Clocks · Bracket clock
Mahogany striking bracket clock by Robert Higgs, London
- Maker / attribution
- Robert Higgs (maker)
- Date
- c. 1770
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany
- Dimensions
- Height 53 cm
- Stock no.
- Product 3015
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, The Antique Clock Company (product 3015)
- Catalogue title (original)
- MAHOGANY STRIKING BRACKET CLOCK – ROBERT HIGGS – LONDON (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by The Antique Clock Company (dealer), Dorset (stock number Product 3015), this is a bracket clock by Robert Higgs, made in London, England, dated c. 1770. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: mahogany. Recorded dimensions: Height 53 cm. The record is illustrated with 3 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 — The Antique Clock Company
An 8-day twin fusee striking movement consisting of five pillars, with original verge escapement striking the hours to a bell via a rack and snail striking system, which can be silenced. There is also a repeating function, and the back plate is beautifully engraved with floral swags and scrolling foliage and is also signed ‘Rob Higgs London’. The mahogany inverted bell top case is exquisite in style and construction. The four pineapple-shaped finials surmount the top of the case, topped with a carrying handle. The sides of the case are glazed with the rear door also being glazed too. The 6 ¾” brass break arch dial with subsidiary strike/silent dial set within the break arch, consisting of Roman and Arabic numerals and cartouche signed ‘Rob Higgs London’ above the calendar aperture sitting above VI and finished with the original finely cut blued steel hands. Height: 21″ or 53 cm Width: 12 ½” or 32 cm Depth: 8 ½” or 21 cm
Provenance
Private collection – U.K.
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
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.
Read next:Anchor (recoil) escapement
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