Clocks · Bracket clock
Bracket clock by William Hughes, London, c. 1785
- Maker / attribution
- William Hughes (maker)
- Date
- c. 1785
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Materials / technique
- ebonised
- Dimensions
- Height 27.5 cm
- Stock no.
- SKU 320
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (SKU 320)
- Catalogue title (original)
- WILLIAM HUGHES, HIGH HOLBORN. A fine miniature ebonised striking bracket clock of rare small size. (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number SKU 320), this is a bracket clock by William Hughes, made in London, England, dated c. 1785. 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 27.5 cm. The record is illustrated with 4 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 miniature ebonised striking bracket clock of rare small size, the 8-day movement with hour strike and pull hour repeatwork by this excellent London maker. The ebonised break arch case has a three pad top surmounted by an original brass carrying handle. It stands on four ogee brass bracket feet. The 5 x 6 ¾ inch arched brass dial has brass foliate corner spandrels with Indian heads, a finely matted centre with a central dummy pendulum aperture. The maker’s signature is on an applied disc above VI. Within the arch there is a subsidiary strike/silent dial. The movement has five baluster pillars, twin fusees and a going train with knife edge verge escapement and pear-shaped bob pendulum. The strike train is controlled by a rack and snail for sounding the hours on a single bell. The backplate is exquisitely engraved with foliate and floral scrolls and centred by the maker’s signature within a floral and foliate lambrequin. Height : 10 ¾ in (27.5 cm) Width : 7 ¾ in (19.5 cm) Depth : 6 ¼ in (16 cm) * William Hughes is listed on page 399 of Brian Loomes’ Clockmakers of the World: 21 st Century Edition as working in London between 1766 and 1794. He was known for making watches for China. Small striking bracket clocks of this quality and originality are increasingly rare and highly sought after by collectors. HW5912
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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