbank prior to 1762 and was a member of the Clockmakers’ Company from 1781 until his death in 1832. He was working in Wigmore Street and he applied for a paptent for a marine chronometer in 1797. Provenance: An eminent English Furniture Dealer’s private collection. HW6034
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.
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