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Silent Electric Clock Co. master wall clock, early 1900s — view 1 of 1
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Clocks · Wall clock

Silent Electric Clock Co. master wall clock, early 1900s

DocumentedDocumented from an auction catalogue; attribution as stated by the auction house.
Maker / attribution
Unrecorded in source
Date
early 1900s
Historical period
Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
Country of origin
Unrecorded in source
Object type
Wall clock
Dimensions
Height 65 in (165 cm)
Auction house
Gardiner Houlgate (auction house), Corsham
Lot
Sale 7, lot 1140
Credit line
Auction lot record: lot 1140, Fine Clocks, Gardiner Houlgate (27th October 2022)
Catalogue title (original)
Fine and rare Silent Electric Clock Co. master wall clock, the 10" square silvered dial signed Silent Electric Clock Co. London with stylised foliate engraved decoration, the movement with auxiliary c (English)

View the source record (auction lot) ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction

Record summary

Catalogued by Gardiner Houlgate (auction house), Corsham (lot Sale 7, lot 1140), this is a wall clock, dated early 1900s. The Atlas places it in the Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking period (1900 – 1945) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: Height 65 in (165 cm). The record is illustrated with 1 photograph.

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

Lot description — Gardiner Houlgate

Fine and rare Silent Electric Clock Co. master wall clock, the 10" square silvered dial signed Silent Electric Clock Co. London with stylised foliate engraved decoration, the movement with auxiliary contacts and also signed, within a bevelled glazed oak case, 65" high overall (pendulum and bob) **Dating from the early 1900s, this rare wall mounted one second master clock has a two section one piece pendulum. This clock is featured on the Clockdoc.org website

Historical context

Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)

The wristwatch displaces the pocket watch; waterproof cases, self-winding and grand complications.

Between 1900 and 1945 clocks were electrified: master-clock systems ran factories and offices, synchronous mains clocks entered homes, and the Shortt free-pendulum clock set new standards of accuracy before the first quartz clocks (1927). Art Deco design reshaped mantel and table clocks.

Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Industrial Revolution

Atlas type guide

Regulators, wall and Vienna clocks

A regulator is a precision pendulum clock used as a time standard in observatories, workshops and railway offices. Typical features are a deadbeat or Graham escapement, a temperature-compensated pendulum (mercury jar, gridiron or later invar), maintaining power and a regulator dial that separates hours, minutes and seconds. George Graham's deadbeat escapement (c. 1715) and his mercury pendulum, together with Harrison's gridiron, set the pattern for two centuries.

Wall clocks span a much wider range: the elegant Viennese Laterndluhr and Dachluhr of the Biedermeier period, the Dutch stoelklok and staartklok, English 'dial' clocks used in schools, offices and railway stations, and mass-produced spring and weight wall clocks from Germany (Gustav Becker, Junghans, Kienzle) and America.

What to look for

  • Deadbeat escapement and compensated pendulum (gridiron rods, mercury jar or wood rod).
  • A regulator dial with a large central minute hand and separate hour and seconds dials.
  • Vienna regulators: glazed cases, slender pendulum, small weights, enamel two-piece dials.
  • German factory trademarks stamped on the backplate (e.g. Gustav Becker anchor and crown, Junghans star).

Dating clues

  • Graham-type deadbeat regulators: from c. 1720.
  • Viennese Laterndluhr: c. 1800–1850.
  • German factory 'Vienna-style' regulators: c. 1870–1930; Gustav Becker serial numbers allow close dating.

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:Deadbeat escapementAnchor (recoil) escapementGrasshopper escapement

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