Clocks · Longcase clock
Quarter striking moonphase longcase clock by Robert Higgs, London
- Maker / attribution
- Robert Higgs (maker)
- Date
- c. 1880
- Historical period
- Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Dimensions
- Height 246 cm
- Stock no.
- Product 2849
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, The Antique Clock Company (product 2849)
- Catalogue title (original)
- QUARTER STRIKING MOONPHASE LONGCASE CLOCK – ROBERT HIGGS – LONDON (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by The Antique Clock Company (dealer), Dorset (stock number Product 2849), this is a longcase clock by Robert Higgs, made in London, England, dated c. 1880. The Atlas places it in the Industrial Revolution period (1850 – 1900) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: Height 246 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
This stunning quarter chiming longcase clock boasts the high-quality workmanship associated with clockmaking excellence. A truly stunning case would not look out of place amongst the very best, with the beautiful solid mahogany case, elegant dial and comprehensive movement to match. This is a delightful clock that would complement any collection. Movement : The substantial movement held by five knopped pillars is of 8-day duration, with three brass bound weights driving the clock. The movement runs three trains for the going train; to tell the time and date, the hourly strike train; striking a single bell upon the hour, and the quarter chiming train; striking a nest of 8 bells, where each strike represents each quarter hour passed. Using anchor escapement, with a seconds pendulum and lenticular brass bob. Case : A delightful, and majestic mahogany case. The sophisticated deep flamed Mahogany case with pagoda top and three urn finials over elaborate pierced sound frets and free standing reeded columns, above a long shaped moulded door with canted corners and typical London applied panel base upon a double plinth. Dial : The 12” Break-arch brass dial with smartly engraved centre, Date aperture above VI and silvered engraved seconds subsidiary dial below XII featuring Arabic 5 second markers. Surrounded by the silvered engraved chapter ring featuring both roman numerals and Arabic five minute markers. The rococo spandrels have all been cast and chased to improve finishing and definition. In the break-arch there is a dial to show the phases of the moon. This would have originally been used to know when it was best to travel by moon-light. The dial is completed with original all finely shaped and blued steel hands. Height: 97″ or 246 cm
Provenance
Private collection U.K.
Historical context
Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
American interchangeable-parts manufacture; railroad time standards; Swiss and German factory systems.
Factory production transformed the clock into an everyday object. American makers (Seth Thomas, Ansonia, Waterbury) and German factories (Junghans, Gustav Becker, Lenzkirch) sold millions of shelf, wall and alarm clocks worldwide; France produced standardised Paris movements and carriage clocks; electric time distribution began.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Precision & Scientific Horology
Atlas type guide
Longcase (tall-case or grandfather) clocks
The longcase clock was born from two seventeenth-century innovations: Christiaan Huygens's pendulum (1656–57) and the anchor escapement (c. 1670). A long seconds pendulum, nearly a metre long, swings with a small arc, and enclosing it together with the driving weights in a tall wooden case protected the mechanism and created a new piece of furniture. London makers such as Ahasuerus Fromanteel, Thomas Tompion and Joseph Knibb set the pattern.
By the eighteenth century longcase clocks were made throughout Britain, the Netherlands, Scandinavia (the Swedish Mora clock), France (the Comtoise from the Franche-Comté), Germany and colonial America. Eight-day movements with two weights became standard in better clocks; thirty-hour clocks with one weight and a rope or chain were cheaper alternatives.
What to look for
- Winding holes in the dial: two (eight-day, going and striking) or none (thirty-hour, pulled up by a chain).
- Brass dials with applied chapter rings (earlier) versus painted iron 'white' dials (after c. 1770 in Britain).
- Moon-phase arches, date apertures, seconds dials and maker's name on the dial.
- Case woods and style: ebonised, walnut marquetry, lacquer, oak or mahogany; regional styles from London, Lancashire, Scotland or America.
- Whether the movement and dial match the case — 'marriages' are common.
Dating clues
- Square brass dials suggest c. 1670–1720; arched brass dials c. 1715–1790.
- Painted (white) dials were made by Birmingham dial-makers from about 1772.
- Comtoise clocks with repoussé pendulums are mostly nineteenth century.
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:Deadbeat escapementAnchor escapement
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