Clocks · Bracket clock
Bracket clock by Jeremie Gregory At the Royall Exchange, London, c. 1680
- Maker / attribution
- Jeremie Gregory At the Royall Exchange (maker)
- Date
- c. 1680
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Materials / technique
- ebony
- Dimensions
- Height 28 cm
- Stock no.
- SKU 254
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (SKU 254)
- Catalogue title (original)
- JEREMIE GREGORY AT THE ROYALL EXCHANGE. A FINE CHARLES II PERIOD DUTCH STRIKING EBONY VENEERED TABLE CLOCK OF RARE SMALL SIZE. (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number SKU 254), this is a bracket clock by Jeremie Gregory At the Royall Exchange, made in London, England, dated c. 1680. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: ebony. Recorded dimensions: Height 28 cm. The record is illustrated with 3 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 Charles II period Dutch striking ebony veneered table clock of rare small size. The fully restored 8-day movement, which has outside countwheel Dutch striking on two bells, has a knife edge verge escapement and bob pendulum. The dial has four winged cherub head corner spandrels and a Roman chapter ring with fleur-de-lys half-hour markers and an inset date aperture above VI. The elaborate early backplate is engraved with Dutch tulip flowers and foliate scrolls and a scribeline border. The maker’s signature Jeremie Gregory at the Royall Exchange is set just below the numbered and engraved outside countwheel. The small elegant case is veneered with ebony on an oak carcass. It has a flat top with a gilt, pierced foliate brass basket top surmounted by a thistlebud scroll brass carrying handle Height: 11 in (28 cm) excluding handle. Width: 8 ¾ in (22 cm) Depth: 6 ½ in (16.5 cm) * Jeremie Gregory had a successful career both as an officer in Cromwell’s army and as a clockmaker but there are surprisingly few clocks by him which are known. He was Warden of the Clockmakers’ Company from 1660 and Master from 1665 to 1668 and again in 1676. He died a rich man in 1686. This beautiful little early Dutch striking table clock is a comparative rarity and has many similarities with the work of Henry Jones. HW5902 Signed / Inscribed Jeremie Gregory at the Royall Exchange
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.
Read next:FuseeAnchor (recoil) escapement
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