Clocks · Wall clock
French mahogany electric wall clock timepiece by Vaucanson, 20th century
- Maker / attribution
- Vaucanson (maker)
- Date
- 20th century
- Historical period
- Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
- Country of origin
- France
- Object type
- Wall clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany
- Auction house
- Gardiner Houlgate (auction house), Corsham
- Lot
- Sale 41, lot 1103
- Credit line
- Auction lot record: lot 1103, Fine Clocks & Related Items, Gardiner Houlgate (21st May 2026)
- Catalogue title (original)
- French mahogany electric wall clock timepiece by Vaucanson, Paris, first quarter of the 20th century, circular white enamel Roman and Arabic 24-hour dial with blued spade hands and sweep centre second (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Gardiner Houlgate (auction house), Corsham (lot Sale 41, lot 1103), this is a wall clock by Vaucanson, made in France, dated 20th century. The Atlas places it in the Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking period (1900 – 1945) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: mahogany. The record is illustrated with 1 photograph.
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
French mahogany electric wall clock timepiece by Vaucanson, Paris, first quarter of the 20th century, circular white enamel Roman and Arabic 24-hour dial with blued spade hands and sweep centre seconds, signed 'Ateliers Vaucanson Paris, Bé. S.G.D.G'., the movement with horseshoe electro magnetic pendulum with Hipp toggle impulsion, upon a marble backboard in a moulded glazed case 17.25" x 9.5" ** From the David Read Collection ** Provenance - The Cleater Collection, Christies ex lot 384, 25th Nov 1998
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
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.
Read next:Deadbeat escapementAnchor (recoil) escapementGrasshopper escapement
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