Skip to content
Watch MuseumHorology Atlas
Wall clock, 1800–1850 — view 1 of 1
View 1 of 1 · Image: DampfLand Leute - Museum Eslohe · original image source (opens another website in a new tab)

Clocks · Wall clock

Wall clock, 1800–1850

DocumentedDocumented from the holding institution's catalogue record.
Maker / attribution
Unrecorded in source
Date
1800–1850
Historical period
Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
Country of origin
Unrecorded in source
Object type
Wall clock
Materials / technique
Metall; Holz; Glas
Dimensions
H 46,5 cm, B41 cm, T 16,5 cm
Holding institution
DampfLandLeute - Museum Eslohe
Accession / object no.
2012/1027
Credit line
DampfLandLeute - Museum Eslohe
Catalogue title (original)
Wanduhr (German)

View the source record ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction

Record summary

Held and catalogued by DampfLandLeute - Museum Eslohe (object number 2012/1027), this is a wall clock, dated 1800–1850. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: Metall; Holz; Glas. Recorded dimensions: H 46,5 cm, B41 cm, T 16,5 cm. 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 from DampfLandLeute - Museum Eslohe (German)

Mechanische Wanduhr, Aufzug durch Gewichte, mit Spiralfederschlagwerk, geschlossenes Holzgehäuse, über dem Zifferblatt gemaltes Bild (Mädchen mit Hund) sowie mechanischer Kuckuck hinter einer Klappe. Die Augen des Mädchens und des Hundes sowie der Kuckuck sind durch ein Spielwerk in der Uhr beweglich.

Shown in the original language of the source catalogue. An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.

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

Regulators, wall and Vienna clocks

A regulator is a precision pendulum clock used as a time standard in observatories, workshops and railway offices. Typical features are a deadbeat or Graham escapement, a temperature-compensated pendulum (mercury jar, gridiron or later invar), maintaining power and a regulator dial that separates hours, minutes and seconds. George Graham's deadbeat escapement (c. 1715) and his mercury pendulum, together with Harrison's gridiron, set the pattern for two centuries.

Wall clocks span a much wider range: the elegant Viennese Laterndluhr and Dachluhr of the Biedermeier period, the Dutch stoelklok and staartklok, English 'dial' clocks used in schools, offices and railway stations, and mass-produced spring and weight wall clocks from Germany (Gustav Becker, Junghans, Kienzle) and America.

What to look for

  • Deadbeat escapement and compensated pendulum (gridiron rods, mercury jar or wood rod).
  • A regulator dial with a large central minute hand and separate hour and seconds dials.
  • Vienna regulators: glazed cases, slender pendulum, small weights, enamel two-piece dials.
  • German factory trademarks stamped on the backplate (e.g. Gustav Becker anchor and crown, Junghans star).

Dating clues

  • Graham-type deadbeat regulators: from c. 1720.
  • Viennese Laterndluhr: c. 1800–1850.
  • German factory 'Vienna-style' regulators: c. 1870–1930; Gustav Becker serial numbers allow close dating.

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:Deadbeat escapementAnchor (recoil) escapementGrasshopper escapement

Related records

Longcase clock by Louis George, Eberswalde, c. 1780

Clocks · c. 1780

Longcase clock by Louis George, Eberswalde, c. 1780

Museum Eberswalde

Musical longcase clock, Roentgen workshop, Neuwied, 1780s

Clocks · 1780s (inferred: the museum dates the style to the 1780s and the music includes Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride of 1779)

Musical longcase clock, Roentgen workshop, Neuwied, 1780s

Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe

Longcase clock, English, 1740–1760, japanned wood, John Ellicott

Clocks · 1740–1760

Longcase clock, English, 1740–1760, japanned wood, John Ellicott

Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Tall clock by Samuel Bagnall, United States, 1740–60

Clocks · 1740–60

Tall clock by Samuel Bagnall, United States, 1740–60

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Long-case clock, English, ca. 1750, by Richard Peyton of Gloucester

Clocks · c.1750

Long-case clock, English, ca. 1750, by Richard Peyton of Gloucester

Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Bracket clock in metal case with scroll handles and flamed-shaped top signed by Pierre Seignoret, Clockmaket to the the Comte d'Artois

Clocks · 1750–1800

Bracket clock in metal case with scroll handles and flamed-shaped top signed by Pierre Seignoret, Clockmaket to the the Comte d'Artois

Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Clock by Georg Gfell, Germany, c. 1750

Clocks · c. 1750

Clock by Georg Gfell, Germany, c. 1750

German Clock Museum

Cuckoo / black forest clock, Germany, 1750–1799

Clocks · 1750–1799

Cuckoo / black forest clock, Germany, 1750–1799

Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe