Clocks · Clock
Novelty inclined plane clock by Dent, London
- Maker / attribution
- Dent (maker)
- Date
- c. 1970
- Historical period
- Quartz Revolution (1969 – 1990)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Clock
- Dimensions
- Height 24 cm
- Stock no.
- Product 2830
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, The Antique Clock Company (product 2830)
- Catalogue title (original)
- AN INTERESTING & UNUSUAL NOVELTY INCLINED PLANE CLOCK – DENT – LONDON (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by The Antique Clock Company (dealer), Dorset (stock number Product 2830), this is a clock by Dent, made in London, England, dated c. 1970. The Atlas places it in the Quartz Revolution period (1969 – 1990) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: Height 24 cm. The record is illustrated with 2 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 interesting and unusual, novelty inclined plane clock made by Dent of London. This is a reproduction of a gravity clock from the 17th century where the clock runs down the slope, starting the week at the top and slowly making its way down to the bottom over the duration of the week. Dent: The history of Dent & Co. spans three centuries. Established in 1814 by Edward J. Dent, the company created precision chronometers to navigate the Royal Navy and guide some of the most intrepid explorers on their voyages. Dent proved a key player in Victorian horological history manufacturing the Standard Clock at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich which was to keep “Greenwich Mean Time” the time to which all others in the Empire were referred (better known today as G.M.T.). Dent also made probably the most famous clock in the world – the Great Clock for the Houses of Parliament, familiarly known as Big Ben. Height: 9 ½” or 24cm (At its tallest point) Width: 24″ (2ft) or 61cm
Provenance
Private collection – U.K.
Historical context
Quartz Revolution (1969 – 1990)
Seiko's Astron begins mass quartz timekeeping; traditional industries contract sharply.
Quartz movements and digital displays made accurate clocks cheap and ubiquitous after the early 1970s. LED and LCD clocks, clock radios and radio-controlled clocks appeared, while traditional mechanical clockmaking contracted sharply in Germany, France and Britain.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Modern Mechanical Horology
Atlas type guide
Domestic clocks
A clock combines four systems: a source of power (falling weight, coiled spring, or later electricity), a gear train that divides time, an escapement and oscillator that regulate it (foliot, pendulum or balance), and an indicating system of dial and hands or a bell. Its history runs from the large iron weight-driven clocks of the late thirteenth century to Renaissance spring-driven table clocks, the pendulum revolution of 1656, the factory clocks of the nineteenth century and electric and quartz clocks of the twentieth.
Domestic clocks also reflect regional furniture and decorative traditions — English longcase and bracket clocks, French pendules, Viennese regulators, Black Forest and American shelf clocks — and therefore record changing tastes as much as technical progress.
What to look for
- How the clock is powered: weights, spring barrel, fusee, electric coil.
- The oscillator: foliot, short pendulum, long seconds pendulum or balance.
- Whether it strikes: hour only (count wheel) or hours and quarters (rack striking).
- The maker or retailer's name on dial and movement, and any factory trademarks.
- Signs of alteration — replaced dials, converted escapements, 'married' cases.
Dating clues
- Before 1656 clocks used foliots or balances; after, most domestic clocks have pendulums.
- Anchor escapements spread after c. 1670; minute hands became common at the same time.
- Factory production in America and Germany transformed prices after c. 1840.
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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