Clocks · Clock
George III ormolu timepiece
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- c. 1815
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Object type
- Clock
- Materials / technique
- ormolu
- Dimensions
- Height 26 cm
- Stock no.
- Product 2045
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, The Antique Clock Company (product 2045)
- Catalogue title (original)
- A FINE GEORGE III ORMOLU TIMEPIECE BY VULLIAMY NO.656 (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by The Antique Clock Company (dealer), Dorset (stock number Product 2045), this is a clock, made in England, dated c. 1815. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: ormolu. Recorded dimensions: Height 26 cm. The record is illustrated with 4 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 high quality small black marble and ormolu clock measuring approximately 10” tall by Vulliamy of London, most likely to have been Benjamin Louis Vulliamy at this period. The timepiece movement of 8-day duration is a robust English fusee timepiece, extremely well made with Vulliamy’s typical half dead-beat escapement, rise and fall pendulum regulation above, being both signed and numbered on the back plate; Vulliamy, London, No. 656. The gilt dial measuring 3” diameter with an engine turned gilt dial, featuring Roman numerals and signed Vulliamy with extremely fine blued steel pierced hands, all encompassed by a beautiful snake. The clock is flanked by two stunning bronze Lions with superb definition, typical of the quality from the Vulliamy family. Height: 10 ¼” or 26cm **This clock is delivered and set up for free within the UK. We regularly ship clocks all over the world with our trusted Fine Antiques Packers & Shippers. Please ask for a quote should you require this service.
Historical context
Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
Harrison solves longitude; Mudge invents the lever; Breguet's Paris workshop defines the modern watch.
The age of the deadbeat escapement, compensated pendulums and observatory regulators. Domestic clocks spread through the middle classes: English longcase and bracket clocks, French gilt-bronze mantel clocks, Viennese Biedermeier wall clocks, Black Forest painted-shield clocks, and the first American shelf clocks.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Early Modern Horology
Atlas type guide
Domestic clocks
A clock combines four systems: a source of power (falling weight, coiled spring, or later electricity), a gear train that divides time, an escapement and oscillator that regulate it (foliot, pendulum or balance), and an indicating system of dial and hands or a bell. Its history runs from the large iron weight-driven clocks of the late thirteenth century to Renaissance spring-driven table clocks, the pendulum revolution of 1656, the factory clocks of the nineteenth century and electric and quartz clocks of the twentieth.
Domestic clocks also reflect regional furniture and decorative traditions — English longcase and bracket clocks, French pendules, Viennese regulators, Black Forest and American shelf clocks — and therefore record changing tastes as much as technical progress.
What to look for
- How the clock is powered: weights, spring barrel, fusee, electric coil.
- The oscillator: foliot, short pendulum, long seconds pendulum or balance.
- Whether it strikes: hour only (count wheel) or hours and quarters (rack striking).
- The maker or retailer's name on dial and movement, and any factory trademarks.
- Signs of alteration — replaced dials, converted escapements, 'married' cases.
Dating clues
- Before 1656 clocks used foliots or balances; after, most domestic clocks have pendulums.
- Anchor escapements spread after c. 1670; minute hands became common at the same time.
- Factory production in America and Germany transformed prices after c. 1840.
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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