Clocks · Striking clock
Striking mantel clock with round silvered dial and brass bezel in a mahogany arch top case with stringing inlay
- Maker / attribution
- Gillett & Johnston (Factory of); Prestons (Originally retailed by)
- Date
- 1920–1923
- Historical period
- Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
- Country of origin
- British Isles
- Place
- British Isles
- Object type
- Striking clock
- Dimensions
- Height: 376 millimetres Width: 256 millimetres Depth: 184 millimetres
- Holding institution
- British Museum
- Accession / object no.
- 2012,8001.14
- Credit line
- British Museum, London
- Catalogue title (original)
- Striking mantel clock with round silvered dial and brass bezel in a mahogany arch top case with stringing inlay (English)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by British Museum (object number 2012,8001.14), this is a striking clock by Gillett & Johnston, made in British Isles, dated 1920–1923. The Atlas places it in the Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking period (1900 – 1945) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: Height: 376 millimetres Width: 256 millimetres Depth: 184 millimetres. 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
Description — British Museum
Striking mantel clock with round silvered dial and brass bezel in a mahogany arch top case with stringing inlay. Double-fusee movement with pendulum escapement.
Curator's comments — British Museum
See 'Clockmaking in England and Wales in the Twentieth Century : the industrialized manufacture of domestic mechanical clocks' by John Glanville and William M. Wolmuth, Crowood Press , 2015 p141 + 149 Made by Gillett & Johnston, this model was introduced in 1920, as advertised in Horological Journal, and it has the Johnston patent (135891) pendulum,… designed by C.F. Johnston, with temperature compensation, having a rectangular section invar rod,with adjustment screw at centre of the bob - exactly arranged so expands up as much as down. These pendulums were more often seen on the best grandfather clocks, and is unusual to see it in a fusee bracket clock. These clocks were listed for £45 in the Gillet & Johnston catalogue. -J. Glanville.
Inscriptions & marks
inscription; dial; PRESTONS LTD.; BOLTON; inscription; movement back plate; 14847; with 'bell' logo
Provenance
Purchased from:, John Glanville, Purchased from:, Bill Wolmuth
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
Mantel and French pendule clocks
The mantel clock — the French pendule de cheminée — is as much decorative art as timekeeper. From the late seventeenth century Parisian clockmakers worked with cabinet-makers, bronze founders and gilders (ciseleurs-doreurs) to create cases in Boulle marquetry, gilt bronze and marble, while the movements were often supplied by specialist makers. Clocks of the Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI periods, and Empire clocks with allegorical figures, set fashions copied across Europe.
The nineteenth century industrialised the type. The 'Paris movement', a standardised round movement with silk-thread or Brocot suspension and count-wheel striking, was made in huge numbers by firms such as Japy and Vincenti, and fitted into cases of every style and material.
What to look for
- Round 'Paris' movements with makers' stamps (e.g. Japy Frères, Vincenti, S. Marti) and medal marks from exhibitions.
- Suspension type: silk thread (earlier) or Brocot adjustable suspension (after c. 1840).
- Visible Brocot escapement on the dial in later clocks.
- Fire-gilt (mercury) gilding on bronzes versus later electro-gilding.
- Signed dials naming a retailer rather than the movement maker.
Dating clues
- Silk-suspension Paris movements: c. 1800–1850.
- Brocot suspension and visible escapements: after c. 1840.
- Exhibition medal stamps on movements give dates after the medal year.
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) escapement
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