Wall clock by William Dutton and Sons, London, c. 1794

Dealer description — Howard Walwyn

A fine George III period mahogany drop-dial fusee wall timepiece by these well-known makers and successors to Thomas Mudge. The four pillar single fusee movement has thick plates measuring 6 ¼ by 5 inches which are secured via large screws through the bottom pillars onto a seatboard forming part of the internal structure of the case. The train terminates with an anchor escapement regulated by steel-rod lenticular bob pendulum with an effective length of approximately 15 inches. It incorporates a T-bar suspension, a calibrated rating nut and is stamped with the serial number 227 to the back of the bob. The 14-inch circular silvered engraved brass dial has a Roman chapter ring and Arabic five minutes beyond the outer minute track. It is inscribed Will’m Dutton & Sons, London . It has pierced blued steel spade hands and the whole dial is set behind a generous hinged glazed concave cast brass bezel which is applied to the bold circular cushion-moulded wooden surround. The elegant mahogany case has a drop-trunk with doors to each side behind the dial and a flame-figured panel set within an astragal moulded surround. It is flanked by ogee-shaped ears and the base section has an angled cavetto moulding over the ogee moulded hinged flap to the front. Height : 26 in (66 cm) Width : 17 ½ in (44.5 cm) Depth : 6 ¼ in (16 cm) * William Dutton is recorded on page 234 of Brian Loomes’ Watchmakers & Clockmakers of the World as being apprenticed to George Graham in 1738 and gaining his freedom of the Clockmakers’ Company in 1746. In around 1750 he went into partnership with Thomas Mudge, another former apprentice and successor to George Graham, and worked from 148 Fleet Street, London. The business remained there through successive generations of the Dutton family. William Dutton was elevated to Liveryman in 1766 and alongside Mudge developed the lever escapement for watches in 1771. Shortly after that Thomas Mudge retired to Plymouth in order to spend more time working on developing an accurate marine timekeeper. In around 1775 Dutton took both his sons (Thomas and Matthew) into the business forming a second partnership of William Dutton and Sons. William Dutton died in 1794 leaving the business to be continued by his sons Thomas and Matthew. David Penney in Tobias Birch’s 2019 exhibition catalogue Thomas Mudge and William Dutton, a Perfect Partnership notes that the Mudge and Dutton dial clocks of ‘Phase II’ design were made between around 1780-1810 although relatively few surviving examples are known. From the serial number stamped on the pendulum of the present timepiece it can be dated to around 1794. Therefore it would have been one of the last timepieces produced by William Dutton and Sons before the death of William senior in November of the same year. HW6575