Clocks · Longcase clock
London longcase clock by Allam, London, c. 1800
- Maker / attribution
- Allam (maker)
- Date
- c. 1800
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany, satinwood
- Dimensions
- Height 7 ft 2 in (218 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 113
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 113)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Exceptional London longcase clock by Allam of London (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 113), this is a longcase clock by Allam, 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, satinwood. Recorded dimensions: Height 7 ft 2 in (218 cm). The record is illustrated with 5 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
An exceptional London mahogany Longcase Clock by this highly inventive Clockmaker with Vulliamy style features. The high quality 8 day duration movement features 5 pillars and strikes the hours on a bell. The 12" square silvered brass dial with Roman numerals, Arabic minutes, sunken seconds, rare centre date and a strike/silent facility above XII. The dial also with exquisitely made blued steel hands. The elegant cabinetwork featuring the highest quality flame mahogany veneer throughout which has faded to an almost satinwood colour over the last 220 years. The trunk door is framed with brass inlaid quarter pillars terminating in brass Doric capitals. The base also with a flame veneered raised rectangular panel and a plain double plinth. The hood with brass inlaid separate reeded pillars with brass Doric capitals, quarter pillars to the rear and a Vulliamy style architectural top. Fully restored and guaranteed for 3 years. Note: William Allam appears to have had some influence from several famous Clockmakers during the 18th century such as Mudge, Dutton and also Vulliamy. The use of a square dial in London at this late period is also rarely seen and a style used by the famous Clockmaker Vulliamy. This very fine antique clock also features two original brass covered weights, one larger than the other and a heavy pendulum bob with calibrated rating nut. William Allam was Free of the Clockmakers Company in 1743. Working alone at the beginning of his career he then joined in partnership with Clements in 1763 and worked until the late 18th century.
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
Longcase (tall-case or grandfather) clocks
The longcase clock was born from two seventeenth-century innovations: Christiaan Huygens's pendulum (1656–57) and the anchor escapement (c. 1670). A long seconds pendulum, nearly a metre long, swings with a small arc, and enclosing it together with the driving weights in a tall wooden case protected the mechanism and created a new piece of furniture. London makers such as Ahasuerus Fromanteel, Thomas Tompion and Joseph Knibb set the pattern.
By the eighteenth century longcase clocks were made throughout Britain, the Netherlands, Scandinavia (the Swedish Mora clock), France (the Comtoise from the Franche-Comté), Germany and colonial America. Eight-day movements with two weights became standard in better clocks; thirty-hour clocks with one weight and a rope or chain were cheaper alternatives.
What to look for
- Winding holes in the dial: two (eight-day, going and striking) or none (thirty-hour, pulled up by a chain).
- Brass dials with applied chapter rings (earlier) versus painted iron 'white' dials (after c. 1770 in Britain).
- Moon-phase arches, date apertures, seconds dials and maker's name on the dial.
- Case woods and style: ebonised, walnut marquetry, lacquer, oak or mahogany; regional styles from London, Lancashire, Scotland or America.
- Whether the movement and dial match the case — 'marriages' are common.
Dating clues
- Square brass dials suggest c. 1670–1720; arched brass dials c. 1715–1790.
- Painted (white) dials were made by Birmingham dial-makers from about 1772.
- Comtoise clocks with repoussé pendulums are mostly nineteenth century.
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:Anchor (recoil) escapementDeadbeat escapementAnchor escapement
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