Archive for the ‘Clocks & Watches’ Category

Wall, Long Case and Table Clocks
Early domestic clocks—the development of the “grandfather” or long case clock—characteristics of case design—some famous makers —telling the age by dial and hands—introduction of white dials—effects of the Industrial Revolution—provincial clockmakers and cottage craftsmen.
The domestic clock was an exceptionally rare possession in the 16th century. It would be reasonable to say that before the Tudor monarchy it was unheard of in the English house. In the painting of Sir Thomas More’s family by Holbein, referred to earlier in the book, there is a clock to be seen hanging on the wall next to the dressoir. It is a Gothic clock of probably German origin and was the forerunner of the smaller brass lantern clock which was made only rarely in the British Isles towards the end of the reign of Elizabeth 1.
These early clocks were always weight driven, never went for more than 30 hours and were made to hang upon the wall. They were provided with a wrought-iron ring for suspending from a hook and two spurs at the lower part of the back of the clock to keep it in an upright position. The movements, sometimes referred to as the “works”, were governed by a balance wheel escapement, as the principle of the pendulum was not applied to clock mechanism until the middle of the 17th century.
Another type of clock which was produced in early times was the brass table clock and this also was an importation from the continent. It was constructed in the form of a square or round box, standing on small feet, the dial situated on the top in a horizontal position like a sun-dial. Consequently it was not possible to ascertain the time from a distance. The table clock was spring driven and while a few English examples were made during the 17th and 18th centuries, production ceased around 1770, apart from those later developed as chronometers.
Clocks in wooden cases, which are really the only kind to be included under the heading of furniture, did not appear until the Restoration, either as mantel clocks or in the form usually referred to as “grandfather”. Hitherto, clocks had not been very accurate time-keepers and were often as much as an hour fast or slow in a day. It was the adaptation for clockwork of Galileo’s invention of the pendulum by a Dutch scientist named Huygens in 1657 which allowed a considerable improvement in time recording to be made. This coincided with the introduction of wooden clock cases.
A young Londoner, John Fromanteel, had been apprenticed to a Dutch clockmaker at The Hague about this time. He learned the secret of making pendulum clocks and brought it back to England in 1658. The new controlling mechanism was known as a verge escapement and the pendulum used was quite short, being about 7 inches in length.
It was shortly after 1660 that the first grandfather clocks appeared in this country. The term “grandfather” is really of late Victorian origin and they were always referred to during the 17th and 18th centuries as long case clocks. Some writers on British horology have attempted to trace the development of the long case clock from the brass lantern type. It is true that after 1660 many lantern clocks were covered over with a wooden hood which had a glazed front. This hood was fitted to a bracket upon which the clock stood and the driving weight hung down on a rope below the movement. Presumably the hood was introduced to keep dust away from the mechanism.
The possibility of damage to the clock by clumsy servants, children or domestic animals interfering with the hanging weight would have been a good reason for its enclosure in a long wooden case. In this way the shape of the long case clock could have been developed. However, it is now well known that hooded and long case clocks both appeared at about the same time and, including the lantern clock, all three types continued in production until quite late in the 18th century. Long case clocks, of course, were made until the middle of Victoria’s reign and a few are still produced at the present day.
Mantel clocks appeared on the scene very shortly after the long case type. They were first known as table or bracket clocks, being designed to stand on a side table or wall bracket. It is seldom that a clock is found today with its original wall bracket. When people acquire these early table clocks they often stand them on a mantelpiece where they look far too big and out of place. It was only after the middle of the 18th century that smaller models were made expressly for the mantelshelf. Early table clocks had square brass dials and were housed in ebony veneered cases while those of the early 18th century had the arch dials of the period and walnut and mahogany were used for the cases.
The first long case clocks were of a very attractive size being quite small compared with those produced 150 years later. Because the pendulum was short and did not extend down into the case, the latter could be made comparatively narrow, often as little as 9 inches in width and very seldom over 6 feet in height. The more expensive clocks had ebony veneered cases and the hoods were designed in a pleasingly plain architectural style, usually with some gilded brass ornaments attached to the pediment and hood framework. The base was surrounded by a simple plinth. These very early long case clocks are exceedingly rare and when they do appear on sale the price is usually in the neighbourhood of £1,000.
During the next 30 years some important changes took place in long case design. Around 1670 a longer pendulum was introduced with a beat of one second. This was a purely English invention and was to revolutionise methods of accurate time-keeping. As the new 39-inch pendulum had an extended swing a slightly wider and taller case became necessary. By 1690 long case clocks had an average height of just under 7 feet and the width varied between 10 and 11 inches. The ebony veneered or ebonised pine cases of the earlier period must have appeared rather sombre when the clocks increased in size because the more colourful burr walnut veneer and flower marquetry cases had displaced them by the end of the century. The pediment on the clock hood was replaced with a carved cresting, pegged into the front edge of the flat top. This is rarely present nowadays as, being easily detached, it was liable to be mislaid during a removal of furniture. The hood, which hitherto had been constructed with a glass panel in front and which had to be lifted upwards when access to the hands was required, now had a glazed door fitted instead.
It also became the practice at this time to insert a little circular or oval window, known as a lenticle, in the door of the long case at the height of the pendulum bob. This was intended to show to an observer across the room that the clock was in motion. The gleam of the brass bob as it swung backwards and forwards could be seen clearly from a distance. Originally the lenticle was made of plain glass but in many cases this has been replaced with a piece of thick green glass commonly known as a bull’s eye.
Other features of long case clocks at the end of the Restoration were spiral twist pillars fitted to the edges of the hood door and a wide ovolo moulding placed immedia-tely below the hood. By 1710 this had been altered to a cavetto shape and the use of the ovolo moulding was never revived. Except in a few instances of country manufacture the small bull’s eye windows also became obsolete at about the same time.
Around 1720 long case clocks began to appear with dials surmounted by an arch. This necessitated a taller hood and the case was made higher still by the addition of a moulded or cushion top. The arch of the hood door was matched by a rounded top similar to the trunk door which hitherto had always been rectangular in shape. Cases were also becoming wider and 12 or 13 inches was not an uncommon size. Pillars were still attached to the hood doors but were no longer in the form of spiral twists, being usually plain or fluted columns with brass bases and capitals. During the next 80 years pillars ceased to be placed on the doors but remained free-standing on either side of the hood. A characteristic of Scottish clocks was the retention of the spiral twist pillars in a rather attenuated form until nearly the end of the century.
By 1765 clock cases had reached a height of 7 feet 6 inches or thereabout and had an average width of 14 inches. Mahogany was in general use and the long veneered case doors were often finely figured. While simple wainscot oak versions of the more elaborately veneered London clocks had always been made in the provinces many were now being made in the counties of Lancashire and Yorkshire which were cross-banded with mahogany.
London clocks still maintained a pre-eminence in good design during the latter half of the 18th century but many of the more northerly types were becoming very large indeed. Along with the other pieces of furniture whose design was affected by architectural influences, the broken pediment on the hood was introduced and this in turn developed into the swan-neck pediment. In some cases towards the end of the century the swan-necks became so debased in shape as to appear just like a pair of horns or ears protruding from the top of the hood.
During the early years of the 19th century some rather clumsy long case clocks were being made in the industrial north. Sometimes double sets of pillars appeared on either side of the hood and these on occasion lost any semblance of their architectural origin, becoming merely uninteresting turned spindles. The trunk door had gradually dwindled in size to a small, almost square trap, looking for all the world like the door of a small food larder. As a matter of fact, I have seen very attractive looking small cocktail cabinets, made to hang on the wall, which had been produced from the centre part of the trunks of these large clocks. The craftsmanship of early 19th-century cases was of the highest order but the overall design, generally speaking, was in very poor taste. Such clocks were portents of those monstrosities in furniture design which the Victorians, on occasion, were later to perpetrate.
One of the many interesting characteristics of the long case clocks was that in nearly every instance the name of the maker and place of manufacture were engraved upon the dial. Only in very few examples are clocks found to be anonymous. The earliest of the British clockmakers of whom records are known were probably Nicholas Vallin and Bartholomew Newsam who worked in London towards the end of the reign of Elizabeth 1. When James I came from Scotland to become king of England he brought with him a Scottish clockmaker, David Ramsay. The latter was a great clockmaker and became the first Master of the Clockmakers Company which was founded in 1631, during the reign of Charles I. The Stuart kings were all clock lovers and it was largely due to the enthusiasm of Charles II and his great interest in scientific matters that clock-making in England by the end of the 17th century had become pre-eminent in all Europe. All the makers already mentioned, however, were producers of metal clocks and preceded the era of the clocks in wooden cases.
Ahasuerus Fromanteel, a relation of that John who introduced the pendulum into British clockmaking, was one of the first names to appear on the dial of a long case clock. He was followed during the next 40 years by such famous makers as Edward East, Henry Jones, Thomas Tompion, Joseph Knibb, Daniel Quare and Joseph Windmills. The last I include in this list of the immortals for two reasons. In the first place, he is credited with the introduction of the arch dial in clock design during the first quarter of the 18th century and secondly, I am fortunate to possess a clock in a bird and flower marquetry case of around 1690 made by Joseph Windmills. He was made a member of the Clockmakers Company in 1671, the same year in which Tompion was elected, was Master in 1703 and retired or died in 1740.
There are several sources of information giving details of the early clockmakers such as G. H. Baillie’s Watchmakers and Clockmakers of the World; F. J. Britten’s Old Clocks and Watches and their Makers (Revised 7th Edition); John Smith’s Old Scottish Clockmakers and Iorwith Peate’s Clock and Watch Makers in Wales. So far there has not been a book written on the Irish makers but many of their names are included in Baillie and Britten.
While the general shape of antique clock cases will give an approximate idea of the period in which they were made it must be remembered that, as with all the furniture styles, what was fashionable in London for a decade continued to be produced in the provinces for another 20 or 30 years in many instances. The details of clock dials and hands, however, give a much closer date approximation.
Early dials were seldom more than 9 inches square but by 1775, 14 inches was not an uncommon size. Until the last quarter of the 18th century all dials had a chapter ring, which bears the hour numerals, and ornamental corner spandrels attached to the dial as separate items. Roman numerals were always used for the hours until after 1800 and above them were engraved Arabic figures. In the 17th century the Arabic numerals were about -51th of the size of the Roman but they were gradually enlarged so that by 1770 they were often irds of the size of the latter.
The spandrels were cast in brass and in early clocks were finely chased and gilded. Between 1670 and 1680 a finely modelled but simple cupid’s head was fashionable. By 1690 further decorative motifs were added to this pattern and around 1700 the cupid head design was replaced by a bearded mask or a maiden’s head surrounded by still more elaborate decoration. A theme of flowers in a vase with seashells was popular about 1740 and during the 1770’s the spandrels evolved into an arrangement of rococo arabesques without any realistic representation. In the north about this time there was a revival of the cupid head spandrel but it was much larger than the 17th-century version and appears rather crude when compared with the much finer castings of a hundred years previously.
All domestic clocks before 1660 had only one hand which told the hours and the quarters. More detailed time recording was not considered necessary in those far off and less complicated days. A minute hand was added to some movements early in the Restoration period and a second hand, called a second minute hand, about 1675. In the provinces, nevertheless, country clocks of 30 hours going duration and with only one hand continued in production even as late as 1780 or thereabouts. There seems to have been a dislike for change among the country people who preferred the older and simpler method of time-keeping.
This fact has proved very misleading to many clock owners who think that because a clock has only one hand it must be of an earlier date than 1700 at least.
White dials for long case clocks did not appear before 1775. The earliest were made of fine enamel but these are rare and very soon they were being produced with a painted front. Apart from being much cheaper to manufacture than the engraved brass dial there was the important fact that it was much easier to tell the time from a white dial. The engraving of brass dials towards the end of the 18th century had tended to be much too elaborate and what with hour, minute, centre-second hands and often a calendar indicator all pivoted at the dial centre plus a mass of engraving and over-elaborate spandrels, it became virtually impossible to ascertain the time unless one was standing very close to the clock. White dials for bracket clocks were introduced at the same time as those for the long case variety. In fact, the characteristics of hands, spandrels, chapter rings, etc, followed the same pattern for both types of clock.
The early years of the Industrial Revolution had a considerable effect on the production of clock dials and movements. Although the distribution of goods was still a very slow and arduous matter in the late 18th century, the pack-horse was capable of transporting clock dials, trains of wheels and most of the parts which went to make up a clock movement, to the most out-of-the-way villages in the country. For this reason there exists a marked similarity between late Georgian clocks although they may have been made over quite a large area of the country. The country clockmaker had, in fact, become a mere assembler of parts and no longer constructed the entire clock by hand in his own workshop as he had done earlier in the century.
A feature of 18th-century clockmaking was the very considerable amount of repetition work which was per-formed in the cottage homes of specialist craftsmen such as the clock-hand maker. In many cases their wives and children assisted in the work. Chains for fusee movements, the filing and gilding of spandrels after casting, the engraving of dials and many other particular processes were performed on a small bench at home and taken weekly to the master-clockmaker, who with his assistants would asaemble the movement.
The wooden long cases and also those for the bracket clocks were not made by the clockmaker but by an outside craftsman who specialised in the work. Thus it is that in some instances clocks made by well-known contemporaries like Tompion, Quare, Knibb and Windmills are found in cases which have identical marquetry designs and other features which indicate that they must have originated in the same workshops. Cases for country clocks were usually made by local joiners and like other examples of country-made furniture exhibit a certain naivety in their appearance.

automata - clocks, barometers and
musical boxes
THE DICTIONARY DEFINITIONof automata is’things which are self-moving or mechanical contrivances which imitate the motions of living beings’. In antique collecting terms, this means old clocks, watches, barometers, musical boxes, singing birds, and anything clockwork from an early Egyptian water clock to the first His Master’s Voice phonograph.
The antique market in clocks is still surprisingly reasonable compared with other fields, but unless you have a strong do-it-yourself bent and are one of those people who can put the piece back again, it is advisable to be a bit chary of some of the bargains offered by general dealers with the vague remark that ‘it only needs cleaning’. Unobtainable spare parts are costly to make, and if you want the clock to go it is better to pay more for a working clock or watch from a specialist dealer. Collecting fine clocks is an expensive hobby, especially if your taste is in French porcelain pieces, which I have seen in the most unusual shapes, such as an artist’s palette, a violin or an old mill complete with moving water wheel driven by real water.
It is quite the fashion now for women to wear a Victorian or Edwardian half-hunter watch on a long gold chain. This has given a boost to the trade in such watches which until recently have only commanded a second-hand price equal only to their melting down value. These beautiful pieces, often set with coloured enamels, can be bought for between ;C5 and Cio and make impressive presents.
There is also a boom in barometers. Items which fetched around £15 a few years ago are now changing hands for three times the price and, unfortunately for us, going to foreign dealers at a most depressing rate. An inlaid Sheraton stick barometer will certainly command a price from C40 upwards but the enchanting Admiral Fitzroy model, produced in Victorian times can cost as little as £5 and give just as much pleasure. Really early barometers, eighteenth century or older, are right out of reach of any but the serious collec-
tor and I have seen a reproduction Quare fetch more than c80.
ian clockwork novelties are ajoy to collect. and even though
nana is fast on the way in, pieces can be bought for a reason-
price. Old stereoscopes through which one views sepia col-cured three dimensional slides – rabbits which jump up and down at the turn of a knob and the multitudinous fairground novelties –are no longer to be found on junk stalls, but now command a real value.
Scientific instruments and animated pieces have a long history and can be traced to Islamic origins in the tenth century. Automata as we know it today really began to be developed only in the eighteenth century when moving figures and animated snuff boxes started to play sweet music or burst into chirruping song. The delicate singing bird box was first made in Switzerland when the intricate mechanism allowed a tiny bird to spring from its jewelled prison and give forth a melodious whistling sound. Such items of course, are extremely expensive now, nevertheless more modern examples made between 186o and 1930 can still be bought, but at prices above C50.
The musical box dates from Regency times and a collection is still within reach of the moderate purse. Most popular is the type which consists of a brass cylinder with projecting pins which produces sound when turned into contact with a resonant comb. Such boxes often play eight or ten tunes, the titles of which appear in illuminated lettering inside the lid. One can still purchase larger pieces too, which play on the insertion of a penny in the slot.
books to read
Clocks and watches
The collectors dictionary of clocks, H Lloyd, Country Life, ,CIO ros
The plain man’s guide to antique clocks, W Bentley, Joseph, x6s
Old clocks,,? Scherer, Hallwag, 8s 6d
18 Old clocks, E Wenham, Spring Books, 12s 6d
Clocks, S Fleet, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Ci ros
Old clocks and watches and their makers, F_7 Britten, Spon, £77s
The story of watches, T P Camerer Cuss, MacGibbon & Kee, I 5S
Chats on old clocks, H A Lloyd,Watches, C Clutton & G Daniels, Batsford,,C7 7s
The grandfather clock, E L Edwards, Sherratt, ios
Barometers
The standard reference on barometers is Old English barometers by G H and E F Bell. This book is like gold dust and virtually impossible to come by. We have it on the best
authority, however, that the authors are now updating this fine work for republication as soon as possible.
Musical boxes
and instruments
Horse brasses and other small items for the collector (singing birds and musical boxes), G B Hughes, ki ros
London and the
Home Counties
Charles Stewart Ltd Wigmore St, London W  probably have the largest barometer stock in England. They ship all over the world and are expert restorers. Specialists in mechanical musical instruments, who will also repair, are rather hard to find. One such is S F Sunley 81 George St W i, himself featured, in fact, in our drawing at the start of this chapter. Singing birds and musical boxes are also an important feature of this stock. Camerer Cuss & Co were estab-
lished in 1788 during the reign of George III, and have an extensive collection of antique clocks and watches at their New Oxford St address. They also carry stock at 5 New Cavendish St. The fact that they have two addresses is an indication of the important stock they carry. Expert repair work to all kinds of automata is also undertaken. Incidentally, if you have bought an early watch such as a Victorian hunter it is much better to take it for repair to a specialist such as Camerer Cuss or in fact to any recognised dealer in such items. It isn’t the fact that the workmanship is necessarily better than a local watchmaker, but such dealers are more likely to have quantities of spare parts available from watches of the same period as yours which have been broken up, whereas it is unlikely that you will have the same luck through a modern silversmith and watch dealer.
Stockists of one of the largest selections of clocks in the United Kingdom is the firm of Huggins & Horsey Ltd 26 Beauchamp Place SW3. They also have a range of barometers.
The name of Aubrey Brocklehurst 124 Cromwell Rd SW7 is a must for the clock collectors’ address book. Close to the West London Air Terminal, a fine selection of mantle and grandfather clocks is offered.
Two more first-class dealers are Charles Frodsham 173 Brompton Rd SW3 and D Bouldstridge 47 Lower Belgrave St SW 1. Both are specialist is antique clocks and the former has been awarded the Royal warranty.
The Regency House Marlow Bucks are specialists in English and French clocks; and grandfather clocks are the metier of Harris & Woodward Amersham Bucks.
Museums to visit i
Gershom-Parkington memorial collection of clocks and watches,
Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk Museum of British Transport, London SW4 Science Museum,
London SW7
Museum of Ironfounding, Coalbrookdale, Staffs(locomotives) Public Museum, Rochester, Kent (clocks)
Snowshil]. Museum,
Broadway, Glos (clocks)
The Tramway Museum, Crick, Derbyshire
Usher Art Gallery, Lincoln (watches)
Whipple Museum of the History of Science, Cambridge (scientific instruments)
Willis Museum, Basingstoke, Hants (clocks)
I de Haan & Son Waltham Cross Herts have an important stock of barometers. Mr de Haan normally deals only with the trade, but will make an exception for the serious collector. First, however, please telephone Waltham Cross 22756.
In Portobello Rd we recommend Graham Webb who has a large stock of musical boxes, including the type you put a penny into and watch the huge brass disc move round whilst playing a gay tune. He can be found at 93, and will also undertake repair work.
Malcolm GardnerBradbourne Vale, Sevenoaks, Kent is a leading specialist on antique watches. He also stocks a large collection of horological reference books.
Some other dealers in London and the Home Counties
E & M Parker, Blackheath SE3 (longcase clocks and barometers)
Daniel Desbois, Carey St WC2 (clocks and barometers)
Prides of London, Sloane StSWi (clocks and barometers)
W A Pinn, Dunstable, Beds (clocks)
Kennet Gallery, Newbury, Berks (clocks)
Southern England
Antiques through the post is the stock in trade of Valentine Ackland, Frome Vauchurch, Maiden Newton, near Dorchester, Dorset. Miss Ackland publishes a mailing list of her complete stock on a regular basis, and undertakes to post goods to any part of the world. As musical boxes is one of her specialities, enthusiasts should certainly write for a copy of her catalogue.
The name of George Bell instantly means barometers and he is the Wing Commander and Mrs
Guy Marsland of Littlebury,
Essex, started their barometer
and antique business after he
retired from the Royal Air Force.
An excellent stock with a
friendly welcome particularly
for the new collector
author of a really reliable reference book on the subject. Mr Bell has a shop in Winchester, next to
the Cathedral. Here he sells antique clocks and barometers and will undertake expert repair work.
Peter Carmichael Brighton, offers a  wide selection of barometers all
working order; and Yellow Lantern Antiques at nearby Hove keep
French clocks in stock.
We have often driven through the village of Nately Scures near Bas-
ingstoke, Hants and have always been filled with curiosity about
how it got the name to say nothing of how to pronounce it. Paul Frank
Ltd Oakfield, Nately Scures has a good stock of clocks and barometers at this address and also at The Green, Brasted, Kent. Gem
Antiques Bournemouth Hants is another happy-hunting-ground for
timepieces.
Martin Hutton of Battle, Sussex is
a ‘must’ visit for the collector of nineteenth century English and
French clocks.
Some other southern dealers Fordharn Mote Antiques,
Lewes, Sussex (scientific instruments) At,W Porter & Son, Hartley
Wintney, Hants (clocks)
A Bird, Potbridge near Odiham, Hants (clocks and barometers) an
authoritative writer on this subject. The Manor House, Byfleet,
Surrey (clocks)
Wales and the west country Whilst driving through the west country recently we took refuge from a cloudburst in what we thought was a bric-a-brac shop. Our rain-sodden spirits turned to delight on finding that we had unwittingly discovered a veritable treasure chest of musical boxes and Victorian automata in the back room. We were offered not one, but a choice of fifteen His Master’s Voice phonographs of early date. Yahn and Yoy Rodber call themselves ,specialists in the unusual’, and have a wide selection of fairground novelties – we were particularly taken with The Drunkard’s Dream-and also some very fine examples of English and continental musical boxes, which the Rodbers also collect. Musical instruments, anything from a harp to a harpsichord, are also stocked. This delightful shop is in Bridport, Dorset. If you’re looking for a particular piece, we suggest you telephone first, Bridport 28oi.
A large stone lion, standing at least fifteen feet high, guards the premises of Sidney Vaux, The Antique Galleries Ilchester, Som. Mr Vaux used to be an important
private collector of automata until he turned his attentions to veteran cars. He always has some good pieces in stock even though he has sold his own collection.
Reginald Andrade somehow finds room for clocks and small items ot automata amongst his vast stock of ceramics and silver plate. At
Plympton, Devon Mr Andrade I p
had at least fifty clocks at my last visit. He also showed me, amongst other unusual items, a brass gadget which pops up a pipeful of tobacco on the insertion of a halfpenny.
Some other dealers in Wales and the west country Edward Nowell, Wells, Som (barometers)
Gilbert Morris, Ffynnongroew, Flint (clocks and barometers)
J Cleverly, Chipping Norton, Glos (longcase clocks)
Curiosity Shop, Portishead, Som (longease clocks)
Roger Warner, Burford, Oxon (scientific instruments)
Midlands and the north Malcolm Anderson of Plum Park Antiques, Paulerspury nr Towcester Northants, is a long-established
40 Mr Porter of Hartley Wintney, Hampshire with just a few of his antique clocks. His family have been clockmakers for 300 years, he is keen to hear from anyone who owns a Porter-made clock dealer who always has barometers in stock. One model I saw was a coach house barometer which had five dials, two of which were detachable. The thermometer dial would be placed on the mantle of an inn bedroom in Georgian times and the hygrometer dial in the bed itself. If either reading were unsatisfactory to the guest the management were obliged to put some more fuel on the fire, or the chambermaid would be sent up to put a copper warming-pan through the bed.
Herbert Sutcliffe Ing Hey Farm, Briercliffe, near Burnley, Lanes, can offer a comprehensive stock of most kinds of automata, and will ship directly to all parts of the world. Just down the road, so to speak, is Brierfield, and the premises of Y H Blakey & Sons who are specialists in clocks and musical boxes.
On the main A4i from Birmingham to Liverpool is Whitchurch (Herefordshire) and F W Hancock who specialise in grandfather clocks. No early closing day there. Patrick Kirk Knaresborough, Yorks, I think might be fairly described as a tuneful dealer, for his speciality is singing birds and musical boxes. Normally closed all day Thursday.
Barron of Stirling offers fine barometers and will also undertake restoration.
Some other dealers in the midlands and north
Mercy jeboult, Pershore, Worcs
(clocks)
T & S Hyde, 59 Scotgate, Stamford, Lines (clocks & watches)
East Anglia
We think the most energetic person we have ever met is Wing Com-
mander Guy Marsland, a prominent dealer in barometers, weapons, naval and military items. He positively staggers other dealers by his ability not only to attend the early morning markets regularly but by the speed at which he covers the country on buying trips. The early bird catches the worm must be his motto, and this philosophy finds its rewards in an excellent stock of barometers which hang round the walls, and in rows on hangers like so many pairs of trousers. His interest doesn’t stop at barometers and his shop, The Old Carpenters Arms, Littlebury, near Saffron Walden, Essex is filled with unusual types of marine automata, and military antiques of which he has a fine personal collection. Wing Commander and Mrs Marsland live on the premises and will be happy to see serious buyers out of hours, by appointment (Saffron Walden 2346).
For a business with a delightful name you can’t beat ‘Riverside Chimes’ Stratford St Mary, Essex, where you will find a good stock of longcase and other antique clocks.

CLOCK CASES
Up to the present we have not dealt with clocks, for the good reason that nothing in the way of a clock case was made before the second half of the seventeenth century. Earlier clocks were of what is known as the lantern type, consisting of a brass framework with turned corner pillars and a round dial fixed at the front. Of the movements of clocks there is no space to deal in this book. It would require a book in itself to explain the various kinds and the phases through which the mechanism passed. Suffice it to say that the early type were fitted with the verge movement in which he teeth of a rotating crown wheel engaged the pallets of a balance arbor. The pendulum came into use soon after the middle of the seventeenth century.
A lantern clock is shown in Fig. 89. It was intended to stand on a bracket, the power being supplied by a weight suspended by a chain. A single hour hand was fitted, pointing to numerals engraved on either a brass or silvered dial. A striking mechanism was usually fitted, the bell being mounted upon curved metal bars as in the present example. Just below it a fretted brass pediment was fitted, this being generally of the dolphin device and engraved as shown. At the corners turned brass finials were fitted.
Bracket Clocks.—During the second half of the seventeenth century wooden bracket clock cases became popular, and these were generally of the form shown in Fig. go. They were roughly square in shape and a ” basket ” top was fitted to provide interior space for the bell. Various kinds were made, some being of walnut, cross-grained as in the general run of contemporary furniture, others were veneered with tortoiseshell, elaborate marquetry (this form of decoration is dealt with later), and some were in ebony. In some the basket top was of brass fretted and engraved, the better to allow the sound of the bell to emerge. In most the cases were glazed on all four sides to allow the mechanism to be seen.
Later, during the first half of the eighteenth century, the
bell-top ” clock was introduced, the name arising out of the formation of the top. One example is given in Fig. 91. In this the square front has been heightened and the top of the door is rounded to give space to the small dial which records either the date or enables the clock to be set either to ” strike ” or ” silent.” It should be noted that no bracket clocks of this type were fitted with a seconds hand because a movement of this kind needs a far longer pendulum than could be accommodated in a small case. The fourth clock on p. H3 belongs to an altogether later period, the second half of the eighteenth century, but it is given here so that easy comparison of the styles can be made.
Grandfather Clocks.—Speaking of the long pendulum brings us to the grandfather case introduced during the reign of Charles II. The details in them were similar to those in the furniture of the time, though there was something characteristic in their treatment which seems to belong peculiarly to clock cases. They were mostly of veneered walnut and occasionally ebony, and the hoods were made to slide either forwards or upwards, usually the former. They were generally flat at the top, as in the example in Fig. 88, and twist columns were fitted at the corners, these opening with the door. In many specimens a piece of bottle glass was introduced in the large door in the waist to enable the movement of the pendulum to be seen. This was fitted in either a round or oval frame.
Frets were often introduced in the frieze, these being backed with silk, and the mouldings were of a delicate type, far finer than those usually used in furniture. The workmanship was invariably of a high quality, and this, coupled with the characteristic details, suggests that it became customary for some men to specialise in case making as distinct from the ordinary cabinet making. The late seventeenth century examples were usually veneered with marquetry, whilst the Queen Anne specimens were of plain walnut, decorated with cross-bandings and herring-bone bandings.

Clocks
Who the first person was in the New World that became fed up with the inaccuracy of sand timers and sundials and started to make clocks is entirely unknown.
Clocks were imported from both England and Holland. These were operated by
Hepplewhite style American clock in cherrywood with eight-day movement giving date and moon phases.
a spring mechanism. These were so expensive that only major settlements could afford them. Few people had a clock in their own house.
The first clock-makers were through and through craftsmen. They had to make every part themselves to the precise size. The tools available were often extremely rudimentary. The same person often had to make the clock case too.
Generally they sold too few clocks to make a living so that clock-makers were also locksmiths or gunsmiths.
This combination was particularly popular during the American War of Independence.
After this war there were still far too few people who could afford a grandfather clock and so the makers experimented with smaller clocks. Because a large number of original American clocks were introduced many homes soon had their own clock.
Clockmakers
The names are known of around 7,000 American clock-makers. Most of these made the usual types of clock but there are some of them that were so important in the introduction of major innovations that they have to be mentioned.
Abel Cottey arrived in America in 1682 on board the Welcome with William Penn (the Quaker leader whose name is given to the state of Pennsylvania).
He may well be the first clock-maker to establish a business in the colonies. In his workshop in Philadelphia he mainly made longcase clocks that became known as grandfather clocks.
These grandfather clocks later became very popular and can now be found through America. In common with other clock-makers, Cottey made the mechanism, the dial, the pendulum, and the weights himself but left the case to be made by a joiner. These joiners allowed their creativity to run free and many cases are superbly carved in minute detail. Philadelphia proved to be a good place for clock-makers to set themselves up.
Great names such as Christopher Sower, four generations of the Gogas family, the Chandlee family, and Edward Duffiels ring out from Philadelphia. The last of these was a good friend of Benjamin Franklin.
Duffiels was interrupted so frequently by people asking the time that he made a clock with a face on both sides that he hung outside his workshop. The most convivial clock-makers was David Rittenhouse.
Of Dutch origin, he anglicised his name from Van Ritterhuysen. He started making longcase clocks and scientific instruments at the age of 19 in Norristown, Pennsylvania. His clocks were the most accurate of their time (circa 1756) in the colonies. Rittenhouse was so good a craftsman that he made an orrery (complete miniature planetarium) when he was 23 which he sold to Princeton University.
In addition to being a clock-maker he was also a leading physicist, mathematician, and surveyor. His surveys were the basis for the Mason-Dixon line that formed the border between the emancipated states and those where slavery still endured prior to the American Civil War. Rittenhouse was also chairman of the American Philosophical Society. When older he became director of the United States Mint from 1791 to his death in
1795. In addition to Pennsylvania, there were also famous clock-makers in Connecticut and Massachusetts. The Willard family of Grafton, Massachusetts, were born with a talent for clock-making.
Benjamin Willard (born 1743) learned the trade with Benjamin Cheney in Connecticut and passed his knowledge on to his brothers Simon, Ephraim, and Aaron when he returned to Grafton.
Benjamin started a clock-making business in Grafton and advertised in the Massachusetts Spy that he could supply clocks that played a different tune every day and a psalm on Sunday. His brothers travelled throughout Massachusetts to sell clocks to people. Simon Willard is the most famous clock-maker of the family.
He invented the bank clock. Aaron Willard developed a model of his own, the Massachusetts ’shelf clock’. Aaron’s sons, Aaron Jr. and Henry did not want to be left behind by the rest of the family and developed the ‘lyre clock’.
Eli Terry (born 1772) became known as the ‘Henry Ford of clock-makers’. He built a small factory beside a stream in 1803 so that a water wheel could turn his machines and lathes. Terry also designed a machine to make cogs. This made production so much more efficient that he was able to accept an order in 1806 for 4,000 clocks.
The prices dropped so much through mass production that he was soon able to export them to Britain. The methods of production continually improved and became quicker and clocks were being made on a grand scale by 1860. Some clock-makers made as many as 100,000 clocks per year.
This was at the expense of the quality of the — mainly wooden — clock cases. Some were so poorly made that any right-minded furniture maker would have thrown them in the rubbish bin straight away. Around 1860, the Litchfield Manufacturing Company was even making cases of papier mdch6, into which clock-makers then glued the mechanism.
Popular clocks of the United States
LONGCASE CLOCKS
The grandfather clock was the first clock for the home to be made in America. These stately clocks originally known as either tallcase or longcase clocks can thank their name to the children’s song
My Grandfather’s Clock.
The first longcase clocks were made in England around 1600 and the earliest known American example originated in
1680. The long case was necessary to house the long pendulum. This case was often designed and made by a cabinet maker.
The mechanism of the longcase clock was made of bronze and wood. The clocks were mainly driven by weights but wind-up clocks came onto the market later. The dial was often made of bronze with engraved or etched Roman numerals and decoration.
The hands themselves often had fine tracery in order to catch the light. Grandmother clocks are a smaller version of the longcase clock and they were extremely popular in the early nineteenth century.
They were mainly made by a group of Boston clock-makers including the Willards, Samuel Mulliken, and Levi Hutchins. The grandmother clock was no taller than 1,200mm (48in).
SHELF CLOCKS
Shelf clocks came into fashion in the New World following the America War of Independence (1775-1783).
This was because their mechanism was driven by a spring. Such mechanisms were more complex and hence less accurate and these clocks were often more expensive. Because metal was in short supply during the war mechanisms were generally made of wood. The first American shelf clocks are so similar to comparable English clocks of the time that many collector has been confused.
The Massachusetts shelf clock (also known as box on box or half clocks) is no taller than 600mm (24in). The clock is set on a shelf instead of on the ground as is the case with longcase clocks.
Because they were intended to be portable, lighthouse clocks had handles attached.
These clocks were fitted with an eight-day mechanism and also incorporated an alarm. The clock could be wound without removing the glass. This type of clock was not very popular and therefore few were made. This makes them now quite rare and therefore highly sought after.
The extremely eagerly sought OG clock first appeared around 1840. The simple rectangular case was completed with ogee moulding.
The wooden mechanism was replaced with bronze ones that were either weight or spring driven. The OG clock remained popular for almost a century. Chauncy Jerome developed a kind of conveyor belt (from an ideas of Joseph Ives) to mass produce bronze mechanisms for these clocks. His advertisements stated that these clocks were suitable for all manner of public places such as churches, banks, shops, ships, trains, saloons, corridors, and kitchens.
Jerome quickly dominated the American market and soon started to export his clocks to Britain. Because they were so cheap the British Customs thought he was trying to avoid paying duty and they seized his first consignment. The Customs paid him his declared value plus ten per cent. Jerome was delighted and sent a second shipment to England. This too was ‘purchased’ by the British government but he sent a third consignment and by now the British finally accepted Jerome’s valuation and allowed his clocks to be imported normally.
The style of his clocks follow furniture styles. The influence of Rococo is clearly apparent in the form of the clocks and their ornamentation in the Jerome & Co catalogue of 1852.
Clocks with pointed columns known as Gothic clocks first appeared around 1845 and originated from the imagination of Elias Ingraham (1805-1885). In common with the furniture style of the time these clocks had pointed columns on either side.
The mechanism incorporated innovations by Joseph Ives — the bronze eight-day movement was driven by an Ives spring. A closely related clock to the Gothic clock was the Beehive which mainly had cases made from mahogany and/or rosewood.
WALL CLOCKS
The ‘wag-on-the-wall’ clock is also derived from the longcase clock. This type of clock was mainly based on the ideas of Isaac Blaisdell for a clock for people for whom the longcase clock was too big. The pendulum is allowed to swing freely outside the case rather like a dog’s tail wagging to and fro.
The banjo clock was originally named by its designer Simon Willard as an `Improved Patent Timepiece’.
Despite the patent he was granted on this type of clock it was widely copied. There are some 4,000 genuine Willard banjo clocks. Willard introduced a number of improvements that enable his clock to run for eight days in spite of using lighter weights. The banjo clock was also more accurate than other clocks because the pendulum was suspended in front of the weights. The case was largely made of glass which was decorated with paintings of landscapes, flowers, and noteworthy buildings. This typical American clock is still very popular with the general public. The ‘girandole’ was designed in 1816 by Lemuel Curtis of Concord, Massachusetts.
This clock is a variant of the banjo clock with a rounded case. The upper and lower parts of the case are decorated with small gilt spheres that are reminiscent of a mirror girandole mirror.
The rounded glass of the bottom section often has paintings of mythological or historical tableaux. Some described the girandole clock as the most beautiful American design of clock. The ‘lyre’ clock was designed by two nephews of Simon Willard: Aaron and Henry Willard.
The clock is clearly related to banjo and girandole clocks. With lyre clocks the dial is positioned on an elegant double scroll that is reminiscent of a lyre. The sides of lyre clocks are often decorated with leaf motifs.
clocks have movements that have to be wound once in eight days. The pillar or scroll clock was the first type of clock to be made by Eli Terry in large numbers. The most unusual aspect of this clock was that the pendulum was mounted slightly to the right rather than centrally.
This type of clock was very popular in the 1830s.
Around 1875 the Americans hit on the idea of using a clock mechanism to make figures move. The ‘blinking eye clock’ was often used as an alarm clock. The clock contained a miniature male figure that blinked its eyes when the alarm went off.
Watches
Watchmakers emigrated to America from Britain, Holland, France, Germany, and Switzerland quite early. They attempted to set up their own businesses but quickly discovered that so many watches were imported that they could not earn a
living. Few watches were therefore produced in America before the mid 1800s. The first to try making watches in quantity as probably Luther Goddard (1762-1842) of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts.
He started to make watches in 1809 during a period that imports of watches were restricted by import regulations. He employed a number of other watchmakers but once the ‘Jefferson Embargo’ was lifted in 1815 the American market was once more flooded with foreign watches.
These were much cheaper than the American watches and so Goddard was forced to shut down in 1817. He then decided to become a clergyman instead glass.
A second attempt to make watches in America was made in 1837 by Henry and J.F. Pitkin of East Hartford, Connecticut. They developed machines that made between 800 and 1,000 watches but this business also failed due to foreign competition. After the factory moved to New York in 1841 the Pitkins decided to abandon watchmaking. Finally Edward Howard and Aaron L. Dennison were the first to successfully mass produce watches.
In 1850, forty years after Terry started to mass produce clocks, affordable American watches finally came onto the market. The Waltham Watch Company, as their business was named, survived for a century.
The Elgin National Watch Company was set-up in Elgin, Illinois in 1864. Their first watch was not sold until 1867. At first their watches had to be wound up with a separate key but these keys were easily lost so that they are much prized by collectors.
The company began to make ’stem’ watches in 1873 which had a small wheel on the side with which the watch could be wound. Although watches could now be made in greater quantities they remained expensive. The development of an accurate but cheap watch was a challenge to inventors.

Watches
Pocket watches
The first pocket watches, made during the second half of the 16th century, were powered by a three-wheel train, a fusee, and a verge escapement. By the beginning of the 17th century the familiar four-wheel train was introduced when it was realized that a higher wheel count effected a smoother transmission of power. Distinctively, watches of this early date have only one hand – this was typical until the late 17th century. Reflecting the puritanical climate of the period, British mid-17th-century 7th-century watches are usually either very plain or decorated only with simple engraving. Continental watchmakers created watches with highly coloured and beautifully painted enamel cases. Watches pre-dating BEFORE 1800
By the end of the 17th century Britain was producing the finest and most innovative watches. A particular feature of watches before c.1720 is the chanzpleve dial, made of metal inlaid with black wax; after c.1720 enamelled dials were more popular. A watch with a champleve dial, verge fusee movement, and pair cases (inner and outer cases) can be dated to the late 17th or early 18th century. Minute hands were introduced during this period and provided more accurate time readings. Watches at this time were mostly the preserve of members of the court and wealthy merchants.
During the second half of the 18th century, watches became more generally accessible, as the methods of production became more advanced. The pair-cased verge watch was the most common. Component parts were largely unchanged from the late 17th century; although usually made of silver, they were also made of gold.
AFTER 1800
The general construction of the watch did not change until the very beginning of the 19th century when watchmakers in continental Europe started to produce slimmer watches, often still using the traditional verge escapement. High-quality, decorative, enamelled cases are often a feature of watches of c.1800; some were produced with novelty cases in the shape of violins, beetles, pistols, and snuff-boxes.
During the mid-19th century the keyless watch with winding as an inbuilt mechanism was introduced, and by the 1870s most pocket watches were keyless. Watches became slimmer in design and several different
types were introduced, the most common being open-faced (glazed front, hinged back cover), half-hunting-cased (hinged front cover with small glazed aperture, chapter ring, and hinged back cover), and hunting-cased (hinged covers at both the front and back). During the 19th century the two dominant types of escapement were the cylinder and the lever. The cylinder, although widely used, was eventually superseded by the more efficient lever.
While complicated and precision watches
have been produced throughout watchmaking history, these were often one-off pieces or regarded as scientific instruments rather than practical, everyday watches. Toward the end of the 19th century, however, a great variety of special features was added to more standard pocket watches, including repeating mechanisms that sounded the hours, quarter hours, and sometimes also the minutes, calendarwork, chronograph (stopwatch) mechanisms, and moonphases. Such watches typify the high-quality Swiss work produced at the end of the 19th century and are highly collectable.
Before 1800
• CASES in the 16th and early 17th centuries, most cases were single and either plain, engraved, or enamelled –when decoration is present it is usually of a religious nature; later cases were typically pairs and of silver, gold, or gilt metal
• DIALS engraved metal was popular until the mid-17th
i
champleve dials were typical in the late
century
17th and early 18th centuries
• HANDS most clocks featured a single hand until the late 17th century; two hands were typical thereafter, usually in the “beetle and poker” design
• MOVEMENT most watches from the 18th century were fitted with a verge escapement
• COLLECTING even 19th-century copies of early watches are reasonably valuable
After 1800
• DESIGNS watches were slimmer after c. f800 especially in continental Europe; by the 1870s the majority of pocket watches were keyless
• CASES most are decorative and of painted enamel; novelty shapes popular in the early 19th century; from the mid-19th century cases were of three principal types: open-faced, half-hunting-cased, or hunting-cased
• DIALS enamelled dials are typical; many watches also feature several subsidiary dials
• MOVEMENTS various escapements were used, including verge, cylinder, and lever mechanisms
• COLLECTING watches with chronographs, repeating mechanisms, moonphases, and calendars are especially collectable
Important makers
British: Thomas Tompion ( 1638-1713); Daniel Quare (1648-1724); George Graham (1674-1751); L.J. Dent: 1790-1853; Charles Frodsham (1810-71); French: Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747-1823); Vacheron & Constantin (est. 1755)
Wristwatches
The watch was first worn on the wrist in the early years Of the 20th century. Early wristwatches were in the form of small pocket watches that had been converted to wristwatches either by the addition of wire strap lugs Soldered on to the case or by the use of a leather pocket, designed to hold the watch and fix onto the wrist with a strap. Such watches are easily identifiable as they are usualдн profusely chased and engraved on the reverse and the dial is not positioned in the usual wristwatch manner. These early wristwatch conversions are historically interesting but generally of low value. The first true wristwatch was produced by the Parisian
firm of Cartier c.1904 for the aviator
Alberto Santos Dumont; this design
became known as the “Santos” and is
still in production today. The Swiss firm
of Rolex, at the forefront of watch
production, began to manufacture
wristwatches as early as 1911. With the
Outbreak of World War I, wristwatches
were issued to servicemen, and many
interesting variations of these watches can
be found. The “Trench” watch is one of
these and is readily identifiable by its
pierced grille, intended to protect the glass
and dial. Until the 1920s watches were
generally of plain circular form with either
silvered or enamel dials, Swiss movements,
and either chrome, silver, or gold cases.
AFTER 1920
During the 1920s the range of wristwatch styles broadened to include rectangular, square, oval, and octagonal shapes. Most designs featured simple clean lines and bold numerals. During the 1930s case and dial designs became more abstract, numerals were more exaggerated and elongated, and two-colour cases and
bold Odeonesque features were introduced. Watches from the 1920s and 1930s are among the most sought after by collectors: a classic style coupled with a maker renowned for high standards such as Patek Philippe, Rolex, Cartier, Jaeger le Coultre, Audemars Piguet, and Vacheron & Constantin would be especially desirable.
In the I 940s watch styles resembled jewellery, designs of the period with styles such as the “cocktail” watch being typical. After the outbreak of World War II standard wristwatches were issued to members of the armed forces. These watches can be identified by their robust steel construction and their characteristic black dials and luminous numerals. The British Government property mark in the form of an arrow on the back of the case can also help to confirm the identification of British watches. Since military wristwatches were made by most eminent makers, including Longines, I.W.C., and Omega, collectors are taking an increased interest in these watches.
From the late 1940s into the early 1950s wristwatch design captured the futuristic look that was popular at the time: hands and baton numerals were severely pointed and streamlined and lugs were typically in exaggerated teardrop shapes. The inclusion of such features as calendars, moonphases, and chronographs was also highly characteristic of the period.
The following decade, the 1960s, produced many abstract and interesting watch designs, which are instantly recognizable as products of their age. While these characteristically bright-coloured watches in new synthetic materials are currently of little interest to the serious watch collector, they are avidly sought after by followers of modern design. Most wristwatch collectors today seek the classic designs from the 1930x, 1940s, and 1950x. When assessing value, the style, maker, model, and complexity of a watch are vital considerations, as are condition and any replacement parts.
Wristwatches of recent manufacture are also sought after when made by one of the exclusive designers.
KEY FACTS
Before 1920
• DESIGNS these were usually of plain circular form with wire strap lugs and enamel dials; the “Trench” watch, distributed to soldiers in World War 1, featured a protective grille over the glass dial-cover
• DIALS these were often unsigned – check the movement for the maker’s signature
After 1920
• DESIGNS unusual case shapes were typical; most military wristwatches from World War II are slightly larger than average, with black dials
• COLLECTING calendars, chronographs, moonphases,
and repeating features can add value; automatic
wristwatches are more sought after than manual-wind watches; British military watches are usually inscribed on the reverse with a Government issue arrow
Collectable makers
Patek Philippe, Rolex, Cartier, Vacheron &_ Constantin, Audemars Piguet, Jaeger Ie Coultre

Barometers
The barometer – an instrument for measuring atmospheric pressure – was invented by the Italian philosopher and mathematician Evangelista Torricelli in 1643-4. Torricelli discovered that the height of mercury in a glass tube immersed upside down in a cistern of mercury is dependent on atmospheric pressure. The British scientist Robert Boyle was the first to relate changes in the height of the mercury to variations in the weather, and the first domestic barometers were made from the 1670s. Barometers were often fitted with a thermometer, calibrated with the Royal Society scale from 0 to 90 degrees until c.1725 and the Fahrenheit scale thereafter.
STICK BAROMETERS
The stick barometer, the earliest and simplest type, consists of a long, straight, glass tube of mercury immersed in a glass cistern full of mercury. Late 17th-century British examples are mounted on a wooden walnut-veneered frame, decorated with Baroque-style twist pillars and fretted scrolls, and have a solid walnut cistern cover and a silvered-brass graduated scale (the “register plates”) at the top with a recording pointer. Made by clockmakers, most follow the form of contemporary clocks.
The closed-cistern stick barometer is usually attributed to Daniel Quare (16491724) in 1695: being sealed, it was more easily transportable. Most early 18th-century barometers found today are of this type. Made mainly in London, they are similar to late 17th-century models but tend to have shorter hoods, gilt finials, and plainer cases. Mahogany veneer was used from c.1740.

While earlier barometers followed clock styles, later 18th-century examples were influenced more by furniture. After the mid-18th century cases became plainer, the engraving on the register plates less ornate, and trunks narrower; the influence of long-case clocks disappeared. From c.1750 the Vernier scale, accurate to one-hundredth of an
inch, was used for mercury readings, and the principal weather indications of “fair”, “changeable”, and “rain” were standardized. Hinged glass doors to protect the register plates appeared at the end of the 18th century.
In the early 19th century finely crafted barometers featured stringing in dark ebony or lighter woods. From c.1840 rosewood as well as mahogany was used for cases, and ivory or paper for the register plates. The “Admiral Fitzroy” barometer, a popular design by the British meteorologist Admiral Robert Fitzroy (1805-65), featured a glazed, rectangular oak case, paper register plates, a thermometer, and a storm glass – a bottle of crystals in a camphor solution that supposedly forecast weather changes. Two recording pointers allowed atmospheric pressure to be recorded on successive days.
The stick barometer went out of fashion in favour of the aneroid barometer in the early 20th century, but earlier designs were reproduced on a limited scale.
ANGLE BAROMETERS
The angle or “signpost” barometer uses the same principle as the stick barometer, but the upper part of the tube is bent. Invented in the 1670s and made until c.1880, this design was intended to give a more accurate reading,
as the mercury moved over a greater length in the upper part of the tube. However, it was less accurate than hoped and never widely popular because of its expense and its unwieldy shape. Rarer than other types, angle barometers are particularly collectable today.
Barometer-makers invented new designs to obscure the awkward form: in the early 18th century the maker John Patrick mounted the angle barometer on a square or rectangular wooden frame with a large mirror in the centre and a thermometer on the other side to balance the design. To reduce the horizontal part of the arm without reducing the scale, some makers used two or three tubes, set side by side and angled at different heights, so that the tubes would cover the full scale.
WHEEL BAROMETERS
The wheel barometer, invented in 1663 by Robert Hooke (1635-1703), featured a U-shaped tube with long and short arms. A float resting on the mercury in the short arm is attached to a lighter counterweight by a thread over a pulley wheel, which in turn is connected to a pointer on a dial. The movement of the mercury in the tube raises or lowers the float, rotating the pointer. The wheel barometer was not made in large numbers in Britain until c.1770, when the “banjo” design was introduced by Italian glassblowers and instrument-makers. The “banjo” wheel barometer, [lie most popular type of wheel barometer in the 19th century, consists of a dial and thermometer in a banjo-shaped wooden case. The silvered-brass dial has a blued-steel indicating hand and a brass fixed hand for recording readings. The scale, measured in inches, ranged from
-1 to 79cm (28-31in), the average atmospheric pressure in northern Europe, and was divided into tenths or twentieths of a inch. Later examples are usually equipped with more detailed scales graduated to hundreths of an inch.
Many wheel barometers were also fitted with a spirit lei el at the bottom for checking that the barometer was hung vertically - if it was not level, the float would jam. Another useful device was the hygrometer, indicating
humidity (which, like temperature, affected the height of the mercury): a beard of oats, which curled and uncurled with changes in air moisture, was set on a dial with the indications “moist” (”damp” from c.1800) and “dry”.
Before c.1825 most wheel barometer cases were veneered in mahogany, with the best examples made in Satinwood, maple, or pearwood. From c.1815 to c.1825 “Sheraton shell” inlay, copied from Regency furniture, was especially fashionable as a form of decoration. The mid-19th century saw the appearance of the “onion” or “tulip” top case, and the finest examples were veneered in mahogany or rosewood, inlaid with mother-of-pearl, tortoiseshell, and brass. Later 19th-century cases, influenced by the 1851 Great Exhibition, tended to use solid wood (often oak) cases, with increasingly elaborate carving. The wheel barometer was superseded by the aneroid barometer in the late 19th century.
ANEROID BAROMETERS
Invented by the French engineer Lucien Vidie in 1843, the aneroid (”liquid-free”) barometer completely transformed barometer making. Instead of mercury, it featured a small, vacuumed, metal chamber that rose and fell with atmospheric pressure change. Very accurate and easily portable, by c.1900 it was the most successful type of barometer. Aneroid barometers were initially used by scientists, surveyors, and engineers, but from c.1860 models were made for the home in a wide variety of case designs, from round brass cases to marble mantel ornaments; some were fitted into mantel or carriage clocks. Imitation “banjo” wheel barometers were also Popular. Domestic versions featured silvered-brass or less expensive cardboard dials; marine barometers had enamel or porcelain dials, less likely to corrode in sea air. Pocket aneroid barometers, used by travellers and climbers, were produced c.1860 by the firm of Negretti & Zambra. Most were fitted in leather-covered wooden cases; some also had a scale on the dial for measuring altitude, a curved mercury thermometer, or a compass.
Stick barometers
• DESIGNS the Vernier scale was used from c.1750; register plates were usually made of silvered brass until 1840, bone and ivory thereafter
• COLLECTING ING barometers made in the late 17th to early 18th century are very rare and valuable today
Angle barometers
• DESIGNS some were mounted on a wooden frame with a mirror and thermometer
• COLLECTING few were made after c.1880, and fewer were made than other types, so they highly sought after
Wheel barometers
• DESIGNS the “banjo” shape was the most popular design from the late 18th century; scroll pediments were fairly standard after 1825; “Sheraton shell” inlay was used c.1815-25; convex glass mirrors were put in the centre from c.1840; best later Victorian examples are inlaid with brass, mother-of-pearl, and tortoiseshell
• COLLECTING most British barometers are signed by Italians, who dominated the industry
Aneroid barometers
• DESIGNS case shapes were varied, but the “banjo” style was especially popular; wheel barometer types were made from the 1860s; pocket examples were produced from c.1860

Novelty clocks
Clocks have always exerted fascination because of their complex mechanisms. Since the 17th century clockmakers have created unique timekeepers that incorporate musical work, mechanical figures, elaborate cases and dials, and complicated striking mechanisms. Most novelty clocks available today were produced during the 19th century (particularly in France), when in the face of mass production there was a great demand for unusual clocks. These novelty clocks were fashioned in numerous designs and with a great variety of intricate and complicated mechanisms.
AUTOMATON CLOCKS
One of the most popular types of novelty clock was
the automaton clock, featuring automata or mechanical figures. The earliest automaton clocks were made in the late 16th century, especially in Germany and central Europe, and include such devices as griffins that flapped their wings and opened and closed their beaks at the striking of each hour. In the 18th and 19th centuries rocking ships, phases of the moon (on a revolving dial), and figures of musicians playing were
common. These features were often fitted in the dial arch of longcase and bracket clocks. Some of the most elaborate 19th-century examples from France and Switzerland have very ornate cases with figures appearing through doors, windmills with turning sails, and rocking ships.
Most automaton clocks available today are of eight-day duration and are spring-driven, with a third winding hole for winding the concealed automaton mechanism, musical work,
and/or a quarter-hour striking mechanism. Many automata have minor damage, and prospective buyers should always make sure that the automata work before purchasing.
BLACK FOREST CLOCKS
Clocks have been made in Germany’s Black Forest region since the late 17th century, but most pieces on the market today are from the 18th and 19th centuries. In the 18th century a cottage clockmaking industry grew up, making wall-hung, weight-driven, 30-hour clocks with anchor escapements and long pendulums. With the great local tradition of woodcarving, and the high cost of brass, clockmakers used wood for almost all features of the clock: the shield-shaped, painted wooden dial, often decorated with floral motifs, was fixed onto a wooden
frame housing the movement – also mostly of wood.
In the 19th century the clockmaking industry turned to mass production in the face of competition from mass-produced, wooden-cased clocks from the USA. Painted shield clocks were still popular, but most
19th-century examples have steel or brass rather than wooden movements. One of the most famous types of Black Forest clock is the cuckoo clock, supposedly first made by Franz Anton Kctterer c.1730; table
cuckoo clocks were made from the 1850s. Cuckoo
clocks have elaborate, carved wood cases, often in the form of a hunting lodge or chalet. Some have a matching carved pendulum bob and
weights modelled as pine-cones. The wooden
cuckoo usually pops out of an aperture on
the hour and the half hour; the finest clocks
also feature musical work, with birdsong
emitted by two small pipes with miniature
bellows inside the case. The more unusual
trumpeter clocks, from c.1857, are similar,
but have trumpeters rather than a cuckoo.
SKELETON CLOCKS
The skeleton clock evolved in France in the mid-18th century, probably out of the desire of the great French сдщсльфлукы of the time to show off their skill. The pierced or fretted brass frame revealed the mechanism, which typically featured cut and pierced brass plates secured by blued-steel screws. The base was usually of marble or wood, decorated with elaborate gilt-bronze Mounts, and the clock was covered with a glass dome to protect the movement from dust. Most dials were of white enamel, with the centre often cut out to reveal the movement behind. Usually made to commission for wealthy patrons, French clocks were of extremely high quality, featuring sophisticated mechanical refinements, calendar-work, and often fine gridiron pendulums.
The skeleton clock was not introduced in Britain until c.1820; production tailed off by 1890 and stopped in 1910. British skeletons usually have a fusee movement, an anchor escapement, an engraved and silvered or lute-painted brass dial, and blued-steel hands. Dials ere often pierced or fretted, with the dial centre cut out. Because the movements were on display, they were usually very finely finished, and the frame was lacquered gilded. Like French skeletons, British pieces usually ,at on marble or wooden bases, often with a velvet creel centre; the base had a step or groove to hold -lit glass dome cover.
Before the mid-19th century fine skeleton clocks were made in Britain by a few individual makers; after that time following the Great Exhibition of 1851) they were produced in large numbers by specialized manufacturers. Skeleton clocks became virtuoso pieces of design, with elaborate, scalloped, pierced, and fretted frames, often modelled on famous buildings — on some pieces the hands are hardly visible against the profusion of miniature spires and arches. Early skeleton clocks are timepieces, whereas these complex clocks strike the hour and sometimes the half hour on a gong, visible behind the clock. Some of the most elaborate skeleton clocks strike on two or more bells or have musical chimes.
MYSTERY CLOCKS
The earliest mystery clocks date from the 17th century, but the principal period of mystery clock production was the 19th century in France. They are so called because there is no apparent connection between the pendulum and the movement; or no apparent connection between the movement and the hands. These perplexing clocks were usually spring-driven, and the visible pendulum, which mysteriously appears to swing unaided, was therefore a mainly decorative feature added for intrigue. The pendulum was often held by a bronze or spelter (an alloy of zinc) figure, and the movement in the marble base: each impulse of the escapement caused the figure to rotate virtually imperceptibly to the right and left, and this rotating movement in turn enabled the pendulum to swing. Another design was that of a glass dial supported by a column: the dial kept the time without any visible connection to the movement. The quality of the figure determines the price of the clock — those with bronze statues are the most highly sought after.
Automaton clocks
• DESIGNS automata were often combined with complex musical workings
• CONDITION automata should always be original and in good working order as they are difficult to fix
Black Forest clocks
• CONDITION wooden cases, dials, and movements may suffer from woodworm or be cracked or split; wooden carvings should be intact
• COLLECTING the finest examples also play music
Skeleton clocks
• DESIGNS the best pieces have ornate pierced and fretted frames (perhaps modelled as a cathedral), an original glass dome, complex striking, and sometimes chimes
• CARE cleaning should be carried out by specialists; broken or missing glass domes are difficult to replace
• COLLECTING the more complicated the design and mechanism, the more collectable the clock; original domes are important
Mystery clocks
• COLLECTING figures should be original; bronze is more desirable than spelter; bad repairs reduce value

Electric clocks
Electricity and magnetism
were phenomena known in the ancient world, but the first experiments into magnetic fields produced by electric currents did not take place until the early 19th century. Among the first to experiment with the use of electrically induced magnets to drive clock mechanisms was the Scotsman Alexander Bain 18 10-77), who patented an electric clock in the early 1840s. In the 19th century most electric clocks were used as precise master timekeepers, but from the early 20th century electric clocks for domestic use were also produced.
MASTER ELECTRIC CLOCKS
Bain’s first electric clock of the 1840s was powered by an earth battery which supplied an electric current alternately to two coils on either side of a magnetized bar on the pendulum bob. These regular electric impulses maintained the
swing of the pendulum. Sliding
contacts on the pendulum rod delivered the current alternately to coils in the movement, and the hands of the clock moved forward at each double swing of the pendulum. The movement was usually set in a simple wooden case, either wall-mounted or floor-standing. -Most surviving examples of Bain’s clock are museum-pieces. In Switzerland Matthaus Hipp (1813-93) developed the Hipp toggle c.1834, although it was not applied to clocks until 1842. This mechanism, featuring a toggle attached to the pendulum, gave an electric impulse only when the swing of the pendulum fell below a given arc. The inventions of Bain and Hipp facilitated the production of master timekeepers, which were much more accurate than purely mechanical clocks.
Further designs for electric master clocks followed in the early 20th century. In 1910 Percival A. Bentley of Leicester patented his “Earth Driven” clock, produced in a variety of case designs: his longcases typically had
well-made mahogany cases with bevelled glass trunk doors. One of the most precise electric master clocks, the “Shortt Free pendulum” clock, was developed by William Hamilton Shorts (1882-1971) and Frank Hope-Jones (1867-1950) between 1921 and 1924. This clock was extremely accurate – losing or

gaining only one or two-thousandths of a second every day – and was used as a standard timepiece for observatories until the development of the caesium atomic clock in the 1950s.
DOMESTIC ELECTRIC CLOCKS
Probably the most successful early domestic electric clock was that manufactured between 1909 and 1914 by the Eureka Clock Co. in Clerkenwell, London. Patented in 1906, it used the same principle as Bain’s electric clock, but instead of the pendulum the balance wheel was impulsed. Eureka clocks were very well made with a variety of case designs: the most desirable are those in which the movement is visible. This type, like the skeleton clock, was covered by a glass dome.
One of the most common electric clocks found today is the Bulle clock, invented by Monsieur Favre-Bulle. This clock was patented in 1922 in Britain, but most examples were manufactured in France; production ceased at the beginning of World War 11. The earliest Bulle clocks have circular mahogany bases, with the battery housed in a vertical brass pillar and the movement covered by a glass dome; in later examples the battery is housed in the base. In the 1930s some electric shelf clocks with plastic cases operating from mains electricity were produced: these arc becoming increasingly collectable with the growing popularity of 1930s Art Deco pieces and the interest in such early plastics as Bakelite.

• CARE glass domes supplied with skeletonized Eureka and Bulle clocks may be missing and are difficult to replace; reversing the battery connections of a nonworking Bulle clock may be sufficient to restart it; if a Bulle clock requires a battery, this should be no more powerful than 1 1/2 volts
• COLLECTING 19th-century electric master clocks are rare; the most collectable Eureka clocks are those with a visible oscillating balance wheel; visible movements are generally more desirable than concealed ones

Clockmakers were continually searching for new ways of making their clocks more accurate. In 1-15 George Graham (c.1673-1751) invented the deadbeat anchor escapement, which eliminated all elements of recoil when the pallets engaged the escape %% heel, and in 1726 he created a pendulum with a glass, mercury-filled bob that compensated for temperature changes. Such mechanisms were used in precision clocks that in turn were used to regulate other timekeepers and became known as regulators. John Harrison (1693-1776) invented the marine chronometer, which enabled mariners to establish exact longitude at sea.
BRITISH, FRENCH, AND AMERICAN REGULATORS
Regulators were made in Britain and France in the
18th and 19th centuries and in the USA from the end
of the 18th century. British longcase and wall regulators had plain mahogany cases and silvered-brass dials. Minutes were indicated on the chapter ring, hours and
seconds on subsidiary dials. Early longcase regulators
had solid trunk doors and pediment tops; from c.1750 dazed doors and rounded tops were usual. French regulators were elaborate, with ornate finials, a square Top, and ormolu mounts. Dials were usually in enamel
ith a brass bezel. Most regulators were timepieces, so the vibrations of a striking mechanism did not affect accuracy; many had a system of springs for maintaining power to ensure that time was not lost during winding. Graham’s mercurial pendulum was used in some regulators; others had gridiron or wood-rod pendulums.
VIENNA REGULATORS
Vienna regulators of exceptional quality were produced during the first quarter of the 19th century. These weight-driven clocks, usually wall-hung, are of two main types: the Laterndlubr (”lantern clock”) and the more common Dachlubr (”rooftop clock”). A few longcase designs were also produced. Cases were relatively plain but well made, with a pediment top. Dials were enamelled or of silvered brass, with hours around the chapter ring. Some cases also have a beat scale – a small plaque with equal divisions – to indicate whether the pendulum is swinging equally. From the 1840s cases were more ornate, often with decorative carving. Imitations of varying quality were made in the late 19th and the early 20th century in Silesia and the Black Forest (and also in the USA), with striking mechanisms and enamel dials. The movements of later examples arc often of poorer quality.
CHRONOMETERS
Mariners relied on accurate, spring-driven chronometers to calculate longitude so as to work out their position at sea. Chronometers were made from the late 18th century, but most common today are 19th-century examples. The best were made in Britain and France. Most feature a spring detent escapement – more accurate than an ordinary regulator’s escapement. Most chronometers were mounted in brass gimbals (pivoted rings) to offset motion at sea, and held in a glazed wooden box with a lid. The case was often mahogany with brass side handles. Most examples arc of one-, two-, or eight-day duration, with an engraved, silvered dial. A subsidiary up/down dial shows how long the clock has left to run before rewinding. Dials were usually signed by the maker or retailer and have a serial number.
British, French, and American regulators
• CASES most British cases are of mahogany and very plain; French cases are more ornate, typically with ormolu mounts
• DIALS British dials have minutes around the chapter
ring, with subsidiary dials for seconds and hours
• MOVEMENTS most have a precision deadbeat escapement, often ten with jewelled anchor pallets to reduce friction; wooden rod, mercurial, or gridiron pendulums were used to balance temperature changes
Vienna regulators
• CASES these are usually in a very fine Classical style,
with a pediment top and six or nine glazed sections
• DIALS most are of enamel or silvered brass, with hours around the chapter ring
• MOVEMENTS these are very similar to those on other European regulators and extremely finely made
Chronometers
• CASES most are mahogany, but those made for private yachts may have more expensive veneers such as rosewood; lids are often missing or replaced
• DIALS subsidiary up/down dials showing time left
before rewinding were typical; Arabic numerals were common on American 1940s chronometers
• MOVEMENTS escapements are sophisticated and need regular overhauling to keep accurate time

Carriage clocks – small, portable, spring-driven clocks with carrying handles – are among the most popular clocks with collectors today. Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747-1823), one of the leading French clockmakers of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, developed this type of travelling clock, called in France a pendule de voyage, at the turn of the 19th century. Carriage clocks were made throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries mainly in France, although the largest market for them was in Britain and the USA.
FRANCE
The manufacture of carriage clocks was well established in France by the mid-19th century. Movements were usually made in the Franche-Comte region, Lyons, or Normandy, with the escapements produced by specialist artisans along the French–Swiss border. These escapements were placed on a horizontal platform at the top of the clock, visible through a glazed aperture and thus are called platform escapements. Similar to those used in watches, and are not affected by movement. Makers in Paris assembled the workings of the clock and the case and stamped their marks on the movement.
The cases of carriage clocks are usually rectangular: the earliest versions have a brass frame, cast in one piece, with bevelled glass panels on the front, sides,back, and top, revealing the movement. After c.1845 makers assembled cases from several parts, allowing greater variation in design.The finest cases were gilded and entirely engraved (including the rear door) with foliate or floral patterns. In the last quarter of the 19th century a relatively small number of carriage clocks with decorative enamel or porcelain panels were produced, which are now highly collectable. Most clocks were sold with close-fitting, leather-covered, wooden carrying cases, but few are still intact.
Dials are generally white enamelled copper, with blued-steel hands. As most French clocks were sold in Britain, the signature or name on the dial is often that of a British retailer. A serial number and
maker’s stamp may also appear on the movement. All French carriage clocks are of eight-day duration with a going barrel; some are timepieces (i.e. without a striking mechanism), while others have complex striking such as grande sonnerie (striking both the hour and the quarter hours). Many striking clocks also feature a repeat mechanism: when a button on top of the case is pressed, the last hour or quarter will strike again.
BRITAIN
In Britain carriage clocks were produced in smaller numbers than in France but they are generally of far higher quality, as they were made only by the best makers, often to order. They can be distinguished from French examples by their plainer and heavier cases. Movements feature a fusee instead of a going barrel. The signature on the dial (and
the backplate) is usually that of the maker; the firms of Frodsham, McCabe, and Dent were among the well-known British makers, and also retailed French clocks.
• the finest French cases have engraved gilt-brass frames with enamelled or porcelain panels
• DIAL French dials often feature the name of a British retailer; British dials more often give the maker’s name
• COLLECTING examples with original travelling case an winding key are sought after; more complex clocks more collectable; British clocks, usually higher quality. arc more valuable; replaced escapements reduce value