Clock movement by Smith, William, England, 1750

Record summary

Held and catalogued by Science Museum Group, London (object number L2016-2301), this is a clock by Smith, William, made in Moorfields, Shoreditch, Hackney, London, Greater London, England, United Kingdom, Moorfields, dated 1750. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Movements & Components collection. The record is illustrated with 4 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

Atlas type guide

Clock and watch movements

The movement is the mechanism of a clock or watch, without its case and dial. It consists of the power source (weight or mainspring in its barrel, sometimes with a fusee), the going train of wheels and pinions, the escapement and oscillator, the motion work that drives the hands, and in many cases additional trains for striking or complications.

From the eighteenth century watch movements were increasingly produced in stages: Swiss and French ébauche makers supplied rough movements that finishers, repasseurs and retailers completed and signed. Calibre numbers — first used systematically by American and Swiss factories in the nineteenth century — make it possible to identify movements, find spare parts and date watches.

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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