Clocks · Bracket clock
Bracket clock by James Norman, Poole
- Maker / attribution
- James Norman (maker)
- Date
- c. 1790
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- Poole
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Materials / technique
- ebonised
- Dimensions
- Height 41 cm
- Stock no.
- Product 630
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, The Antique Clock Company (product 630)
- Catalogue title (original)
- JAMES NORMAN OF POOLE EBONISED BRACKET CLOCK (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by The Antique Clock Company (dealer), Dorset (stock number Product 630), this is a bracket clock by James Norman, made in Poole, England, dated c. 1790. 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 41 cm. The record is illustrated with 2 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 — The Antique Clock Company
James Norman of Poole Ebonised Bracket Clock This fine English striking bracket clock with verge escapement comes in a highly attractive ebonised case of small proportions. The base of the case is brass bound with pineapple finials to the top, with brass feet and handle. There are pierced frets to the side of the case and glazed doors to the front and rear. Inside there is a robust English twin fusee movement with verge escapement which strikes the hours to a bell and also has a pull repeat chord. The back plate is beautifully engraved with decorative floral design with a silvered cartouche signed Jas. Norman, Poole. The dial is decorated with associations to Poole, with what looks to be a man fishing in the quay. The chapter ring is silvered with both Roman and Arabic numerals and a strike/silent subsidiary dial to the top, brass mock pendulum, brass calendar hand for the sweep centre calendar and the original fine blued steel hands. A stunning bracket clock with local relevance. Height: 16″ or 41cm (Handle down) **This clock is delivered and set up for free within the UK. We regularly ship clocks all over the world with our trusted Fine Antiques Packers & Shippers. Please ask for a quote should you require this service.
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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