Clocks · Strut clock
English gilt engraved strut timepiece, c. 1880
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- c. 1880
- Historical period
- Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Strut clock
- Materials / technique
- gilt
- Dimensions
- Height 17.5 cm
- Stock no.
- SKU 36
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (SKU 36)
- Catalogue title (original)
- STRUT TIMEPIECE. A LATE VICTORIAN PERIOD GILT ENGRAVED OVAL STRUT TIMEPIECE IN THE MANNER OF THOMAS COLE. (English)
Editor's note
The listing heading names the type ('strut timepiece'), not a maker; it describes the piece as 'in the manner of' Thomas Cole, which is not an attribution.View the source record (dealer listing) ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number SKU 36), this is a strut clock, dated c. 1880. The Atlas places it in the Industrial Revolution period (1850 – 1900) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: gilt. Recorded dimensions: Height 17.5 cm. 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
Dealer description — Howard Walwyn
A fine late Victorian period gilt engraved oval strut timepiece in the manner of Thomas Cole. The silvered and engraved oval dial centre has a plain chapter ring with Roman numerals and original blued steel hands with fleur-de-lys. The outer sections of the case are gilded and profusely engraved with flowers and foliage which is topped by a small ball set within a scallop shell Height: 6 ¾ in (17.5 cm) Width: 6 in (15 cm) * This beautiful clock comes with its original leather bound travelling case and plush silk and velvet interior. On the outside it bears the initials of the original owner V.A.L. Lady Victorian Alexandrina Lambton whose mother had been maid of honour to Queen Victoria between 1837 and 1842. HW5695
Historical context
Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
American interchangeable-parts manufacture; railroad time standards; Swiss and German factory systems.
Factory production transformed the clock into an everyday object. American makers (Seth Thomas, Ansonia, Waterbury) and German factories (Junghans, Gustav Becker, Lenzkirch) sold millions of shelf, wall and alarm clocks worldwide; France produced standardised Paris movements and carriage clocks; electric time distribution began.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Precision & Scientific 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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