Clocks · Clock
Clock by Charles Gretton, England, c. 1680
- Maker / attribution
- Charles Gretton (maker)
- Date
- c. 1680
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Clock
- Materials / technique
- pearwood, brass, engraving, ebonising
- Dimensions
- Height: 58.4 cm; Width: 27.3 cm; Depth: 19.4 cm
- Holding institution
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Accession / object no.
- W.23:1-1932
- Credit line
- Given by Robert N Shaw
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Victoria and Albert Museum, London (object number W.23:1-1932), this is a clock by Charles Gretton, made in London, England, dated c. 1680. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: pearwood, brass, engraving, ebonising. Recorded dimensions: Height: 58.4 cm; Width: 27.3 cm; Depth: 19.4 cm. The record is illustrated with 1 photograph.
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
Physical description — Victoria and Albert Museum
The following description has been transcribed from the department register: Bracket clock in ebonised pearwood case. The brass dial has an hour and minute circle, a day of the month aperture and two winding holes; the hour hand is pierced and of scrolled outline. There is an hour striking and repeating movement. In the spandrels are chased chrubs' heads - the back plate is engraved with scrolls and floral ornament and signed. The case has a domed top with a loop handle chased with foliage. The door has applied embossed ornament and there are two similar panels inset at the sides above panels of glass. The case rests on brass paw feet. There is an original brass engraved winding key, and a steel key for the door.
Brief description — Victoria and Albert Museum
Clock, English, ca. 1680, made by Charles Gretton
Provenance
Bracket clock, gift of Robert N Shaw, 6 Ellendale Road, Hampstead, London NW3 22 March 1932 Notes from R.P. 32/3082 Listed as "1 clock bracket by Charles Gretton (2 keys)" 5/3/32 Correspondence refers to the offer of "10 clocks formerly in the collection of my father M Norman Shaw" 11/3/32 Minute paper notes Clifford Smith refer to a visit to view the clocks at 6 Ellerdale Road (built and lived in by Shaw). He explains "The Norman Shaw collection of clocks, which was very extensive, was sold at Christie's in 1913 - a few specimens only being kept by the family". He describes all of the clocks being offered including "the other bracket clock is by Charles Gretton, an (eminent?) make of "The Ship", Fleet Street (C.C. 1672 Master 1701). This clock of about 1680 is in an ebony case with gilt metal mounts, has an hour striking and a repeating movement and original engraved brass key. It would be a very desirable acquisition.". 28/3/32 H Clifford Smith notes on Minute Paper "I have already reported on these two clocks - the Charles II ebony bracket clock of about 1680; and………" . (Further file memos refer only to another 18th C. clock This clock and 1 long case clock were the only 2 accepted from the offer. On long loan to Privy Council Office from 1968 to 1998.
Historical context
Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
Huygens' pendulum and balance spring transform accuracy; English makers develop the anchor and deadbeat escapements.
Huygens's pendulum (1656–57) improved clock accuracy from about a quarter of an hour to under a minute a day. The anchor escapement (c. 1670) and the long seconds pendulum created the longcase clock; London makers such as Fromanteel, Knibb, Tompion and Quare led European clockmaking, and French makers created the Boulle pendule.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Renaissance 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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