Clocks · Bracket clock
Verge bracket clock by William, Plymouth Dock
- Maker / attribution
- William (maker)
- Date
- c. 1790
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- Plymouth Dock
- Object type
- Bracket clock
- Dimensions
- Height 49.5 cm
- Stock no.
- Product 1572
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, The Antique Clock Company (product 1572)
- Catalogue title (original)
- A VERGE BRACKET CLOCK BY WILLIAM LANCASTER OF PLYMOUTH DOCK (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by The Antique Clock Company (dealer), Dorset (stock number Product 1572), this is a bracket clock by William, made in Plymouth Dock, England, dated c. 1790. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: Height 49.5 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 — The Antique Clock Company
A Verge Bracket Clock by William Lancaster of Plymouth Dock A fine 5 pillar, striking bracket clock by William Lancaster of Plymouth Dock. The twin fusee movement is of 8-day duration and has its original knife edge verge escapement. It strikes the hours on a bell with a pull repeat feature. The movement back-plate is elegantly decorated with scroll engraving and signed on the apron. The original painted break arch dial is embellished with floral designs to the corners. The Roman hour numerals are surrounded by the Arabic 5-minute markers and the brass sweep centre calendar hand points to the date towards the centre. The understated elegance is continued in the strike/silent to the arch and the dial is complete with the original blued steel hands. The fine mahogany bell top case with aesthetically pleasing proportions has cross banding to each corner, brass feet, brass fret work, a brass handle and pineapple finials. Height: 19 ½” or 49.5cm (handle up) **This clock is delivered and set up for free within the UK. We regularly ship clocks all over the world with our trusted Fine Antiques Packers & Shippers. Please ask for a quote should you require this service.
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
Bracket, table and spring-driven clocks
Spring-driven clocks freed timekeeping from the hanging weight. The coiled mainspring, documented from the fifteenth century, made portable table clocks possible; to even out its declining force, makers used the fusee, a conical pulley connected to the barrel by a gut line or chain. Renaissance table clocks from Augsburg and Nuremberg — drum-shaped, square or tower-shaped in gilt brass — were luxury scientific objects, often with astronomical dials and alarms.
After the pendulum, English makers developed the bracket clock: a wooden case with a carrying handle, a short pendulum with a verge escapement, and often repeating work to sound the hours on demand at night. Later examples use the anchor escapement. In the nineteenth century, 'table clock' became a broad term for spring clocks of every nationality.
What to look for
- A fusee in the movement (cone-shaped pulley) and the type of line — gut or chain.
- Verge escapement with a short bob pendulum, often with a decoratively engraved backplate.
- Repeat cords or buttons that make the clock strike again on demand.
- Gilt-brass engraved cases and horizontal dials on Renaissance pieces.
- Case shapes: inverted bell, bell top, break-arch, lancet or balloon.
Dating clues
- Drum and tower table clocks: c. 1520–1650.
- Ebony veneered English bracket clocks with verge escapements: c. 1670–1800.
- Engraved backplates were usual on English clocks until c. 1800, then generally plain.
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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