Clocks · Tavern clock
Tavern clock, England, c. 1760-1770
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- c. 1760-1770
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- England
- Object type
- Tavern clock
- Materials / technique
- wood, brass, steel
- Dimensions
- 700x210x1330 mm
- Holding institution
- Museo Galileo, Florence
- Accession / object no.
- Inv. 3731
- Credit line
- Museo Galileo, Florence
- Catalogue title (original)
- Tavern clock (English)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Museo Galileo, Florence (object number Inv. 3731), this is a tavern clock, made in England, dated c. 1760-1770. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: wood, brass, steel. Recorded dimensions: 700x210x1330 mm. The record is illustrated with 1 photograph.
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
Catalogue description — Museo Galileo
The varnished and lacquered wooden case is of the English "shield" type. The lower part of the clock has a door decorated with a lacquered Chinese landscape. Opening the door gives access to the pendulum and driving weight. In the compartment behind the dial another door gives access to the movement. The ends of the upper cornice carried two small ornamental vases or knobs, for which the housing holes remain. The large dial originally had a black background with gold numerals and line markings, still visible. The hands are replacements. The winding hole is just under the center. The train comprises four wheels, including the main wheel on the axle of the rope-winding drum and not counting the escapement wheel. The rugged steel escapement is an anchor version. The seconds pendulum has a spring suspension and brass crutch. The rod ends in a hook to which was attached a weight (missing) less cumbersome than the bob. This design is well known. It is often referred to as an "Act of Parliament Clock" because of a misinterpretation of a tax introduced in 1797. Its standard name is "tavern clock" and the size of the dial certainly made it suitable for large public premises. As it could be hung from a safe height and had a short case, it was protected from potential damage from overcrowding in the locale where it was installed.
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.
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