Clocks · Wall clock
Wall clock by Wintmills, London, c. 1755
- Maker / attribution
- Wintmills (maker)
- Date
- c. 1755
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Wall clock
- Dimensions
- Height 60 cm
- Stock no.
- SKU 548
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (SKU 548)
- Catalogue title (original)
- WINTMILLS. A late George II period English carved and gilded cartel wall clock (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number SKU 548), this is a wall clock by Wintmills, made in London, England, dated c. 1755. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Recorded dimensions: Height 60 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
An attractive late George II period English carved and gilded cartel wall clock with 7-inch silvered dial and verge escapement. The wooden case is beautifully carved with symmetrical shell and leaf scroll ornamentation, and retains its original and distressed water gilding. It has a rear door to access the movement and verge pendulum bob for regulation. English cartel clocks are often asymmetrical in design and very few are symmetrical. The 7-inch silvered brass dial has engraved and black wax filled Roman numerals, and around the outer edge Arabic five minute numerals. The centre is signed Wintmills, London and it has a shaped aperture with bevelled edges revealing the false pendulum. The finely hand cut blued steel hands are later, but of the correct design. It has a cast brass shaped bezel and a flat glass. The 8-day timepiece gut fusee movement is very slender and has a verge escapement. It has five beautifully shaped and turned pillars. The movement is held in the case with a substantial brass bar across the backplate. Height : 23 ½ in (60 cm) Width : 14 ½ in (37 cm) Depth : 5 ½ in (14 cm) * This clock is discussed in detail and pictured in colour on pages 18 and 19 of English Dial Clocks by Ronald E. Rose. HW6425
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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