Clocks · Regulator
Regulator by Barwise, St Martin's Lane, London, c. 1810
- Maker / attribution
- Barwise (maker)
- Date
- c. 1810
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- St Martin's Lane, London
- Object type
- Regulator
- Materials / technique
- mahogany
- Dimensions
- Height 180.5 cm
- Stock no.
- SKU 441
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (SKU 441)
- Catalogue title (original)
- BARWISE. A fine early 19th century mahogany regulator of very rare small size. (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number SKU 441), this is a regulator by Barwise, made in St Martin's Lane, 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: mahogany. Recorded dimensions: Height 180.5 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 — Howard Walwyn
A fine early 19 th century mahogany regulator of very rare small size, the rear of the dial numbered by the maker 127 58. The high-quality 8-day regulator movement has a 10 inch silvered circular dial with traditional domestic layout of Roman hours and subsidiary Arabic seconds and blued steel hands. It is weight driven and has maintaining power to the deadbeat escapement with jewelled pallets. The diminutive well-proportioned case has a flat topped hood with quadrant mouldings to each corner and a convex glass door with brass bezel. The full length trunk door and base have recessed panels and are in finely patinated mahogany. Date : circa 1810 Height : 71 in (180.5 cm) * John Barwise is recorded on page 47 of Brian Loomes’ Clockmakers of the World as working in St Martin’s Lane from circa 1780 until 1818. Small regulators of this quality and age are comparatively rare. JB02
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
Regulators, wall and Vienna clocks
A regulator is a precision pendulum clock used as a time standard in observatories, workshops and railway offices. Typical features are a deadbeat or Graham escapement, a temperature-compensated pendulum (mercury jar, gridiron or later invar), maintaining power and a regulator dial that separates hours, minutes and seconds. George Graham's deadbeat escapement (c. 1715) and his mercury pendulum, together with Harrison's gridiron, set the pattern for two centuries.
Wall clocks span a much wider range: the elegant Viennese Laterndluhr and Dachluhr of the Biedermeier period, the Dutch stoelklok and staartklok, English 'dial' clocks used in schools, offices and railway stations, and mass-produced spring and weight wall clocks from Germany (Gustav Becker, Junghans, Kienzle) and America.
What to look for
- Deadbeat escapement and compensated pendulum (gridiron rods, mercury jar or wood rod).
- A regulator dial with a large central minute hand and separate hour and seconds dials.
- Vienna regulators: glazed cases, slender pendulum, small weights, enamel two-piece dials.
- German factory trademarks stamped on the backplate (e.g. Gustav Becker anchor and crown, Junghans star).
Dating clues
- Graham-type deadbeat regulators: from c. 1720.
- Viennese Laterndluhr: c. 1800–1850.
- German factory 'Vienna-style' regulators: c. 1870–1930; Gustav Becker serial numbers allow close dating.
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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