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Mahogany single fusee 12-inch convex wooden drop dial wall clock, circa 1812 — view 1 of 1
View 1 of 1 · Image: Gardiner Houlgate · original image source (opens another website in a new tab)

Clocks · Wall clock

Mahogany single fusee 12-inch convex wooden drop dial wall clock, circa 1812

DocumentedDocumented from an auction catalogue; attribution as stated by the auction house.
Maker / attribution
Unrecorded in source
Date
c. 1812
Historical period
Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
Country of origin
Unrecorded in source
Object type
Wall clock
Materials / technique
mahogany
Auction house
Gardiner Houlgate (auction house), Corsham
Lot
Sale 24, lot 1720
Credit line
Auction lot record: lot 1720, Fine Clocks & Related Items: To include "The Arthur Mitchell Collection - Part II", Gardiner Houlgate (21st February 2019)
Catalogue title (original)
Good mahogany single fusee 12" convex wooden drop dial wall clock, signed Hamley, Duke Street, St James, London within a turned surround, the movement and hands by J. Thwaites and stamped no. 5009 (ci (English)

View the source record (auction lot) ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction

Record summary

Catalogued by Gardiner Houlgate (auction house), Corsham (lot Sale 24, lot 1720), this is a wall clock, dated c. 1812. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: mahogany. 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

Lot description — Gardiner Houlgate

Good mahogany single fusee 12" convex wooden drop dial wall clock, signed Hamley, Duke Street, St James, London within a turned surround, the movement and hands by J. Thwaites and stamped no. 5009 (circa 1812) on the movement (with steel rod pendulum and keys)

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

Regulators, wall and Vienna clocks

A regulator is a precision pendulum clock used as a time standard in observatories, workshops and railway offices. Typical features are a deadbeat or Graham escapement, a temperature-compensated pendulum (mercury jar, gridiron or later invar), maintaining power and a regulator dial that separates hours, minutes and seconds. George Graham's deadbeat escapement (c. 1715) and his mercury pendulum, together with Harrison's gridiron, set the pattern for two centuries.

Wall clocks span a much wider range: the elegant Viennese Laterndluhr and Dachluhr of the Biedermeier period, the Dutch stoelklok and staartklok, English 'dial' clocks used in schools, offices and railway stations, and mass-produced spring and weight wall clocks from Germany (Gustav Becker, Junghans, Kienzle) and America.

What to look for

  • Deadbeat escapement and compensated pendulum (gridiron rods, mercury jar or wood rod).
  • A regulator dial with a large central minute hand and separate hour and seconds dials.
  • Vienna regulators: glazed cases, slender pendulum, small weights, enamel two-piece dials.
  • German factory trademarks stamped on the backplate (e.g. Gustav Becker anchor and crown, Junghans star).

Dating clues

  • Graham-type deadbeat regulators: from c. 1720.
  • Viennese Laterndluhr: c. 1800–1850.
  • German factory 'Vienna-style' regulators: c. 1870–1930; Gustav Becker serial numbers allow close dating.

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 (recoil) escapementGrasshopper escapement

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