Clocks · Longcase clock
Longcase clock by Leonard Hall, Southwark, London, c. 1695
- Maker / attribution
- Leonard Hall (maker)
- Date
- c. 1695
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- Southwark, London
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- walnut
- Dimensions
- Height 203 cm
- Stock no.
- SKU 505
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (SKU 505)
- Catalogue title (original)
- LEONARD HALL. A rare William III period walnut longcase clock. (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number SKU 505), this is a longcase clock by Leonard Hall, made in Southwark, London, England, dated c. 1695. 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 203 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 rare William III period walnut longcase clock with 8-day movement and hour strike on an inside countwheel. The 11-inch brass dial has winged cherub gilt brass corner spandrels and a raised silvered brass chapter ring with Roman numerals, swordhilt half-hour makers and is signed by the maker Leonard Hall Southwark between VII and V. On the matted centre there is a subsidiary seconds dial below XII and inset datework above VI. The well-proportioned slim case, in beautifully faded walnut, is veneered onto an oak carcase. There are barley twist pillars to the hood and a half round moulded walnut lenticle to the full-length trunk door. The base is crossbanded and it stands on four turned walnut bun feet. Date : circa 1695. Height : 80 in (203 cm) * Leonard Hall was working in Southwark, London from 1690 until about 1720. Small early walnut longcase clocks of the late 17 th century with barleytwist pillars and of small proportions have become increasingly rare. References : Brian Loomes, Clockmakers of Britain: 1286 – 1700 , p. 237 Brian Loomes, Watchmakers & Clockmakers of the World , p.338 HW6420
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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