Clocks · Wall clock
Fusee wall clock by Dent, London, c. 1860
- Maker / attribution
- Dent (maker)
- Date
- c. 1860
- Historical period
- Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Wall clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany
- Dimensions
- Height 12 in (30 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 445
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 445)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Fusee Wall Clock by Dent of London (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 445), this is a wall clock by Dent, made in London, England, dated c. 1860. The Atlas places it in the Industrial Revolution period (1850 – 1900) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: mahogany. Recorded dimensions: Height 12 in (30 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
A high quality 19th century antique Wall Clock by this famous Clockmaker. The 8 day duration single fusee chain driven movement with anchor escapement, four large plate pillars and a well made pendulum. The 12" diameter flat white dial with Roman numerals, blued steel hands and signed by the maker Dent, 33 Cockspur Street, London and numbered 29891. The mahogany case with access doors to the base and side, the base door with a lock. The cast brass bezel is fitted with a flat bevelled glass and a silvered brass sight ring frames the dial. Note: The Dent name is perhaps most well known for being the maker of the Great Clock of the Houses of Parliament known as Big Ben, installed in 1859. Dent was also Clockmaker to Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales. Provenance: This clock was originally located in Chilmark House near Salisbury, home of the noted Surgeon Sir William Bennet. Maker Dent 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
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.
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