Clocks · Longcase clock
Domestic regulator longcase clock by Whitelaw, Edinburgh, c. 1820
- Maker / attribution
- Whitelaw (maker)
- Date
- c. 1820
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- Scotland
- Place
- Edinburgh
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany
- Dimensions
- Height 6 ft 5 in (196 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 421
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 421)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Domestic Regulator Longcase Clock by Whitelaw of Edinburgh (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 421), this is a longcase clock by Whitelaw, made in Edinburgh, Scotland, dated c. 1820. 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 6 ft 5 in (196 cm). The record is illustrated with 6 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 — P A Oxley
A very unusual Domestic Regulator by these well known makers. The 8 day duration high quality movement strikes the hours on a bell and has Harrison Maintaining Power with a round silvered brass dial showing both seconds, date and makers name to the centre. Also with matching blued steel hands and finely engraved Roman chapters. The substantial pendulum bob with a double milled regulation nut and wooden rod. The unusual mahogany case of drumhead design but with a tapered trunk with excellent fiddle back veneers to both the trunk door and base. The trunk door has an unusual door lock which is positioned at the very top. Upon unlocking, the entire door is removed to gain access to the weights and pendulum. The hood has a glazed and lockable concave brass bezel and a plain round top. Note: There appear to be three possible makers of this clock listed. Alexander, David and James were all working from the same location in Princes Street in the early 19th century. Due to the lack of a Christian name we can deduce that this clock was possibly made by at least two of the Whitelaw family. David Whitelaw is described as âa very ingenious artist in this cityâ and is known to have designed a clock for the Royal Society of Edinburgh which featured an escapement that required no oil and a pendulum and ball made from marble. Maker Whitelaw of Edinburgh
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
Longcase (tall-case or grandfather) clocks
The longcase clock was born from two seventeenth-century innovations: Christiaan Huygens's pendulum (1656–57) and the anchor escapement (c. 1670). A long seconds pendulum, nearly a metre long, swings with a small arc, and enclosing it together with the driving weights in a tall wooden case protected the mechanism and created a new piece of furniture. London makers such as Ahasuerus Fromanteel, Thomas Tompion and Joseph Knibb set the pattern.
By the eighteenth century longcase clocks were made throughout Britain, the Netherlands, Scandinavia (the Swedish Mora clock), France (the Comtoise from the Franche-Comté), Germany and colonial America. Eight-day movements with two weights became standard in better clocks; thirty-hour clocks with one weight and a rope or chain were cheaper alternatives.
What to look for
- Winding holes in the dial: two (eight-day, going and striking) or none (thirty-hour, pulled up by a chain).
- Brass dials with applied chapter rings (earlier) versus painted iron 'white' dials (after c. 1770 in Britain).
- Moon-phase arches, date apertures, seconds dials and maker's name on the dial.
- Case woods and style: ebonised, walnut marquetry, lacquer, oak or mahogany; regional styles from London, Lancashire, Scotland or America.
- Whether the movement and dial match the case — 'marriages' are common.
Dating clues
- Square brass dials suggest c. 1670–1720; arched brass dials c. 1715–1790.
- Painted (white) dials were made by Birmingham dial-makers from about 1772.
- Comtoise clocks with repoussé pendulums are mostly nineteenth century.
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) escapementDeadbeat escapementAnchor escapement
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