Clocks · Clock
Clock by William Nicoll, London, 1790–1800
- Maker / attribution
- William Nicoll (maker)
- Date
- 1790–1800
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Clock
- Stock no.
- SKU 313
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (SKU 313)
- Catalogue title (original)
- WILLIAM NICOLL. A George III period silvered dial timepiece (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number SKU 313), this is a clock by William Nicoll, made in London, England, dated 1790–1800. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. 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 George III period English silvered dial timepiece with verge escapement. The saltbox case has a turned mahogany bezel and access doors to the base and right hand side and a very well moulded dial surround. The latter is permanently fixed to the box as is usual when the movement has a verge escapement. The 12 inch engraved and silvered dial with a fine “weathered” finish, signed William Nicoll, London and with pierced, blued serpentine steel hands, is written with Roman numerals with Arabic minutes in the slender outer circle. The wooden bezel has its original lock. The substantial 8-day fusee verge movement has five boldly turned pillars and long rectangular plates. Overall Diameter : 15 ½ in (39.5 cm) * William Nicoll is recorded on page 570 of Brian Loomes’ Clockmakers of the World: 21 st Century Edition as working in Great Portland Street, London between 1790 and 1825. HW5977
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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