Clocks · Clock
Clock by Samuel Sly, Norwich, c. 1800
- Maker / attribution
- Samuel Sly (maker)
- Date
- c. 1800
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- United Kingdom
- Place
- Norwich
- Object type
- Clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany
- Dimensions
- Height 122 cm
- Stock no.
- Product 5096
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (product 5096)
- Catalogue title (original)
- SAMUEL SLY. A good late Georgian mahogany wall tavern timepiece by this well-known Norwich maker. (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number Product 5096), this is a clock by Samuel Sly, made in Norwich, United Kingdom, dated c. 1800. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: mahogany. Recorded dimensions: Height 122 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 good late Georgian mahogany wall tavern timepiece by this well-known Norwich maker. The case is veneered in well figured flame mahogany of very good colour and patination. The large circular hood is framed by a moulded curved wooden surround and fitted with flat glass to protect the dial. The trunk tapers gracefully to a rounded base and is fronted by a long flame mahogany door hung on brass hinges, giving access to the pendulum and weight. The round painted iron dial has Roman hour numerals within a dotted minute track with Arabic five minutes, and retains its original white craquelure surface. It is signed Samuel Sly, Norwich below XII and is fitted with a pair of finely pierced steel hands. The weight-driven movement is a single-train timepiece of eight-day duration, with two substantial plates united by turned pillars and is regulated by a long pendulum. It is driven by a cast-iron weight running down the trunk and it is wound through the dial. Date : circa 1800 Height : 48 in (122cm) Width: 20.5 in (52cm) *Samuel Sly is recorded as a clockmaker working in Norwich between 1778-1817. He was also known for making watches and spent his time outside the workshop as both a pastor and a minister at St Margaret’s Chapel in Norwich. In 1800, he renamed his workshop to Sly & Son, which carried on after his death in 1842. References: Clifford & Yvonne Bird, Norfolk & Norwich Clocks & Barometers , p.158 Martin Gatto, The Tavernicus Tavern Clock Archive: Extended Edition , p.245 Brian Loomes, Watchmakers and Clockmakers of the World , p.716 HW6623
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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