Clocks · Longcase clock
Quarter striking regulator grandfather clock by Mann, Gloucester, c. 1900
- Maker / attribution
- Mann (maker)
- Date
- c. 1900
- Historical period
- Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- Gloucester
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany
- Dimensions
- Height 7 ft 4 in (224 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 265
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 265)
- Catalogue title (original)
- An impressive quarter striking Regulator Grandfather Clock by Mann of Gloucester (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 265), this is a longcase clock by Mann, made in Gloucester, England, dated c. 1900. The Atlas places it in the Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking period (1900 – 1945) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: mahogany. Recorded dimensions: Height 7 ft 4 in (224 cm). The record is illustrated with 4 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 high quality late Victorian Grandfather Clock with Regulator and Quarter Striking movement. The impressive and substantial 8 day duration Regulator movement with large thick plates, deadbeat escapement, superb quality maintaining power and with beat adjustment screws to the back cock. The movement also features a large pin barrel to the rear which enables the clock to strike on the quarters. A tune selection dial is situated in the arch of the dial which depicts Whittington, St Michael and Westminster. The quarters are struck on eight chrome plated tubes hanging from cast iron brackets to the rear of the case. The hour is struck on a larger chrome plated tube positioned next to the movement. The pendulum is also of a large construction with a silvered brass regulation nut. The dial has a separate silvered brass chapter ring with applied brass Arabic numerals, seconds and two subsidiary dials to the arch controlling the chime silent of the quarters and tune selection. At IX there is also a Strike/Silent lever for the main hour chime. The dial is elaborately decorated with applied brass fretwork which is engraved to a very high standard. The retailers name of W. C. Mann, Gloucester is shown on a silvered brass cartouche above position VI. The mahogany case with a single shaped plinth to the panelled base, canted corners to the trunk and with a glazed door showing the substantial brass cased weights. The hood with solid pillars, large brass capitals, fretwork to the sound frets and a removable pediment with four mahogany finials. Note: The Mann family is a well established firm of Jewellers & Watchmakers in and around the Gloucester area. The business was originally started in 1741 and there are still premises in Cirencester and Stroud today. William Charles Mann was the son of William Mann, also a well established Jeweller and Watchmaker. In 1874 W. C. went into partnership with his Father and after Williams death in 1880 he took over the running of the business. There are many Census records available showing him to be the head of the household with several daughters, wife Elizabeth and a number of servants. They were based at The Cross, 1 Northgate Street, Gloucester for many years. It was obviously a very successful business which led him to retailing clocks such as this one which would have probably been made in Clerkenwell, London to the retailers specification. Maker Mann of Gloucester
Historical context
Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
The wristwatch displaces the pocket watch; waterproof cases, self-winding and grand complications.
Between 1900 and 1945 clocks were electrified: master-clock systems ran factories and offices, synchronous mains clocks entered homes, and the Shortt free-pendulum clock set new standards of accuracy before the first quartz clocks (1927). Art Deco design reshaped mantel and table clocks.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Industrial Revolution
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.
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