Clocks · Clock
Smiths Sectric synchronous motor electric wall clock with centre seconds hand, by Smiths English Clocks Ltd, England c. 1946
- Maker / attribution
- Smiths English Clocks Limited (maker)
- Date
- circa 1946
- Historical period
- Modern Mechanical Horology (1945 – 1969)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- England, United Kingdom, England
- Object type
- Clock
- Dimensions
- overall: 78 mm, 295 mm, 1.4 kg
- Holding institution
- Science Museum Group, London
- Accession / object no.
- 2015-518
- Catalogue title (original)
- Sectric synchronous motor electric wall clock
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Science Museum Group, London (object number 2015-518), this is a clock by Smiths English Clocks Limited, made in England, United Kingdom, England, dated circa 1946. The Atlas places it in the Modern Mechanical Horology period (1945 – 1969) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: overall: 78 mm, 295 mm, 1.4 kg. The record is illustrated with 3 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
The source record does not include a narrative description. The structured fields above are reproduced from it.
Historical context
Modern Mechanical Horology (1945 – 1969)
Tool watches for divers, pilots and astronauts; electric watches anticipate the electronic age.
Post-war clocks combined new materials and industrial design: plastic and metal cases, battery-powered transistor movements from the late 1950s, and design classics by George Nelson, Max Bill and others. The first caesium atomic clock (1955) moved the definition of time from astronomy to physics.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking
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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