Clocks · Clock
Clock by Allam & Caithness, Bond Street, London, c. 1800–1805
- Maker / attribution
- Allam & Caithness (maker)
- Date
- c. 1800–1805
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- Bond Street, London
- Object type
- Clock
- Dimensions
- Height 109 cm
- Stock no.
- SKU 565
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (SKU 565)
- Catalogue title (original)
- ALLAM & CAITHNESS. A fine, small and rare tavern timepiece. (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number SKU 565), this is a clock by Allam & Caithness, made in Bond Street, London, England, dated c. 1800–1805. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: Height 109 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 — Howard Walwyn
A fine, small and rare tavern timepiece with white dial in a gilt and chinoiserie decorated case. The case, of classic style, is elegantly signed below the dial and between the slender ears above the trunk door which is decorated with Chinese figures, a pavilion and trees. The trunk sides carry the usual chrysanthemum sprays. The round white dial written in Roman numerals with a single crossing minutes circle has fine brass hands with elongated, heart shaped tips. The 8-day movement has substantial, tapered plates (the front stamped 3908 probably for Handley & Moore), five pillars and five wheel train. It has a flat steel pendulum rod with a heavy, brass faced bob and massive lead weight. Height: 43 in (109 cm) Dial diameter: 19 in (48 cm) * The partnership of Allam & Caithness is recorded in 1800 as successors to Allam & Clements. A bracket clock by them is illustrated in English Domestic Clocks . We have previously had a mahogany tavern clock by Allam & Clements and an earlier lacquered example signed Wm Allam, but the relationship of the latter to the two partnerships is not clear. Tavern clocks of this diminutive size are rare, only one comparable example being illustrated in English Dial Clocks , the standard work on dial clocks and taverns. MW02
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
Domestic clocks
A clock combines four systems: a source of power (falling weight, coiled spring, or later electricity), a gear train that divides time, an escapement and oscillator that regulate it (foliot, pendulum or balance), and an indicating system of dial and hands or a bell. Its history runs from the large iron weight-driven clocks of the late thirteenth century to Renaissance spring-driven table clocks, the pendulum revolution of 1656, the factory clocks of the nineteenth century and electric and quartz clocks of the twentieth.
Domestic clocks also reflect regional furniture and decorative traditions — English longcase and bracket clocks, French pendules, Viennese regulators, Black Forest and American shelf clocks — and therefore record changing tastes as much as technical progress.
What to look for
- How the clock is powered: weights, spring barrel, fusee, electric coil.
- The oscillator: foliot, short pendulum, long seconds pendulum or balance.
- Whether it strikes: hour only (count wheel) or hours and quarters (rack striking).
- The maker or retailer's name on dial and movement, and any factory trademarks.
- Signs of alteration — replaced dials, converted escapements, 'married' cases.
Dating clues
- Before 1656 clocks used foliots or balances; after, most domestic clocks have pendulums.
- Anchor escapements spread after c. 1670; minute hands became common at the same time.
- Factory production in America and Germany transformed prices after c. 1840.
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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