Clocks · Mantel clock
Walnut Cased Quarter-Chiming Mantel Clock
- Maker / attribution
- F W Elliott Ltd (Made by); Messrs Mappin & Webb (Originally retailed by)
- Date
- 1955–1965
- Historical period
- Modern Mechanical Horology (1945 – 1969)
- Country of origin
- British Isles
- Place
- Croydon
- Object type
- Mantel clock
- Materials / technique
- walnut, brass, steel
- Dimensions
- Height: 7 centimetres (case) Width: 30 centimetres (case) Depth: 12.20 centimetres
- Holding institution
- British Museum
- Accession / object no.
- 2009,8021.5
- Credit line
- British Museum, London
- Catalogue title (original)
- Walnut Cased Quarter-Chiming Mantel Clock (English)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by British Museum (object number 2009,8021.5), this is a mantel clock by F W Elliott Ltd, made in Croydon, British Isles, dated 1955–1965. The Atlas places it in the Modern Mechanical Horology period (1945 – 1969) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: walnut, brass, steel. Recorded dimensions: Height: 7 centimetres (case) Width: 30 centimetres (case) Depth: 12.20 centimetres. 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
Description — British Museum
Walnut Cased Quarter-Chiming Mantel Clock. Rectangular walnut veneered case with very shallow cushion top and applied rectangular panels falnking the dial and a shaped base panel. Hinged gilt-metal glazed bezel with bevelled-edge glass at the front and a hinged door at the back. Silver coloured dial plate with an outer minute circle and hour numerals 3,6,9 and 12 with triangular batons for the remaining hours. Winding holes at 4,6 and 8. A chime/silent lever at 3 o'clock. Gilt-brass tapering hour and minute hands. Eight-day three train spring-driven movement with crackle-finish brass plates. Going train with going barrel and platform lever escapment with balance control. Quarter chime plays either Westminster or Whittington on a set of eight rod gongs fixed to a bracket screwed to the bottom of the case. Hour striking using three hammers on three gongs simultaneously.
Curator's comments — British Museum
Underhung Westminster/Whittington Mark 5 chime. See 'Clockmaking in England and Wales in the Twentieth Century : the industrialized manufacture of domestic mechanical clocks' by John Glanville and William M. Wolmuth, Crowood Press , 2015 p 167-168, fig.4.152-4.157 Similar movement: 2009,8021.27 Similar movements but with pendulum:… 2009,8021.2 and 2009,8021.8.
Inscriptions & marks
inscription; dial; MAPPIN & WEBB; LONDON; AN; Elliott; Clock; England
Provenance
Purchased from:, John Glanville, Purchased from:, Bill Wolmuth
Historical context
Modern Mechanical Horology (1945 – 1969)
Tool watches for divers, pilots and astronauts; electric watches anticipate the electronic age.
Post-war clocks combined new materials and industrial design: plastic and metal cases, battery-powered transistor movements from the late 1950s, and design classics by George Nelson, Max Bill and others. The first caesium atomic clock (1955) moved the definition of time from astronomy to physics.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking
Atlas type guide
Mantel and French pendule clocks
The mantel clock — the French pendule de cheminée — is as much decorative art as timekeeper. From the late seventeenth century Parisian clockmakers worked with cabinet-makers, bronze founders and gilders (ciseleurs-doreurs) to create cases in Boulle marquetry, gilt bronze and marble, while the movements were often supplied by specialist makers. Clocks of the Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI periods, and Empire clocks with allegorical figures, set fashions copied across Europe.
The nineteenth century industrialised the type. The 'Paris movement', a standardised round movement with silk-thread or Brocot suspension and count-wheel striking, was made in huge numbers by firms such as Japy and Vincenti, and fitted into cases of every style and material.
What to look for
- Round 'Paris' movements with makers' stamps (e.g. Japy Frères, Vincenti, S. Marti) and medal marks from exhibitions.
- Suspension type: silk thread (earlier) or Brocot adjustable suspension (after c. 1840).
- Visible Brocot escapement on the dial in later clocks.
- Fire-gilt (mercury) gilding on bronzes versus later electro-gilding.
- Signed dials naming a retailer rather than the movement maker.
Dating clues
- Silk-suspension Paris movements: c. 1800–1850.
- Brocot suspension and visible escapements: after c. 1840.
- Exhibition medal stamps on movements give dates after the medal year.
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:Anchor (recoil) escapement
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