Clocks · Longcase clock
Longcase clock by Benjamin Vulliamy, London, c. 1780
- Maker / attribution
- Benjamin Vulliamy (maker)
- Date
- c. 1780
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Dimensions
- Height 212.5 cm
- Stock no.
- SKU 311
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (SKU 311)
- Catalogue title (original)
- BENJAMIN VULLIAMY, N° 255. A fine George III regulator longcase (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number SKU 311), this is a longcase clock by Benjamin Vulliamy, made in London, England, dated c. 1780. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: Height 212.5 cm. The record is illustrated with 4 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 III regulator in an elegant architectural figured mahogany veneered case which has achieved a good mellow colour with excellent patination. There is a double plinth to the panelled base, long moulded trunk door and the hood is flanked by fluted chamfers with brass reeds. The twelve inch silvered square brass dial is finely engraved and includes an aperture to view the day of the month and a strike/silent option. The centre of the dial is signed by the maker, Vulliamy London N° 255 . The high quality 8-day duration movement has five pillars, a deadbeat escapement with separate steel pallet pads which are set within the morticed brass pallet frame. The hours are sounded on a single bell via a rack striking mechanism. The ebonised lozenge sectioned wood rod pendulum has a large brass lenticular bob with a silvered calibrated rating nut beneath. The pair of brass cased weights appear to be original. Height : 83 ¾ in (212.5 cm) * Benjamin Vulliamy was the second of the Vulliamy family who succeeded his father Justin. He was clockmaker to George III from 1772 and was responsible for a number of important precision clocks made for royalty and the aristocracy. Examples of his work can be found in museums and public collections throughout the world. He was the father of Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy and he died in 1811. Reference : B. Loomes, Clockmakers of the World: 21 st Century Edition , p.802 HW6001
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.
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