Clocks · Longcase clock
Satin birch longcase clock by William Beaton, Dunbar, c. 1800
- Maker / attribution
- William Beaton (maker)
- Date
- c. 1800
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- Scotland
- Place
- Dunbar
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Dimensions
- Height 6 ft 10 in (208 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 198
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 198)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Satin Birch Antique Antique Clock by William Beaton of Dunbar (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 198), this is a longcase clock by William Beaton, made in Dunbar, Scotland, dated c. 1800. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: Height 6 ft 10 in (208 cm). The record is illustrated with 5 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
An excellent Scottish longcase clock with a rare Birds Eye Maple & Satin Birch case. The 8 day duration movement striking the hours on a bell. The painted arched dial showing seconds, date, matching brass hands and with well painted fan design corners with flowers. The arch also with a basket of flowers. The makers name painted to the centre of the dial surrounded by Roman numerals and Arabic minutes. The rare Satin Birch case with solid Birds Eye Maple to both the trunk door and hood door. The trunk also with reeded quarter pillars with Satin Birch Capitals. The plain base with small bracket feet. The hood with reeded and brass capped angle pillars. The swan neck top with brass paterae, a brass eagle finial and typical Scottish Satin Birch fretwork. Maker William Beaton of Dunbar
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 (recoil) escapementDeadbeat escapementAnchor escapement
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