Clocks · Wall clock
Wall clock by Dent, London, c. 1845
- Maker / attribution
- Dent (maker)
- Date
- c. 1845
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Wall clock
- Dimensions
- Height 24 cm
- Stock no.
- SKU 366
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (SKU 366)
- Catalogue title (original)
- DENT, N° 1722. A fine quality English Travelling Wall Clock. (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number SKU 366), this is a wall clock by Dent, made in London, England, dated c. 1845. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: Height 24 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 quality English Travelling Wall Clock, the 5 ½ inch white painted dial has Roman numerals and an outer band for the minutes. The dial retains its original craquelure painted surface and subsidiary seconds dial below XII. The patinated turned bronze case has a glass door with a hinged cast brass bezel. Overall diameter : 7 in (18 cm) Dial Width : 5 ½ in (14 cm) Mahogany Travelling Case The clock also retains its charming original rectangular moulded mahogany travelling case with a hinged and lockable opening door and viewing aperture. The clock has a late bespoke numbered brass winding key. Height : 9 ¼ in (24 cm) Width : 8 ¼ in (21 cm) Depth : 2 ½ in (6.5 cm) * This clock was most probably made by G.J Dent who was working at 82 Strand, London. The 8-day timepiece going-barrel movement has vertical rectangular plates and four turned pillars. It is numbered 1722 and has a top-mounted crab toothed lever platform escapement. HW6123
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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