Clocks · Tavern clock
Tavern clock by Handley & Moore, Clerkenwell Close London, c. 1800–1820
- Maker / attribution
- Handley & Moore (maker)
- Date
- c. 1800–1820
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- Clerkenwell Close London
- Object type
- Tavern clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany
- Dimensions
- Height 110 cm
- Stock no.
- SKU 113
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (SKU 113)
- Catalogue title (original)
- HANDLEY & MOORE. A FINE, MAHOGANY TAVERN CLOCK BY THIS WELL-KNOWN LONDON PARTNERSHIP. (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number SKU 113), this is a tavern clock by Handley & Moore, made in Clerkenwell Close London, England, dated c. 1800–1820. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: mahogany. Recorded dimensions: Height 110 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 — Howard Walwyn
A fine, mahogany tavern clock by this well-known London partnership. The case, of classic tavern clock style, has access doors to the movement on both sides of the trunk and a pendulum access door in the inverted base. The veneer to the front has a fine flame figure which is carried down from below the dial to the inward sloping foot. The white dial, turned from a single piece of mahogany and with a narrow, crisply shaped moulded edge, is signed by the maker on the very finely crazed ground above and below the centre. The chapter ring has Roman hour numerals, double minutes circle and outside five minutes marks. The original brass hands have elongated heart tips, the minute with counterpoise tail. The 8 day timepiece movement has substantial shouldered plates and a four wheel train with anchor escapement. It has a steel rod pendulum with brass faced bob and a rectangular lead weight. Height: 43 ¼ in (110 cm) Dial: 21 ¾ in (55 cm) * Handley & Moore were apprenticed to the well known Jno Thwaites and were at 39 Clerkenwell Close from 1801 – 1820. The partnership continued until the death of G. Handley in 1824. An example of their work is in the British Museum. Their bracket clocks are well known and we have seen some fine and frequently very large dial clocks but this is only the second tavern clock by this famous partnership which we have handled in over 35 years. HW5826 Signed / Inscribed HANDLEY & MOORE, CLERKENWELL CLOSE
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
Domestic clocks
A clock combines four systems: a source of power (falling weight, coiled spring, or later electricity), a gear train that divides time, an escapement and oscillator that regulate it (foliot, pendulum or balance), and an indicating system of dial and hands or a bell. Its history runs from the large iron weight-driven clocks of the late thirteenth century to Renaissance spring-driven table clocks, the pendulum revolution of 1656, the factory clocks of the nineteenth century and electric and quartz clocks of the twentieth.
Domestic clocks also reflect regional furniture and decorative traditions — English longcase and bracket clocks, French pendules, Viennese regulators, Black Forest and American shelf clocks — and therefore record changing tastes as much as technical progress.
What to look for
- How the clock is powered: weights, spring barrel, fusee, electric coil.
- The oscillator: foliot, short pendulum, long seconds pendulum or balance.
- Whether it strikes: hour only (count wheel) or hours and quarters (rack striking).
- The maker or retailer's name on dial and movement, and any factory trademarks.
- Signs of alteration — replaced dials, converted escapements, 'married' cases.
Dating clues
- Before 1656 clocks used foliots or balances; after, most domestic clocks have pendulums.
- Anchor escapements spread after c. 1670; minute hands became common at the same time.
- Factory production in America and Germany transformed prices after c. 1840.
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:Verge escapementFoliot
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