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Waterbury Clock Co. porcelain-cased clock with open escapement, circa 1900 — view 1 of 4
View 1 of 4 · Image: Jay Anderson Auction / LiveAuctioneers · original image source (opens another website in a new tab)

Clocks · Clock

Waterbury Clock Co. porcelain-cased clock with open escapement, circa 1900

DocumentedDocumented from an auction catalogue; attribution as stated by the auction house.
Maker / attribution
Waterbury (maker)
Date
c. 1900
Country of origin
United States
Object type
Clock
Materials / technique
porcelain
Lot
Item 126381174
Credit line
Auction lot record: lot 421, Jay Anderson Antique Auc - online, phone bid., Jay Anderson Auction (2022), via LiveAuctioneers
Catalogue title (original)
Circa 1900 signed Waterbury Clock Co. open escapement china case clock with porcelain dial. Has key (English)

Editor's note

'China case' means a porcelain case; the clock is signed by the Waterbury Clock Co. of Connecticut.

View the source record (auction lot) ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction

Record summary

Catalogued by LiveAuctioneers auction archive (lot Item 126381174), this is a clock by Waterbury, made in United States, dated c. 1900. The Atlas places it in the Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking period (1900 – 1945) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: porcelain. The record is illustrated with 4 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

Lot description — Jay Anderson Auction

Circa 1900 signed Waterbury Clock Co. open escapement china case clock with porcelain dial. Has key & pendulum. Good condition. No chips of cracks. Hgt 11.5" w 10". Found in Superior WI estate.

Historical context

Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)

The wristwatch displaces the pocket watch; waterproof cases, self-winding and grand complications.

Between 1900 and 1945 clocks were electrified: master-clock systems ran factories and offices, synchronous mains clocks entered homes, and the Shortt free-pendulum clock set new standards of accuracy before the first quartz clocks (1927). Art Deco design reshaped mantel and table clocks.

Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Industrial Revolution

Atlas type guide

Domestic clocks

A clock combines four systems: a source of power (falling weight, coiled spring, or later electricity), a gear train that divides time, an escapement and oscillator that regulate it (foliot, pendulum or balance), and an indicating system of dial and hands or a bell. Its history runs from the large iron weight-driven clocks of the late thirteenth century to Renaissance spring-driven table clocks, the pendulum revolution of 1656, the factory clocks of the nineteenth century and electric and quartz clocks of the twentieth.

Domestic clocks also reflect regional furniture and decorative traditions — English longcase and bracket clocks, French pendules, Viennese regulators, Black Forest and American shelf clocks — and therefore record changing tastes as much as technical progress.

What to look for

  • How the clock is powered: weights, spring barrel, fusee, electric coil.
  • The oscillator: foliot, short pendulum, long seconds pendulum or balance.
  • Whether it strikes: hour only (count wheel) or hours and quarters (rack striking).
  • The maker or retailer's name on dial and movement, and any factory trademarks.
  • Signs of alteration — replaced dials, converted escapements, 'married' cases.

Dating clues

  • Before 1656 clocks used foliots or balances; after, most domestic clocks have pendulums.
  • Anchor escapements spread after c. 1670; minute hands became common at the same time.
  • Factory production in America and Germany transformed prices after c. 1840.

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:Verge escapementAnchor (recoil) escapementFoliot

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