Clocks · Bracket clock
Four glass mantel clock by Dunnell, London, c. 1875
- Maker / attribution
- Dunnell (maker)
- Date
- c. 1875
- Historical period
- Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Materials / technique
- oak
- Dimensions
- Height 13 in (33 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 419
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 419)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Four Glass Mantel Clock by Dunnell of London (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 419), this is a bracket clock by Dunnell, made in London, England, dated c. 1875. The Atlas places it in the Industrial Revolution period (1850 – 1900) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: oak. Recorded dimensions: Height 13 in (33 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 — P A Oxley
An exceptional double fusee English four glass mantel clock with platform escapement and rare pollard oak veneered cabinet work. The 8 day duration double fusee movement of substantial quality and size with four plate pillars and a large platform escapement which can be viewed through the inspection glass to the top of the case. The movement also with Strike/Silent facility, deadbeat escapement and maintaining power. The silvered brass dial framed within a silvered rectangular frame with Roman chapters, extensive engraving throughout the dial, matching blued steel hands, makers name and subsidiary seconds. The very well proportioned four glass case veneered with the finest pollard oak and standing on four oak pads. The top and sides of the case with rectangular bevelled glass inspection windows. A very rare example. Note: George Dunnell is listed in the 1871 and 1881 Census records as a Watch & Clockmaker. He was living in Hanley Road, Islington. Maker Dunnell of London
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
Bracket, table and spring-driven clocks
Spring-driven clocks freed timekeeping from the hanging weight. The coiled mainspring, documented from the fifteenth century, made portable table clocks possible; to even out its declining force, makers used the fusee, a conical pulley connected to the barrel by a gut line or chain. Renaissance table clocks from Augsburg and Nuremberg — drum-shaped, square or tower-shaped in gilt brass — were luxury scientific objects, often with astronomical dials and alarms.
After the pendulum, English makers developed the bracket clock: a wooden case with a carrying handle, a short pendulum with a verge escapement, and often repeating work to sound the hours on demand at night. Later examples use the anchor escapement. In the nineteenth century, 'table clock' became a broad term for spring clocks of every nationality.
What to look for
- A fusee in the movement (cone-shaped pulley) and the type of line — gut or chain.
- Verge escapement with a short bob pendulum, often with a decoratively engraved backplate.
- Repeat cords or buttons that make the clock strike again on demand.
- Gilt-brass engraved cases and horizontal dials on Renaissance pieces.
- Case shapes: inverted bell, bell top, break-arch, lancet or balloon.
Dating clues
- Drum and tower table clocks: c. 1520–1650.
- Ebony veneered English bracket clocks with verge escapements: c. 1670–1800.
- Engraved backplates were usual on English clocks until c. 1800, then generally plain.
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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