Clocks · Wall clock
Single fusee wall clock by Fehrenbach, Upton Park, c. 1845
- Maker / attribution
- Fehrenbach (maker)
- Date
- c. 1845
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- Upton Park
- Object type
- Wall clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany, ebony
- Dimensions
- Height 12 in (30 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 440
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 440)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Single fusee wall clock by Fehrenbach of Upton Park (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 440), this is a wall clock by Fehrenbach, made in Upton Park, England, dated c. 1845. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: mahogany, ebony. Recorded dimensions: Height 12 in (30 cm). The record is illustrated with 4 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 good quality English fusee wall clock. The 8 day duration single fusee movement with anchor escapement and shaped plates. The 12" diameter convex white dial with Roman chapters and matching blued steel hands. The mahogany case with a lockable glazed convex cast brass bezel with silvered brass sight ring and mahogany surround. The drop dial case with highly figured mahogany veneer to the front elevation and with a pendulum window surrounded with ebony and brass inlay. The underside with a lockable access door and veneered with flame mahogany. Note: The Fehrenbachs originated from the town of Baden in Germany. They appear to have been very successful Clockmakers and retailers throughout the majority of the 19th century and were located in many parts of the United Kingdom. Maker Fehrenbach of Upton Park
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
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.
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