Clocks · Bracket clock
Mahogany bracket clock by Webster, London, c. 1880
- Maker / attribution
- Webster (maker)
- Date
- c. 1880
- Historical period
- Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany
- Dimensions
- Height 13.5 in (34 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 529
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 529)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Mahogany bracket clock by Webster of London (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 529), this is a bracket clock by Webster, made in London, England, dated c. 1880. The Atlas places it in the Industrial Revolution period (1850 – 1900) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: mahogany. Recorded dimensions: Height 13.5 in (34 cm). The record is illustrated with 6 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 — P A Oxley
An unusual mahogany bracket clock by this famous Clockmaking family. The substantial double fusee movement strikes the hours on a large gong and features top mounted pendulum regulation. The silvered brass dial is profusely engraved with leaves which surrounds Roman numerals, the makers name to the centre and matching blued steel hands. The substantial case is of a reasonably small size standing at only 13.5 inches with the handle down. The construction is mostly of solid mahogany and a decorative carved details to the lower moulding and the upper bell top pediment. Also featuring a brass handle and sound frets to each side. The rear door is fitted with its original brass sound fret. A rare and high quality example from the second half of the 19th century. Fully restored & guaranteed for 3 years. Note: The Webster Clockmaking family began making clocks at the beginning of the 18th century. The business was passed from Father to son for almost 200 years.
Historical context
Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
American interchangeable-parts manufacture; railroad time standards; Swiss and German factory systems.
Factory production transformed the clock into an everyday object. American makers (Seth Thomas, Ansonia, Waterbury) and German factories (Junghans, Gustav Becker, Lenzkirch) sold millions of shelf, wall and alarm clocks worldwide; France produced standardised Paris movements and carriage clocks; electric time distribution began.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Precision & Scientific Horology
Atlas type guide
Bracket, table and spring-driven clocks
Spring-driven clocks freed timekeeping from the hanging weight. The coiled mainspring, documented from the fifteenth century, made portable table clocks possible; to even out its declining force, makers used the fusee, a conical pulley connected to the barrel by a gut line or chain. Renaissance table clocks from Augsburg and Nuremberg — drum-shaped, square or tower-shaped in gilt brass — were luxury scientific objects, often with astronomical dials and alarms.
After the pendulum, English makers developed the bracket clock: a wooden case with a carrying handle, a short pendulum with a verge escapement, and often repeating work to sound the hours on demand at night. Later examples use the anchor escapement. In the nineteenth century, 'table clock' became a broad term for spring clocks of every nationality.
What to look for
- A fusee in the movement (cone-shaped pulley) and the type of line — gut or chain.
- Verge escapement with a short bob pendulum, often with a decoratively engraved backplate.
- Repeat cords or buttons that make the clock strike again on demand.
- Gilt-brass engraved cases and horizontal dials on Renaissance pieces.
- Case shapes: inverted bell, bell top, break-arch, lancet or balloon.
Dating clues
- Drum and tower table clocks: c. 1520–1650.
- Ebony veneered English bracket clocks with verge escapements: c. 1670–1800.
- Engraved backplates were usual on English clocks until c. 1800, then generally plain.
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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