Clocks · Tavern clock
Tavern clock by Thomas Grignion, c. 1760
- Maker / attribution
- Thomas Grignion (maker)
- Date
- c. 1760
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Tavern clock
- Dimensions
- Height 145 cm
- Stock no.
- Product 4867
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (product 4867)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Thomas Grignion. A rare George III period striking tavern clock. (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number Product 4867), this is a tavern clock by Thomas Grignion, dated c. 1760. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: Height 145 cm. 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
Dealer description — Howard Walwyn
A fine and rare George III period chinoiserie-decorated striking tavern clock by this well regarded London clockmaker. The case has a tear-drop trunk with carved foliate ears beneath the dial surround, the whole finished in black lacquer and finely heightened in gilt. The trunk is framed with double gilt outlines and scattered gilt sprigs, centred by a chinoiserie scene with figures in a landscape of pavilions and pagoda-like buildings, with birds in flight above. There is a full length tear-drop shaped door to the centre of the trunk and the base is finished with a moulded foot and further gilt ornamentation. The 22-inch painted wooden white dial is laid out with Roman numerals for the hours and an outer Arabic minute ring marked at the five-minute intervals. The signature is painted at the top and reads Thomas Grignion / Covent Garden . It retains its wooden bezel with gilt borders and matching brass hands with pierced heart-shaped tips. There are two winding apertures to the lower half for the going and striking trains. The 8-day movement is arranged for timekeeping and striking, with the trains united by five knopped pillars. The going train is regulated by an anchor escapement, and strikes the hours on a bell via a rack. Date : circa 1760 Dial diameter : 22 in (56 cm) Height : 57 in (145 cm) Maker’s note * Thomas Grignion (born 1713, died 1784) is recorded as a London clock and watchmaker working from the Covent Garden district, and is also associated with developments in precision watchmaking in the mid-18th century. A 1760 submission by Grignion to the Society of Arts is documented, showing him operating at a level beyond routine trade work. Grignion’s timekeepers appear in contemporary scientific circles: Nevil Maskelyne’s papers include chronometer comparisons involving a “Thomas Grignion” timekeeper alongside Arnold and Kendall, underscoring his presence in serious horological circles of the period. JW01
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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