Clocks · Wall clock
English late 18th century mahogany single fusee wall dial clock
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- late 18th century
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Object type
- Wall clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany
- Auction house
- Gardiner Houlgate (auction house), Corsham
- Lot
- Sale 42, lot 1290
- Credit line
- Auction lot record: lot 1290, Fine Clocks & Related Items, Gardiner Houlgate (22nd October 2026)
- Catalogue title (original)
- English late 18th century mahogany single fusee wall dial clock, the 12" silvered dial signed John Jardin, London, with Roman numerals and outer Arabic minute numerals, pierced steel hands, brass plat (English)
View the source record (auction lot) ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Catalogued by Gardiner Houlgate (auction house), Corsham (lot Sale 42, lot 1290), this is a wall clock, made in England, dated late 18th century. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: mahogany. 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
Lot description — Gardiner Houlgate
English late 18th century mahogany single fusee wall dial clock, the 12" silvered dial signed John Jardin, London, with Roman numerals and outer Arabic minute numerals, pierced steel hands, brass plate movement with anchor escapement and four turned knop pillars, in a fine turned mahogany surround with a cast brass bezel, with a single side and lower case door, 15.75" diameter overall (with pendulum and winding key) ** John Jardin (1765–1801) was a prominent late 18th century London clockmaker and watchmaker after gaining freedom in the Clockmakers' Company in 1781
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
Regulators, wall and Vienna clocks
A regulator is a precision pendulum clock used as a time standard in observatories, workshops and railway offices. Typical features are a deadbeat or Graham escapement, a temperature-compensated pendulum (mercury jar, gridiron or later invar), maintaining power and a regulator dial that separates hours, minutes and seconds. George Graham's deadbeat escapement (c. 1715) and his mercury pendulum, together with Harrison's gridiron, set the pattern for two centuries.
Wall clocks span a much wider range: the elegant Viennese Laterndluhr and Dachluhr of the Biedermeier period, the Dutch stoelklok and staartklok, English 'dial' clocks used in schools, offices and railway stations, and mass-produced spring and weight wall clocks from Germany (Gustav Becker, Junghans, Kienzle) and America.
What to look for
- Deadbeat escapement and compensated pendulum (gridiron rods, mercury jar or wood rod).
- A regulator dial with a large central minute hand and separate hour and seconds dials.
- Vienna regulators: glazed cases, slender pendulum, small weights, enamel two-piece dials.
- German factory trademarks stamped on the backplate (e.g. Gustav Becker anchor and crown, Junghans star).
Dating clues
- Graham-type deadbeat regulators: from c. 1720.
- Viennese Laterndluhr: c. 1800–1850.
- German factory 'Vienna-style' regulators: c. 1870–1930; Gustav Becker serial numbers allow close dating.
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.
Related records
Clocks · 1740–1760
Longcase clock, English, 1740–1760, japanned wood, John Ellicott
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Clocks · c.1750
Long-case clock, English, ca. 1750, by Richard Peyton of Gloucester
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Clocks · 1751
Large wheel engine, signed and dated "John Tipping, Whildon Green, 1751".
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · 1755
Bracket clock by John Fordham, England, 1755
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Clocks · c. 1760
Longcase clock by James Cox, England, c. 1760
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Clocks · 1766
Clock by Alexander Cumming, England, 1766
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · 1768–1769
Regulator clock by John Shelton, England, 1768–1769
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · c. 1775
Longcase clock, England, c. 1775
Victoria and Albert Museum, London