Clocks · Regulator
Regulator clock by Jarvis, Roland, England, 1982
- Maker / attribution
- Jarvis, Roland (maker)
- Date
- 1982
- Historical period
- Quartz Revolution (1969 – 1990)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- Hastings, East Sussex, England, United Kingdom, Hastings
- Object type
- Regulator
- Dimensions
- overall: 1970 mm x 440 mm x 220 mm,
- Holding institution
- Science Museum Group, London
- Accession / object no.
- L2019-483
- Credit line
- Lent by the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers
- Catalogue title (original)
- Astronomical longcase clock with a planetarium by Roland Jarvis
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Science Museum Group, London (object number L2019-483), this is a regulator by Jarvis, Roland, made in Hastings, East Sussex, England, United Kingdom, Hastings, dated 1982. The Atlas places it in the Quartz Revolution period (1969 – 1990) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: overall: 1970 mm x 440 mm x 220 mm. 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
Science Museum Group description
The artist Roland Jarvis (1926-2016) originally studied engineering at King's College London. In his 20s he studied art at Chelsea School of Art and in Paris. He taught at Camberwell, before moving to Hastings in 1982. Jarvis discovered clockmaking in his 40s, and found a particular interest in making clocks with astronomical complications. In his lifetime his clocks were exhibited at the Science Museum, the Crafts Council and the Prescot Museum. In 1987 the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers’ put on an exhibition of Modern British Clock and Watchmaking at the Goldsmiths’ Hall, in which Jarvis featured. Here Jarvis received an award from the Company for excellence in horology. Four years later he won second place in another competition for excellence put on by the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers. Clockmakers' Museum No. 1510
Historical context
Quartz Revolution (1969 – 1990)
Seiko's Astron begins mass quartz timekeeping; traditional industries contract sharply.
Quartz movements and digital displays made accurate clocks cheap and ubiquitous after the early 1970s. LED and LCD clocks, clock radios and radio-controlled clocks appeared, while traditional mechanical clockmaking contracted sharply in Germany, France and Britain.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Modern Mechanical 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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