Clocks · Longcase clock
Somerset longcase clock by Alford, Wells, c. 1750
- Maker / attribution
- Alford (maker)
- Date
- c. 1750
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Place
- Wells
- Object type
- Longcase clock
- Materials / technique
- oak, ebony, rosewood
- Dimensions
- Height 6 ft 9 in (206 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 517
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 517)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Somerset longcase clock by Alford of Wells (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 517), this is a longcase clock by Alford, made in Wells, dated c. 1750. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: oak, ebony, rosewood. Recorded dimensions: Height 6 ft 9 in (206 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
Just arrived.... February 2020 An early Somerset longcase clock with extensive inlay to the cabinetwork. The 8 day duration movement striking the hours on a bell and with a 12" square full brass dial with silvered brass chapter ring showing Roman Numerals and Arabic minutes. Featuring a centre date, seconds and a very useful strike/silent mechanism positioned at number III. Also with four cast brass corner spandrels and a finely made pair of blued steel hands. The chapter ring engraved with the makers name Alford of Wells. The oak case with a good light colour throughout and retaining its original original patina. The case is inlaid with Rosewood, Palm and Sycamore inlays, the "Star Bursts" to the base panel and trunk door are in Ebony and Sycamore. The base standing on bracket feet. The flat top hood with oak pillars and gilt wooden capitals to the glazed hood door and repeated to the rear of the hood with quarter pillars. Fully serviced, overhauled and guaranteed for 3 years. Note: James Alford is listed as working in Crowcombe in 1747, it is likely he travelled to Wells to conduct his business or possibly in the records and passing of time the fact he lived in Wells has been lost. Maker Alford of Wells
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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