Clocks · Longcase clock
Regulator grandfather clock by Andrew Thomson, Glasgow, c. 1830
- Maker / attribution
- Andrew Thomson (maker)
- Date
- c. 1830
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- Scotland
- Place
- Glasgow
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany
- Dimensions
- Height 6 ft 6 in (198 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 189
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 189)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Regulator Grandfather Clock by Andrew Thomson of Glasgow (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 189), this is a longcase clock by Andrew Thomson, made in Glasgow, Scotland, dated c. 1830. 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 6 ft 6 in (198 cm). The record is illustrated with 6 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 rare and small Regulator antique longcase clock with Pin Wheel Deadbeat escapement and with cabinet work of the highest quality. The 8 day duration Regulator movement with five pillars, Pin Wheel Deadbeat escapement, maintaining power and striking the hours on a gong. The 11¼" square silvered brass dial showing both seconds, date, blued steel hands and makers name. A Strike/Silent facility is also incorporated into the top of the masking. The large bob to the pendulum with flat cast iron rod and unusual pivoted crutch as used by the well known maker John Holmes of London. The unusually designed tapered case of the very highest quality with flame mahogany veneer throughout. The trunk door with Gothic design top, a panelled base and fluted ball feet. The trunk also with tapered and reeded mahogany pillars and oval recessed panels. The hood with reeded mahogany pillars, mahogany capitals and the pediment with an unusual block design feature. Note: The Pin Wheel escapement was a development of the Anchor escapement and was introduced in the middle part of the 18th century to high quality clocks in France. The escapement was also used in Turret Clocks. This escapement is very rare and almost unknown in British longcase clocks. The cabinet of this clock may have been specially commissioned and carried out by one of the many high quality cabinet makers in Scotland. The unusual design and sheer workmanship of the veneering and construction of the case is exceptional and has similarities with the well known and famous furniture makers of the time such as George Bullock or William Trotter. Maker Andrew Thomson of Glasgow
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
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:Anchor escapement
Related records
Clocks · c. 1820–1830
Bracket clock by Bryson, Edinburgh, c. 1820–1830
Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London
Clocks · c. 1820–1830
Bracket clock by J & W Howden, Edinburgh, c. 1820–1830
Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London
Clocks · c. 1810
Clock by Reid and Auld, Edinburgh, c. 1810
Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London
Clocks · c. 1810
Grandfather Clock by Robert Bryson, Edinburgh, c. 1810
Pendulum of Mayfair (dealer), London
Clocks · c. 1790
Grandfather Clock by James Gray, Edinburgh, c. 1790
Pendulum of Mayfair (dealer), London
Clocks · c. 1785
Grandfather Clock by Robert Clidsdale, Edinburgh, c. 1785
Pendulum of Mayfair (dealer), London
Clocks · c. 1795
Grandfather Clock by John Scott, Edinburgh, c. 1795
Pendulum of Mayfair (dealer), London
Clocks · c. 1790
Grandfather Clock by Thos Morgan, Edinburgh, c. 1790
Pendulum of Mayfair (dealer), London