Clocks · Wall clock
Wall clock by Dutton, Fleet Street, London, c. 1854
- Maker / attribution
- Dutton (maker)
- Date
- c. 1854
- Historical period
- Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- Fleet Street, London
- Object type
- Wall clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany
- Dimensions
- Height 18 in (46 cm)
- Stock no.
- Product 441
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, P A Oxley (product 441)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Dutton of Fleet Street, London (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by P A Oxley (dealer), Wiltshire (stock number Product 441), this is a wall clock by Dutton, made in Fleet Street, London, England, dated c. 1854. The Atlas places it in the Industrial Revolution period (1850 – 1900) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: mahogany. Recorded dimensions: Height 18 in (46 cm). The record is illustrated with 4 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 — P A Oxley
An exceptional drop dial wall clock by this famous Clockmaking family. The high quality 8 day duration single fusee chain driven movement with anchor escapement, rectangular plates and long pendulum with steel rod. The 12" diameter silvered brass dial with Roman chapters and blued steel hands. The dial signed Dutton, Fleet Street and with Queen Victoriaâs Royal Cypher consisting of a crown and the initials VR, standing for Victoria Regina. Also with the date of manufacture, 1854. The mahogany case with a lockable glazed convex cast brass bezel with silvered brass sight ring and mahogany surround. The drop dial case with highly figured mahogany veneer to the front elevation and further well figured mahogany veneer to the underside with a lockable access door. Also with two access doors to the side to allow for pendulum hanging and adjustments. Note: Robert William Dutton was the Great Grandson of William Dutton who served his apprenticeship under the great George Graham in 1738. In C.1750 William Dutton entered into a partnership with Thomas Mudge, yet another apprentice of George Graham. Mudge & Dutton made many fine clocks and were two of the developers of the lever escapement for watches. So with this line of exceptional Clockmaking history in the family there is no surprise in the quality of this particular clock. At this time Dutton appeared to have some form of contract supplying wall clocks to Government offices as can be seen on the inside of one of the access doors. This clock was originally situated in the Exchequer & Audit Department, Victoria Embankment, Room 29. Maker Dutton of Fleet Street, London
Historical context
Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
American interchangeable-parts manufacture; railroad time standards; Swiss and German factory systems.
Factory production transformed the clock into an everyday object. American makers (Seth Thomas, Ansonia, Waterbury) and German factories (Junghans, Gustav Becker, Lenzkirch) sold millions of shelf, wall and alarm clocks worldwide; France produced standardised Paris movements and carriage clocks; electric time distribution began.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Precision & Scientific 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.
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