Skip to content
Jaeger LeCoultre Atmos mantel clock circa 1972 — view 1 of 1
View 1 of 1 · Image: Gardiner Houlgate · original image source (opens another website in a new tab)

Clocks · Bracket clock

Jaeger LeCoultre Atmos mantel clock circa 1972

DocumentedDocumented from an auction catalogue; attribution as stated by the auction house.
Maker / attribution
Unrecorded in source
Date
c. 1972
Country of origin
Unrecorded in source
Object type
Bracket clock
Dimensions
Height 9.25 in (23 cm)
Lot
Sale 15, lot 1371
Credit line
Auction lot record: lot 1371, Fine Clocks, Gardiner Houlgate (22nd October 2020)
Catalogue title (original)
Jaeger LeCoultre Atmos mantel clock circa 1972, the 4.75" chapter ring enclosing a skeletonised centre, the top impressed with no. 357879, within a brass brushed and glazed canted case, 9.25" high (English)

View the source record (auction lot) ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction

Record summary

Catalogued by Gardiner Houlgate (auction house), Corsham (lot Sale 15, lot 1371), this is a bracket clock, dated c. 1972. The Atlas places it in the Quartz Revolution period (1969 – 1990) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: Height 9.25 in (23 cm). 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

Jaeger LeCoultre Atmos mantel clock circa 1972, the 4.75" chapter ring enclosing a skeletonised centre, the top impressed with no. 357879, within a brass brushed and glazed canted case, 9.25" high

Historical context

Quartz Revolution (1969 – 1990)

Seiko's Astron begins mass quartz timekeeping; traditional industries contract sharply.

Quartz movements and digital displays made accurate clocks cheap and ubiquitous after the early 1970s. LED and LCD clocks, clock radios and radio-controlled clocks appeared, while traditional mechanical clockmaking contracted sharply in Germany, France and Britain.

Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Modern Mechanical 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:FuseeVerge escapementAnchor (recoil) escapement

Related records