Clocks · Skeleton clock
English timepiece skeleton clock
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- c. 1850
- Historical period
- Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
- Country of origin
- England
- Object type
- Skeleton clock
- Dimensions
- Height 31 cm
- Stock no.
- Product 2234
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, The Antique Clock Company (product 2234)
- Catalogue title (original)
- A SMALL ENGLISH TIMEPIECE SKELETON CLOCK (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by The Antique Clock Company (dealer), Dorset (stock number Product 2234), this is a skeleton clock, made in England, dated c. 1850. The Atlas places it in the Industrial Revolution period (1850 – 1900) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: Height 31 cm. The record is illustrated with 2 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 — The Antique Clock Company
A fine timepiece skeleton clock, although unsigned, we know this type of clock was made by J. Smith and Sons, Clerkenwell, London. An extremely similar clock can be seen pictured in the book ‘Skeleton Clocks 1800 to 1914 by Derek Roberts’, and appears in Smith’s own catalogue. The plates are finely made to a high quality with a chain fusee and five spoke wheels, anchor escapement, silvered dial and original blued steel hands sat upon a fine ebonised base. Height: 12” or 31cm (Including glass dome)
Provenance
Private collection – U.K.
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
Skeleton clocks
A skeleton clock displays its movement: the plates are pierced to a minimum so that wheels, escapement and fusee can be seen, usually under a glass dome. French makers produced fine skeleton clocks in the late eighteenth century; in Victorian England they became popular showpieces, with frames in the shapes of cathedrals and famous buildings.
What to look for
- Pierced brass plates in scroll or architectural shapes.
- A glass dome and wooden or marble base.
- Fusee movements and sometimes passing strike on a bell.
Dating clues
- French skeleton clocks: c. 1780–1830.
- English cathedral-style skeleton clocks: c. 1840–1890.
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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