Clocks · Longcase clock
Regulator grandfather clock by Atkins, London, c. 1800
- Maker / attribution
- Atkins (maker)
- Date
- c. 1800
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany
- Dimensions
- Height 6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 196
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 196)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Antique Regulator Grandfather Clock by Atkins of London (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 196), this is a longcase clock by Atkins, made in London, England, dated c. 1800. 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 1 in (185 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 small and very high quality antique Regulator Longcase Clock. The 8 day duration movement with substantial plates, six large plate pillars, six spoke wheelwork, deadbeat escapement and Harrison maintaining power. Also with jewelled pallets to the anchor escapement and with the very rare feature of oil sinks to the finely made escape wheel. The wood rod pendulum with a substantially large brass bob with a silvered brass rating nut and pointer. The 12" square silvered brass dial with typical regulator dial layout, Observatory marks and makers signature. The small mahogany case with fine flame veneers to both the trunk door and base. The base with a raised panel and double shaped plinth. The hood with canted corners, inspection windows to both sides and a plain flat top. Note: George Atkins was the son of Francis Atkins who was Master of the Clockmakers Company in 1780. George was born in 1767 and worked in Clements Lane and Fenchurch Street with his Father and by himself until 1809. He joined the Clockmakers Company in 1788 and became Master in 1845. He was also one half of the famous clockmaking Partnership Brockbank & Atkins from 1815 - 1821. In the 1851 Census he is listed as a Chronometer Maker. He died in 1855. Maker Atkins of London
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
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