Clocks · Clock
Ormolu travelling clock, circa 1840
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- c. 1840
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Clock
- Materials / technique
- ormolu
- Dimensions
- Height 11.75 in (30 cm)
- Auction house
- Gardiner Houlgate (auction house), Corsham
- Lot
- Sale 20, lot 1325
- Credit line
- Auction lot record: lot 1325, Fine Clocks & Related Items, Gardiner Houlgate (24th October 2019)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Ormolu travelling clock, circa 1840, with an enamel dial signed for Thos. Pearce Paris and similarly signed bell striking movement with early Brocot escapement, the highly elaborate case cast with put (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Gardiner Houlgate (auction house), Corsham (lot Sale 20, lot 1325), this is a clock, dated c. 1840. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: ormolu. Recorded dimensions: Height 11.75 in (30 cm). 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
Ormolu travelling clock, circa 1840, with an enamel dial signed for Thos. Pearce Paris and similarly signed bell striking movement with early Brocot escapement, the highly elaborate case cast with putti, mermaids, dolphins, flowers and shells, 11.75" high (pendulum)
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
Carriage and travel clocks
The carriage clock is a portable spring clock with a balance-wheel escapement and a brass case with glass panels and a carrying handle. Abraham-Louis Breguet made early examples around 1800, and from the 1830s Paul Garnier and other French makers industrialised production, with the small towns of Saint-Nicolas-d'Aliermont and the Franche-Comté supplying movements for retailers worldwide.
Typical features include a platform escapement mounted horizontally on top of the movement (usually a lever, sometimes cylinder or Garnier's chaff-cutter), striking or repeating work, and alarms. English carriage clocks, generally larger and with fusees, were made by firms such as Frodsham and Dent. Travel clocks in folding leather cases became popular in the twentieth century.
What to look for
- A platform escapement visible through the top glass.
- Case styles: corniche, gorge, anglaise, obis or engraved cases.
- Repeat buttons on top and strike/silent levers.
- Stamps of movement makers (e.g. Drocourt, Jacot, Margaine, Richard & Co.) on the backplate.
Dating clues
- Early carriage clocks with Breguet or Garnier features: c. 1800–1850.
- Mass-produced French carriage clocks: c. 1850–1914.
- Folding travel clocks and alarm travel clocks: mostly 1920–1970.
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:Detached lever escapement
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