Clocks · Wall clock
Wall clock by Wm Leonard, 50 Tabernacle Walk, London, c. 1855–60
- Maker / attribution
- Wm Leonard (maker)
- Date
- c. 1855–60
- Historical period
- Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- 50 Tabernacle Walk, London
- Object type
- Wall clock
- Stock no.
- SKU 522
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Howard Walwyn (SKU 522)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Wm LEONARD. A fine mid-Victorian English drop dial wall timepiece of small proportions (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Howard Walwyn Fine Antique Clocks (dealer), London (stock number SKU 522), this is a wall clock by Wm Leonard, made in 50 Tabernacle Walk, London, England, dated c. 1855–60. The Atlas places it in the Industrial Revolution period (1850 – 1900) of its Clocks collection. 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 mid-Victorian English drop dial wall timepiece of small proportions, the 10-inch convex dial with original craquelure white painted surface and signed with the clockmaker’s name and address on the dial. The elegant mahogany veneered case has untouched patina and colour and is nicely figured. It retains its original convex brass bezel with a convex glass. The high quality plated single fusee movement runs for 7 days. The blued steel spade-tipped hands and the heavy brass pendulum bob appear to be original. Heigh t: 14 ½ in (37 cm) Width : 12 ½ in (31.5 cm) Depth : 6 in (15 cm) * William Leonard was working at 50 Tabernacle Walk, London and it is recorded he had a brother Thomas Leonard who worked from the same address. A Thomas Arthur Leonard was born at the Tabernacle Walk address in March 1864. Sadly, his clockmaker father died five years later. Thomas was well known as one of the founders of the YHA and the Ramblers’ Association and a prime mover in the National Park movement. HW6175
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.
Read next:Deadbeat escapementAnchor (recoil) escapementGrasshopper escapement
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