Clocks · Bracket clock
Bracket clock by Widenham, London, c. 1830
- Maker / attribution
- Widenham (maker)
- Date
- c. 1830
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany
- Dimensions
- Height 17 in (43 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 565
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 565)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Unusual bracket clock by Widenham of London (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 565), this is a bracket clock by Widenham, made in London, England, dated c. 1830. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: mahogany. Recorded dimensions: Height 17 in (43 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 — P A Oxley
A n unusual mahogany veneered bracket by these well known and highly skilled Clockmakers. Featuring an 8 day movement and a most unusual drum shaped case. The movement has also been shaped to match the case, an unusual feature to see. This clock requires some minimal restoration to the case. The silvered brass dial is currently in an ‘as found’ condition with some lovely patina. This could re-silvered as required. The movement is in working order but will require a full overhaul and service before delivery. It will then be guaranteed for 3 years. Note: Richard Widenham was a very fine maker and noted particularly for his chronometers winning the Admiralty Premium Trials in 1824. He worked at 6 East Street, Clerkenwell between 1830-35 and afterwards at 15 Lombard Street. He subsequently advertised as 'Watchmaker to the Hon. Board of Admiralty. It’s quite possible that this clock may have been made for perhaps an Officer in the Admiralty or indeed for the actual Admiralty offices in London.
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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