Clocks · Bracket clock
French four glass mantel clock
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- c. 1900
- Historical period
- Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
- Country of origin
- France
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Dimensions
- Height 29 cm
- Stock no.
- Product 3392
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, The Antique Clock Company (product 3392)
- Catalogue title (original)
- EXQUISITE FRENCH FOUR GLASS MANTEL CLOCK (English)
View the source record (dealer listing) ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Catalogued by The Antique Clock Company (dealer), Dorset (stock number Product 3392), this is a bracket clock, made in France, dated c. 1900. The Atlas places it in the Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking period (1900 – 1945) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: Height 29 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
Elevate your home with the timeless beauty of this finely crafted French Four Glass Mantel Clock, a masterpiece of elegance and precision from circa 1900. The gilded case exudes sophistication, adorned with intricate applied Pegasus flying horses and Doric-style columns featuring rare tulip-shaped bases. The 8-day movement exemplifies the exceptional quality of French craftsmanship from the period, striking the hours and half-hours on a crisp bell. Its white enamel dial boasts delicate swag decoration, harmonising beautifully with the ornate pendulum, which features a central enamel plaque of a graceful female head surrounded by shimmering rhinestones. This mantel clock combines artistry and functionality, making it a stunning focal point and a cherished addition to any fine collection. Height: 11 ½” or 29 cm
Provenance
Private collection, UK
Historical context
Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
The wristwatch displaces the pocket watch; waterproof cases, self-winding and grand complications.
Between 1900 and 1945 clocks were electrified: master-clock systems ran factories and offices, synchronous mains clocks entered homes, and the Shortt free-pendulum clock set new standards of accuracy before the first quartz clocks (1927). Art Deco design reshaped mantel and table clocks.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Industrial Revolution
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.
Related records
Clocks · 1902–1912
Fery's selfwound clock, with subsidiary pendulum for making contact, by Prof. Charles Fery and C. Beaudouin, Paris, France, 1902–1912.
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · 1915–1925
Type A 'Bulle' electric clock, no.6160, with glass shade, made in France but sold by British Horo-Electric Ltd., 109 Kingsway, London, WC, England, 1915–1925.
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · c. 1921
Table clock by Compagnie Générale des Appareils Horo-Electriques, France, c. 1921
German Clock Museum
Clocks · 1930–1939
Clock by Societe Meridionale D'Industrie, France, 1930–1939
Science Museum Group, London
Clocks · c. 1900
Mantel Clock - France, c. 1900
Museums Victoria, Melbourne
Clocks · c. 1925
Electric Clock - Bulle, France, c. 1925
Museums Victoria, Melbourne
Clocks · c. 1900
Mantel Clock - France, c. 1900
Museums Victoria, Melbourne
Clocks · c. 1900
Mantel Clock - Le Roi, Paris, c. 1900
Museums Victoria, Melbourne