Clocks · Longcase clock
Scottish longcase clock by William Young, Dundee, c. 1835
- Maker / attribution
- William Young (maker)
- Date
- c. 1835
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- Scotland
- Place
- Dundee
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany, rosewood, satinwood
- Dimensions
- Height 7 ft 1 in (216 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 468
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 468)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Scottish Longcase Clock by William Young of Dundee (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 468), this is a longcase clock by William Young, made in Dundee, Scotland, dated c. 1835. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: mahogany, rosewood, satinwood. Recorded dimensions: Height 7 ft 1 in (216 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
An excellent quality mahogany Scottish longcase clock by this prolific maker. The movement is of 8 day duration and strikes the hours on a bell. The arched painted dial has Roman numerals, Arabic minutes at each quarter, seconds and date. The makers name and place of work is displayed across the centre of the dial. The corner paintings depict the Four Seasons and the arch features Act 3, Scene 5 from the well known play Rob Roy. Also with matching brass hands for both the time, seconds and date dials. The exceptionally well made cabinet work displays flame veneered panels, extensive satinwood and rosewood inlay and with the rare use of burr elm to the swan necks and the base of each trunk pillar. The base stands on typical small bracket feet and the trunk is bordered with quarter reeded pillars with mahogany capitals. The hood also displays reeded pillars terminating with brass Doric capitals. The hood has inspection windows to the sides and a swan neck top with brass paterea and a central brass eagle finial. A beautiful example of Scottish Clockmaking. Note: William Young was a prolific maker of longcase clocks and the cabinet work used is always of the highest quality. He is listed as Watch & Clockmaker and working in the High Street, Dundee until at least 1845. Maker William Young of Dundee
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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