Clocks · Bracket clock
Bracket clock by Whitehurst & Son, Derby, c. 1840–1845
- Maker / attribution
- Whitehurst & Son (maker)
- Date
- c. 1840–1845
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- United Kingdom
- Place
- Derby
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Materials / technique
- brass, ebonised
- Dimensions
- Height 27.3 cm
- Stock no.
- Product 4877
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (product 4877)
- Catalogue title (original)
- WHITEHURST & SON. A fine mid-19th century ebonised and brass-inlaid table clock. (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number Product 4877), this is a bracket clock by Whitehurst & Son, made in Derby, United Kingdom, dated c. 1840–1845. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: brass, ebonised. Recorded dimensions: Height 27.3 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 mid-19th century ebonised and brass-inlaid table clock by these provincial English makers. The well-proportioned ebonised coromandel case is mounted with fine brass inlay, including stylised foliate panels and quatrefoil motifs to the front, with brass stringing to the sides, surmounted by a dentil-moulded cornice.. The case stands on raised engine turned acorn feet. The 4 ½-inch white enamel dial is signed Whitehurst & Son, Derby , and features Roman numerals and a subsidiary date dial above VI. The original blued steel Breguet hands are finely pierced with a very fine steel pointer for setting the alarm. The dial is set behind a convex glass with a high quality turned brass bezel. The high-quality single-fusee 8-day movement is signed to the backplate with an external click, with shaped shouldered plates, with original anchor escapement, heavy brass pendulum, and well-shaped backcock with regulated crutch. The movement strikes the alarm on a bell and retains the original polished brass pendulum and steel rod. Height : 10 ¾ in (27.3 cm) Width: 7 ¼ in (18.4 cm) Depth: 5 in (12.7 cm) * Whitehurst & Son of Derby were among the most respected provincial clockmakers of the 18th and 19th centuries. Originally founded by John Whitehurst FRS (1713–1788), the firm continued under his successors well into the Victorian era, producing both scientific instruments and high-quality clocks. Note: Whitehurst & Sons were clockmakers and watchmakers, invited to tender for Big Ben clock, Westminster. See: Brian Loomes, Watchmakers and Clockmakers of the World, 21st Century Edition (NAG Press, 2006), p.833. HW6302
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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