Clocks · Wall clock
Wall clock by Thomas Harrison, London, c. 1820–1830
- Maker / attribution
- Thomas Harrison (maker)
- Date
- c. 1820–1830
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Wall clock
- Materials / technique
- mahogany
- Dimensions
- Height 57 cm
- Stock no.
- Product 5208
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (product 5208)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Thomas Harrison. A fine Regency period mahogany drop-dial wall clock. (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number Product 5208), this is a wall clock by Thomas Harrison, made in London, England, dated c. 1820–1830. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: mahogany. Recorded dimensions: Height 57 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 English Regency period mahogany drop-dial wall clock by this respected London maker. The elegant well-patinated mahogany case has a broad circular moulded surround enclosing the dial, with a brass bezel and glazed door. The lower section is formed with shaped earpieces to either side and a short drop trunk beneath, terminating in a moulded cornice above the ogee-shaped opening door to the base. The movement can be accessed from either side via two small latched doors. The flat 16-inch painted wooden dial has bold Roman hour numerals within an outer minute track and is signed Thos. Harrison above the centre and LONDON below. It has finely pierced steel hands and a single winding aperture below the centre. The dial has a beautiful craquelure surface that has patinaed over time. The robust timepiece movement is of 8-day duration, wound from the front through the single aperture in the dial. The anchor escapement is regulated by a pendulum with a lenticular brass bob. Height: 22 ½ in (57 cm) Width: 18 in (46 cm) Depth: 6½ in (16.5 cm) HW6316
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.
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