Clocks · Bracket clock
Pollard oak bracket clock by Pennington, Camberwell, London, c. 1810
- Maker / attribution
- Pennington (maker)
- Date
- c. 1810
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- Camberwell, London
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Materials / technique
- oak
- Dimensions
- Height 17.25 in (44 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 579
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 579)
- Catalogue title (original)
- An unusual pollard oak bracket clock by Pennington of Camberwell, London (English)
View the source record (dealer listing) ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 579), this is a bracket clock by Pennington, made in Camberwell, London, England, dated c. 1810. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: oak. Recorded dimensions: Height 17.25 in (44 cm). The record is illustrated with 5 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 — P A Oxley
A very unusual bracket clock with quite possibly a uniquely shaped case. The double fusee movement strikes and repeats the hour on a single bell. The original ground dial is signed Pennington, Camberwell, with Roman numerals and beautifully made blued steel Breguet style hands. The case is veneered with the finest pollard oak and features a very stylised pediment, almost Egyptian style in design. The case sits on wooden block feet and to the sides there are very unusual glazed frets. The dial is accessed via a brass bezel with a convex glass. NOTE: Robert Pennington was an eminent maker and has a prominent place in history with regards to the making of a large number of Marine Timekeepers, as designed by the famous Thomas Mudge. He is also believed to be the inventor of the screw balance. RESTORATON - Both the case and dial have recently been sympathetically restored in our workshops. Although currently in working order, the movement will require a full overhaul and service before delivery. It will then be guaranteed for 3 years
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.
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