Clocks · Bracket clock
Bracket clock by James McCabe, Royal Exchange, London, c. 1805
- Maker / attribution
- James McCabe (maker)
- Date
- c. 1805
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- Royal Exchange, London
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Materials / technique
- ebonised
- Dimensions
- Height 17 in (43 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 474
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 474)
- Catalogue title (original)
- James McCabe - Royal Exchange, London (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 474), this is a bracket clock by James McCabe, made in Royal Exchange, London, England, dated c. 1805. 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 17 in (43 cm). The record is illustrated with 6 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 — P A Oxley
An excellent ebonised table/bracket clock by this famous Clockmaker. The double fusee chain driven high quality movement features five pillars and an extremely well executed anchor escapement. The hours strike on a bell and repeat at will via a cord to the side of the case. The backplate is engraved with the makers name and place of work, James McCabe, Royal Exchange, London and also features a substantially made pendulum with reversed regulation and transportation fixing. To the plain white painted dial we find the makers name again but also the number 1697. This number can also be found to the rear of the gilt brass hands, a very rare feature. The dial also displays Roman hours and a strike/silent facility to the arch. The fruitwood veneered and ebonised cabinetwork is of a very pleasing plain design with a broken arch top surmounted with a brass bordered pad and a brass carrying handle. Also with brass mouldings throughout and brass fish scale frets to the side of the case. The base stands on four adjustable brass ball feet. A very collectable item. Note: James McCabe was originally from Lurgan, Ireland and relocated to London during the last quarter of the 18th century. He was well known for his fine watches and clocks with many of them being exported to India. He had four sons who carried on the business after his death in 1811. In his last year he was made Warden of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers. During the 19th century the McCabe family were to become one of the most famous Clockmaking familes of this period. They were particularly skilled at making exceptional English Carriage Clocks.
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:Verge escapement
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