Clocks · Clock
Clock by Archibald John Currie, London, c. 1810–1820
- Maker / attribution
- Archibald John Currie (maker)
- Date
- c. 1810–1820
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Clock
- Dimensions
- Height 35.5 cm
- Stock no.
- SKU 170
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (SKU 170)
- Catalogue title (original)
- ARCHIBALD JOHN CURRIE. A FINE ENGLISH DIAL TIMEPIECE WITH VERGE ESCAPEMENT. (English)
View the source record (dealer listing) ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number SKU 170), this is a clock by Archibald John Currie, made in London, England, dated c. 1810–1820. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: Height 35.5 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 English Dial Timepiece with verge escapement. The small mahogany case, of single saltbox style, with access doors to the base and right hand side and with very well moulded dial surround. The latter is permanently fixed to the box as is usual when the movement has a verge escapement. The 10 inch engraved and silvered dial with a fine “weathered” finish, signed as above and with finely tapering spade shaped steel hands, is written with Roman numerals with Arabic five minutes in the slender outer circle. The cast brass, concave section bezel has its original locking hook. The 8-day fusee verge movement has 4 pillars and tapered A-shaped plates. Height: 14 in (35.5 cm) Overall Diameter: 12 ¾ in (32.5 cm) * Archibald John Currie is listed on page 189 of Brian Loomes’ Clockmakers of the World: 21st Century Edition. He was working in Great Turnstyle, Holborn between 1810 and 1820. HW5578 Signed / Inscribed Archd, Jn°, Currie 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
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.
Read next:Anchor (recoil) escapementFoliot
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