Clocks · Longcase clock
Scottish longcase clock by Gordon, Aberdeen, c. 1775
- Maker / attribution
- Gordon (maker)
- Date
- c. 1775
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- Scotland
- Place
- Aberdeen
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany
- Dimensions
- Height 7 ft 2 in (218 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 606
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 606)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Scottish longcase clock by Gordon of Aberdeen (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 606), this is a longcase clock by Gordon, made in Aberdeen, Scotland, dated c. 1775. 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 7 ft 2 in (218 cm). The record is illustrated with 2 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 & high quality Aberdeen longcase clock. Featuring an eight day duration 5 pillar London quality movement and striking the hours on a bell. The full brass dial has a matted centre showing seconds, date and blued steel hands. The makers name Hugh Gordon, Aberdeen is engraved on a silver brass cartouche in the arch. Also with a silvered brass chapter ring and brass spandrels to the corners and arch. The typical Aberdeen cabinetwork has the unusual feature of a bookmatched veneered door. This has created a quite exquisite and attractive design. The plain base stands on solid mahogany ogee feet. The broken arch top to the hood has a well carved acanthus leaf to the centre. A very popular design feature on Aberdeen longcase clocks. The plain mahogany pillars are mounted with brass Doric capitals and there are inspection windows to both sides of the hood An excellent example of Aberdeen Clockmaking NOTE: This clock has just arrived and although currently in working order, the movement will require a full service and overhaul. It will then be guaranteed for 3 years.
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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