Clocks · Longcase clock
Small grandmother clock by Gillett & Johnston, Croydon, c. 1900
- Maker / attribution
- Gillett & Johnston (maker)
- Date
- c. 1900
- Historical period
- Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- Croydon
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany
- Dimensions
- Height 5 ft 9 in (175 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 627
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 627)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Small Grandmother Clock by Gillett of Johnston of Croydon (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 627), this is a longcase clock by Gillett & Johnston, made in Croydon, England, dated c. 1900. The Atlas places it in the Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking period (1900 – 1945) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: mahogany. Recorded dimensions: Height 5 ft 9 in (175 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
A high quality antique grandmother clock by this well known maker. The two train 8 day movement striking the hours on a rear mounted coiled gong. The substantial regulator movement with deadbeat escapement, maintaining power, two brass weights and unusual lozenge shaped pendulum bob. The finely engraved silvered brass arch dial with Roman hours, blued steel hands and strike/silent facility to the arch. The small mahogany case of excellent proportions with a long trunk door with reeded canted corners and elaborately shaped glass. The base with a single shaped plinth and recessed panel with ornate moulding. The hood with a broken arch top and well cut sound frets to the side, reeded canted corners and bevelled glass to the hood door. Being a recent new arrival this clock will require a full service to the movement and some minor restorations to the case will also need to be carried out before delivery. Please contact us if you are interested in this clock. Note: Gillett & Johnston are also still trading in Croydon. They specialised in Turret clocks and public clocks. They also supplied bells from their own Foundry. Only a very small number of high quality weight driven grandmother clocks were made during this particular period. Gillett & Johnston clearly were the main specialists in this field.
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
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.
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