Clocks · Double longcase clock
Double longcase clock by Daniel Quare
- Maker / attribution
- Daniel Quare (maker)
- Date
- 1716
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- England
- Object type
- Double longcase clock
- Dimensions
- Overall: 3000 x 600 x 300 mm
- Holding institution
- Royal Museums Greenwich
- Accession / object no.
- ZBA0474
- Credit line
- National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, on loan from Greenwich Hospital
- Catalogue title (original)
- Double longcase clock (English)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Royal Museums Greenwich (object number ZBA0474), this is a double longcase clock by Daniel Quare, made in England, dated 1716. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: Overall: 3000 x 600 x 300 mm. The record is illustrated with 3 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
Catalogue description — Royal Museums Greenwich
Solar sidereal long-case clock, purchased in 1716 by the Royal Hospital for Seamen at Greenwich for its Council Room, though only paid for (£70) in 1718 owing to initial dissatisfaction with its performance. One of only three of its kind known to exist, the clock has two separate, pendulum-controlled movements. The dial on the left shows sidereal (star) time, as used by astronomers, and the dial on the right shows mean solar time (GMT). The central dial at the top shows the day and the month and indicates the Equation of Time - the difference between solar time ('sundial time') and mean solar time ('clock time'). Month going.
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
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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