Clocks · Longcase clock
Longcase clock by William Newton, England, 1680–1690
- Maker / attribution
- William Newton (made)
- Date
- 1680–1690
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- Walnut with marquetry, brass and silver dial
- Dimensions
- Weight: 5.75 kg (w.42:2 w.15:6 weight 10/10/2025 NH); Weight: 4.85 kg (w.42:3 weight 10/10/2025 NH)
- Holding institution
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Accession / object no.
- W.42:1 to 5-1976
- Credit line
- Bequeathed by Miss Dorothy Betty Simpson
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Victoria and Albert Museum, London (object number W.42:1 to 5-1976), this is a longcase clock by William Newton, made in London, England, dated 1680–1690. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Walnut with marquetry, brass and silver dial. Recorded dimensions: Weight: 5.75 kg (w.42:2 w.15:6 weight 10/10/2025 NH); Weight: 4.85 kg (w.42:3 weight 10/10/2025 NH). The record is illustrated with 1 photograph.
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
Physical description — Victoria and Albert Museum
Dial: 10-inch square brass dial with matting, the centre having an engraved Tudor Rose design. Silvered chapter ring with Roman hour numerals, engraved detailed half-quarters, a minute chapter with divisions for each minute and Arabic numerals every five, and an inner portion with divisions for quarters and half hours. The bottom of this chapter ring around “VI” is engraved William Newton Londini Fecit . Subsidiary seconds dial below twelve with a chapter ring carrying divisions for the seconds, Arabic numerals for every five. Above “VI” is an engraved, chamfered square calendar aperture, the date being indicated by Arabic numerals engraved on silvered ring located behind the dial. The dial corners have cast brass, winged cherub head spandrels. The dial feet are pinned to the front plate of the movement. Pierced steel hands. Scratchings on the u/s of the dial: “Clened & Repd W. Bury of Hatfield May 28 - 1873” Movement: Brass and steel weight driven two-train movement, with count wheel (or locking plate) striking on bell. Bell nut is later hexagonal shape. The count wheel is located on the outside of the back plate on an extension of the striking barrel arbor. Five pillars of finned form are riveted to the back plate and pinned to the front. Where present, wheel collets tend to be of deep, semi-circular profile; arbors are non-parallel in section, tending to fatten towards their centres. The escape wheel now solid, i.e. devoid of crossings (spokes), is mounted with a semi-circular collet. Anchor recoil escapement with a pallet frame of asymmetric, late appearance mounted on its arbor with a late ‘T’ profile collet. The crutch has a substantial, later appearance. The back plate has one set of vacant screw holes at the back cock location. The fly is of unusual shape and clearly shows repairs; pinion leaf cuts on the fly arbor extend either side of the long pinion into the arbor. A circle corresponding to the escape wheel is scribed into the outside front plate and there are scratchings also: “SW & RB Hatfield May 28 1873. Description and notes by Francis Brodie, c. 2008
Brief description — Victoria and Albert Museum
Longcase clock of walnut with marquetry, brass and silvered dial, by William Newton, London, 1680-90
Inscriptions & marks
'William Newton Londini Fecit'
Provenance
Bequeathed by Miss Dorothy Betty Simpson January 1976 inventory and valuation of Miss Simpson's estate Includes this description "17th century walnut and marquetry cased grandson clock having a brass and silvered dial with a second hand and date aperture by Wm. Newton of London" (value: £4,000). The clock was located in the Drawing Room at Millstones. 24 August 1976 memo, John Hardy lists the clock among 9 pieces to acquire "for study purposes and provincial museums" 20 October 1976 inventory and valuation by Phillips after the death of Miss Simpson values the clock at £2,000. Remarks: Could it be that Bury of Hatfield replaced the escape wheel and pallets in 1873? Otherwise the movement is 1690s—1700s and fine. Description and notes by Francis Brodie, c. 2008
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:Deadbeat escapementAnchor escapement
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