Clocks · Longcase clock
Longcase clock by James Thomas, Chester, c. 1780
- Maker / attribution
- James Thomas (maker)
- Date
- c. 1780
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- United Kingdom
- Place
- Chester
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Dimensions
- Height 228 cm
- Stock no.
- SKU 86
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (SKU 86)
- Catalogue title (original)
- JAMES THOMAS. A FINE 18TH CENTURY 8 DAY MOONPHASE LONGCASE (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number SKU 86), this is a longcase clock by James Thomas, made in Chester, United Kingdom, dated c. 1780. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: Height 228 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 late George III period 8-day Brass dial longcase clock with moonphase, subsidiary seconds and inset datework. The elegant mahogany case has a swan-neck top with gilt brass paterae, an elegant full length highly figured mahogany door topped by a blind fret and turned fluted quarter columns. The original raised panelled base which has chamfered sides stands on four ogee bracket feet. Height: 89 ¾ in (228 cm) James Thomas is listed in Brian Loomes’s ‘Watchmakers and Clockmakers of the World’ 21st Century edition, on page 765 as working in Chester opposite the Wine Vaults in Northgate Street between 1777 and 1785. He was the son of Lewis Thomas who had supposedly worked for George Graham for 9 years. Signed / Inscribed James Thomas CHESTER
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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