Clocks · Bracket clock
London table clock by William Stephenson, c. 1810
- Maker / attribution
- William Stephenson (maker)
- Date
- c. 1810
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany
- Dimensions
- Height 14 in (36 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 242
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 242)
- Catalogue title (original)
- London Antique Table Clock by William Stephenson (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 242), this is a bracket clock by William Stephenson, made in England, dated c. 1810. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: mahogany. Recorded dimensions: Height 14 in (36 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
A fine antique mahogany table clock. The 8 day duration five pillar two train fusee movement with anchor escapement and striking and repeating the hour on a bell. The backplate engraved with the makers name William Stephenson, London and decorative border. The backplate also with pendulum fastening block. The painted dial with Roman numerals, makers name, blued steel hands and with strike/silent facility to the arch. The small mahogany broken arch top case with brass carrying handle, fish scale sound frets to the sides and standing on four brass ogee feet. Note: Stephenson is listed as being a member of the Clockmakers Company between 1794-1820. There is a Watch by this maker in the National Watch & Clock Museum, Columbia, USA. Maker William Stephenson
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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