Clocks · Bracket clock
Georgian mahogany bracket clock by Alexander Campbell, London
- Maker / attribution
- Alexander Campbell (maker)
- Date
- c. 1800
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany
- Stock no.
- Product 2092
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, The Antique Clock Company (product 2092)
- Catalogue title (original)
- FINE GEORGIAN MAHOGANY BRACKET CLOCK BY ALEXANDER CAMPBELL OF LONDON (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by The Antique Clock Company (dealer), Dorset (stock number Product 2092), this is a bracket clock by Alexander Campbell, made in London, England, dated c. 1800. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: mahogany. 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
This fine mahogany bracket clock with silvered engraved dial signed “Alex Campbell No. 393 Strand, London” also featuring roman and arabic numerals, a date subsidiary dial above VI and strike/silent subsidiary dial within the break arch of the dial with the original blued steel hands. The robust twin fusee clock movement of 8-day duration has anchor escapement and London stirrup pendulum. The case is a beautiful mahogany case with fish scale frets to the sides of the case and unusually glazed also, the ogee feet still have the original gilding. Height : 17” (with handle up) J. C. Collection The J. C. Collection is one mans collection of fine antique clocks based in the county of Bedfordshire. A highly respected horologist and a Fellow of The British Horological Institute, James has held many horological positions of high esteem working for contracts with H. M. Government to the The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple. For more information about any of these clocks or to view the collection, please contact James on: Telephone: 01525 221165 – Mobile: 07790 000629 – Email: info@jameschadburn.com
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
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.
Read next:Verge escapement
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