Clocks · Longcase clock
Longcase clock by Benjamin Gray and Justin Vulliamy, London, c. 1745
- Maker / attribution
- Benjamin Gray and Justin Vulliamy (maker)
- Date
- c. 1745
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- walnut
- Dimensions
- Height 228.5 cm
- Stock no.
- SKU 469
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (SKU 469)
- Catalogue title (original)
- BENJAMIN GRAY and JUSTIN VULLIAMY. A fine George II walnut longcase by this eminent partnership of the Georgian period. (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number SKU 469), this is a longcase clock by Benjamin Gray and Justin Vulliamy, made in London, England, dated c. 1745. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: walnut. Recorded dimensions: Height 228.5 cm. 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 — Howard Walwyn
A fine George II period figured walnut longcase clock by one of the most eminent partnerships of the Georgian period, Benjamin Gray and Justin Vulliamy. The elegantly proportioned Tompionesque case is veneered with figured walnut of excellent colour and patination. Standing on a double-plinth, the case rises to a caddy top with a double tier of sound frets which is surmounted by two gilt ball finials. The 12 inch square dial with rococo corner spandrels has an applied silvered chapter ring. The centre is finely matted with a large subsidiary seconds dial; a particular feature of Gray & Vulliamy of this period. The original blued steel pointers are finely pierced and above VI is an aperture to view the day of the month. The makers’ signature – Benj n :Gray Just:Vulliamy, London – is engraved on a silvered cartouche and applied to the matted centre. The high quality five pillar movement has 8-day duration with rack strike and sounding the hours on a bell. The clock is complete with a pair of brass cased weights and pendulum with large bob. Height : 90 in (228.5 cm) * Benjamin Gray is recorded as working in Pall Mall, Westminster in 1727, then St James’s Street in 1749, then Pall Mall again by 1752. He became watchmaker to the King from 1742. He formed a partnership with his son-in-law (to be), Swiss born Francois Justin Vulliamy as Gray & Vulliamy from circa 1743 till Gray’s death in 1764. Justin Vulliamy’s son, Benjamin, became a partner circa 1780 until Justin Vulliamy’s death in 1797. HW5889
Historical context
Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
Huygens' pendulum and balance spring transform accuracy; English makers develop the anchor and deadbeat escapements.
Huygens's pendulum (1656–57) improved clock accuracy from about a quarter of an hour to under a minute a day. The anchor escapement (c. 1670) and the long seconds pendulum created the longcase clock; London makers such as Fromanteel, Knibb, Tompion and Quare led European clockmaking, and French makers created the Boulle pendule.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Renaissance 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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