Movements & Components · Movement - clockwork
Movement by Duncan (maker), 2023
- Maker / attribution
- Duncan (maker) (maker)
- Date
- 2023
- Historical period
- Contemporary Horology (2010 – Present)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Movement - clockwork
- Holding institution
- Science Museum Group, London
- Accession / object no.
- 1920-562
- Credit line
- Mrs J Williamson and Bruno Roberts
- Catalogue title (original)
- Movement with "maintaining power" arrangement
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Science Museum Group, London (object number 1920-562), this is a movement - clockwork by Duncan (maker), dated 2023. The Atlas places it in the Contemporary Horology period (2010 – Present) of its Movements & Components collection. 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
The source record does not include a narrative description. The structured fields above are reproduced from it.
Historical context
Contemporary Horology (2010 – Present)
Silicon components, connected watches, optical-lattice research clocks and a thriving independent scene.
Manufactures and independents design in-house calibres, often with silicon escapements and long power reserves.
Read the period in the timelineMore movements & components from this periodEarlier: Mechanical Renaissance
Atlas type guide
Clock and watch movements
The movement is the mechanism of a clock or watch, without its case and dial. It consists of the power source (weight or mainspring in its barrel, sometimes with a fusee), the going train of wheels and pinions, the escapement and oscillator, the motion work that drives the hands, and in many cases additional trains for striking or complications.
From the eighteenth century watch movements were increasingly produced in stages: Swiss and French ébauche makers supplied rough movements that finishers, repasseurs and retailers completed and signed. Calibre numbers — first used systematically by American and Swiss factories in the nineteenth century — make it possible to identify movements, find spare parts and date watches.
What to look for
- Plate and bridge layout: full plate, three-quarter plate, Lépine bar calibre, bridges and cocks.
- Jewel count and whether jewels are set in chatons or rubbed in.
- Signatures, calibre and serial numbers on the plate or under the dial.
- Finishing: Geneva stripes (Côtes de Genève), perlage, bevelled edges, blued screws.
- Fusee and chain, going barrel, or electrical components.
Dating clues
- Full-plate English movements dominate before c. 1850; three-quarter plate and Lépine calibres after.
- Jewelled movements spread after Facio and Debaufre's patent of 1704, mainly in English work until c. 1800.
- Calibre numbers and factory serials allow close dating for industrial production after c. 1850.
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.
