Clocks · Wall clock
Wall clock by David Davies, London, c. 1810
- Maker / attribution
- David Davies (maker)
- Date
- c. 1810
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Wall clock
- Dimensions
- Height 46 cm
- Stock no.
- Product 5236
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (product 5236)
- Catalogue title (original)
- DAVID DAVIES. A fine late George III period silvered-dial wall timepiece. (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number Product 5236), this is a wall clock by David Davies, made in London, England, dated c. 1810. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: Height 46 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 late George III period silvered- dial wall timepiece with verge escapement, single fusee movement and dummy pendulum, housed in an elegant mahogany ‘saltbox’ case. The case is of constructed nicely patinated mahogany with a caddy-moulded surround to the circular dial and a cast-brass cavetto bezel on a hinge. The shallow saltbox back has an ogee-shouldered top and a conforming shaped pendant apron, with a hinged access door to the right hand side. The 12-inch silvered brass dial has Roman numerals with Arabic five minute markers and elegant pierced steel hands- the minute serpentine in form. The centre is neatly engraved by the maker David Davies, London below the central dummy pendulum aperture. The high quality single fusee timepiece movement has four pillars with tapered plates and a verge escapement, regulated by a short pear-shaped bob pendulum. Height : 18 in (46 cm) Width :14 ¼ in (36 cm) Depth : 6 ¼ in (16 cm) *David Davies (also recorded as David Davis), was a London clock and watchmaker active at the end of the Georgian period. He is recorded on the Strand 1802–04 and is known for well-made domestic clocks, particularly bracket clocks with twin-fusee verge movements and early dial wall timepieces with single-fusee trains, typically signed David Davies (or Davis), London . A signed mid-18th-century pair-cased verge watch shows he also worked in watches. No direct successor is documented. Davies (listed as Davis) is mentioned on page 199 of Brian Loomes’ Watchmakers and Clockmakers of the World: Complete 21 st Century Edition. HW6573
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
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