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Clocks · Wall clock

Cartel clock, c. 1760

DocumentedDocumented from a dealer's listing; attribution and date as stated by the dealer.
Maker / attribution
Unrecorded in source
Date
c. 1760
Historical period
Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
Country of origin
Unrecorded in source
Object type
Wall clock
Dimensions
Height 26 in (66 cm)
Dealer
P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire
Stock no.
Product 539
Credit line
Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 539)
Catalogue title (original)
Rare 18th century Cartel Clock (English)

View the source record (dealer listing) ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction

Record summary

Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 539), this is a wall clock, dated c. 1760. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: Height 26 in (66 cm). The record is illustrated with 5 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

An extremely rare English fusee gilt wood Cartel clock. The 7 inch silvered brass engraved dial featuring Roman numerals, mock pendulum aperture and typical blued steel hands of the period. The dial enclosed with a brass glazed bezel. The verge escapement housed within an A framed fusee movement and secured in place with a cast iron strap. The exceptional gilt wooden case displaying scrolls, flowers and a Ho Ho bird to the top pediment. All extremely well executed with the finest carving. Note: English fusee Cartel clocks are extremely rare. It’s believed only a small number were made around the middle of the 18th century. This particular example is unsigned but it was almost certainly made 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

Regulators, wall and Vienna clocks

A regulator is a precision pendulum clock used as a time standard in observatories, workshops and railway offices. Typical features are a deadbeat or Graham escapement, a temperature-compensated pendulum (mercury jar, gridiron or later invar), maintaining power and a regulator dial that separates hours, minutes and seconds. George Graham's deadbeat escapement (c. 1715) and his mercury pendulum, together with Harrison's gridiron, set the pattern for two centuries.

Wall clocks span a much wider range: the elegant Viennese Laterndluhr and Dachluhr of the Biedermeier period, the Dutch stoelklok and staartklok, English 'dial' clocks used in schools, offices and railway stations, and mass-produced spring and weight wall clocks from Germany (Gustav Becker, Junghans, Kienzle) and America.

What to look for

  • Deadbeat escapement and compensated pendulum (gridiron rods, mercury jar or wood rod).
  • A regulator dial with a large central minute hand and separate hour and seconds dials.
  • Vienna regulators: glazed cases, slender pendulum, small weights, enamel two-piece dials.
  • German factory trademarks stamped on the backplate (e.g. Gustav Becker anchor and crown, Junghans star).

Dating clues

  • Graham-type deadbeat regulators: from c. 1720.
  • Viennese Laterndluhr: c. 1800–1850.
  • German factory 'Vienna-style' regulators: c. 1870–1930; Gustav Becker serial numbers allow close dating.

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:Deadbeat escapementAnchor (recoil) escapementGrasshopper escapement

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