As this is such a broad subject for discussion, I can only give a few important pointers in the development of English Lantern Clocks.  I will try and answer any questions you may have through my main website. The earliest practical timekeepers in homes in this country were the lantern clocks. They deserve discussion and I will do my best in a short piece to give a useful insight into their manufacture/ design and dates.

The name Lantern Clocks always causes much debate, some people suggest the word derives from a corruption of the word Latten, which used to describe copper alloys, much like brass in the Middle Ages. It is also suggested the name comes from the fact that the clocks shape looks like a rectangular lantern from the period.  In any event Lantern clocks, which are a type of weight driven clock hanging usually from the wall  came into homes in this country from about C1600. They remained very popular until the 19 th century. You will see many copies of these types of antique clock sold today, many with spring driven movements.

Lantern clocks were made almost exclusively of brass, you will only find a few posts within the movement and the clock hand made of iron, sometimes even the antique clock hand will be cut from brass. These clocks generally have a single hand to tell the time. The movements are of a maximum of 30 hours duration. I have never seen a period  ’8-day’ example. These clocks strike the hours on a single bell and are wound from a continuos rope system. Occasionally you will have an alarm feature to the centre of the dial. This alarm feature has sometimes been removed over the years.

The earliest mechanisms of these clocks have a balance wheel form of escapement, the development then continues onto the verge escapement and small bob pendulum. The problem with both these methods is accuracy for timekeeping is not great. It was the devlopment of the long pendulum by Huygens in 1656 that further developed these clocks.  Accuracy of  about 15 minutes per day was expected with an early balance wheel escapement lantern clocks, probably 5/10 minutes per day with the early verge escapements and to under a minute or so with the anchor escapements and long pendulum.

The invention of the long pendulum was both good and bad for the humble lantern clock though, it is clear some of the earliest provincial grandfather clocks were lantern clocks in wood cases shaped very much like coffins. As development continued antique grandfather clock production slowly wiped out the need for lantern clocks. Few lantern clocks tend to be made during the 18th century.

Original lantern clocks dating back to the 17th century are rare and these are highly sought after and collectable. The Victorians unfortunately changed many of the movements of these 17th century lantern clocks and put key wind late movements to them. I often see these clocks around the salerooms and it makes me sad. I have collected a number of genuine 17th century lantern clocks and many are pictured in the reknowned book by George White on English Lantern Clocks. If you wish to do a detailed study on these exceptional clocks I recommend reading this book.

I have featured  many antique clocks from the 17th/18th and 19th centuries, as you probably know I am not a big fan of most 20th century clocks. There are still some fun clocks made during this period though and I will focus on a few here. The clocks I will be discussing here are so-called novelty clocks.

You will see from the picture above there are lots of things you can collect that are really fun and interesting. We have a selection of bicycle clocks, one of these even has a barometer in the back wheel. You can ocassionally see such items on your travels but as with anything collectable you will probably expect to pay from about £500 to £750 for a nice example dating from the beginning of the 20th century.

You will notice candle clocks, oil lamp clocks, clocks where the eyes tell the time in the case of the dog. Clocks is the form of a policeman, where the helmet is the alarm bell. There is an unusual petal clock, where the centre of the flower is the time and the mechanism is in the plant pot.

I hope you agree these are all very interesting and highly collectable antique clocks. Although such items are increasing in value, if you start collecting such items and form a nice collection, your money will be well invested.

Personally when I was young I used to collect Art Nouveau Balloon clocks, I have amassed a large collection of these over the years.  I started collecting when I was about 13 and have loved antique clocks all my life. I suppose growing up  in a family antique clocks business with its own in house antique clock restoration department, I had to either love antiques or hate them. The more you understand about antique clocks, the more you love them. My advice is to start collecting when you are young, learn from those willing to give you good advice and soak up all this information like a sponge. It is really rewarding now giving back to others all I have learnt over the years and I hope you continue to enjoy my blog.

For example with the production of longcase clock cabinets in london, designs might have changed slightly during the 18th century but for the early 18th century and the late 18th century they are very much on the same thinking. You will see after C1720 and up to C1800 usually two plinths, moulding to trunk door and high quality walnut, mahogany veneers or fine lacquer work cases.  Examples can be seen below. After about 1800 london clocks can lose the second plinth and the moulding to the door but you will still see them being quite similar in design. You will also find these close similarities in cases of clocks within 50 miles or so of London, many clockmakers actually bought London style cases in  these areas.

You will find many regional designs of cabinets though and after looking for a while you will get a good idea of where the clockmaker was based from just looking a certain case features. In Scotland for example, especially the East Coast you get some wonderful cases from C1770 to c1810, all very slender, shaped top to the trunk door, high proportion base and standing on bracket feet. The most characteristic is the swan neck pediments to the hood.

You will also find Manchester, Liverpool and Bristol cabinets to be quite distinctive, in the 18th century these areas were very wealthy, especially because of the trade going on with the West Indies and the USA, and Manchester was the birth place for the industrial revolution. Cabinets in Manchester and Liverpool, especially at the end of the 18th century and later tend to be quite large with quite imposing features,  Og feet, Corinthian columns, fine veneers. You will see a typical high quality Liverpool case below.

Bristol was another very important port in the 18th century and the clocks made in this part of the country are very distinctive. Wobbly doors are very common and scenes engraved to dial are very popular, pierced swan neck pediments and OG bracket feet show the fine cabinet work. Again it is easy to see the wealth in this part of the country in the 18th century, the cases are very flambouyant. Understanding case design and the styles of the various parts of the UK cabinet design is important when looking to buy an antique grandfather clock. You can use this knowledge with further research to pinpoint all those important questions that you need reassurance with, when purchasing antique grandfather clocks.

Vienna regulator wall clocks are very special and an original example can be very expensive. These clocks were manufactured throughout the 19th century, but most were made from about C1800 to C1850. These clocks were  hand made and of very fine quality. These clocks are also very simple and very elegant. I suppose as the value of clocks like this are high and they are very simple, this is the reason why I have seen many copies of these type of clocks coming onto the market in recent years. Only buy an early Vienna wall clock from a specialist antique clock dealer who will give you a money back guarantee that it is genuine and fully restored.

German wall regulators can still be nice clocks, I particularly like the first 10 or 20 years they were made from about C1860. After C1880 these clocks become very ornate though and the quality tends to decrease. These clocks  were made in factories specifically set up to produce them. With the typical german efficiency, they made lots of these clocks, and the value is alot lower than the earlier Austrian handmade examples.

I often get asked how do you tell if I have got a German wall regulator or an earlier Austrian example. The easiest way you can tell the difference is that German weight driven wall clocks often have an imitation second hand to the dial. Austrian wall clocks did not normally use this feature, unless the clock could actually beat seconds. A seconds pendulum means the pendulum will need to be about 1 meter long. If you timed the period of 1 rotation on a german wall clock of the so called seconds hand, it will take about 40 seconds. It was in effect just a gimmick or put on the dial just for looks. The Austrians were purests and did not do this. An example of a true Austrian Vienna wall clock will a proper seconds hand is pictured above. You will notice the clock is very long. You will also see two examples below, a German wall regulator and an Austrian vienna regulator, see if you can see which one is which from my reasoning above.

There are many many reasons why in this instance buying an antique clock from a recognized clock dealer is the correct decision.

1) Clocks generally made prior to C1800 will be handmade. The quality of the movments is generally far better than there new equivalent.

2) Labour costs are increasing ever year and they are considerably more expensive than they were in the 17th and 18th centuries. Buying antique items with intrinsic labour costs built in is a good thing.

3) The skill base in clocks has dramatically decreased over the years. In the 17/18 th centuries etc London was the centre of clockmaking and every little village had its own clockmaker. Today the clockmaking industry is a shadow of its former self.

4) The cabinets are generally far better looking on an antique clock. Veneers on 18th century clocks are clearly hand cut and the finest slow grown timbers are used. Furniture veneers today are generally chisel cut on machines to less than a millimeter thick. Also the finish of antique cabinets has improved with age. The sun and years of waxing gives them a softer more mellow finish. Modern furniture has generally little or no character and usually has a sticky french polish open grain finish.

5) Investment is another key factor and plays a big part in decision making. Although many people keep their antique clocks and hand them down their family trees to the children. (Antique clocks are a great way of reducing capital gains and inheritance tax bills.) For those people that should a rainy day come and they require funds urgently, genuine antique clocks normally increase in value, assuming you keep them in a good condition. Generally modern clocks lose value and depreciate.

The 5 reasons stated above are just a few advantages to buying antique clocks, there is nothing better than owning your little piece of history and a lovely antique clock. Antique clocks have stood the test of time, and with everyone today focusing on green issues, what could be more green. 100% recycled !

Many people will point out that the disadvantage that they are more expensive, this may be true in some instances but you will more than make this up if you come to sell. The increase in value over time of antique clocks has been documented in many books. Don’t delay buy an antique clock today !

In my last post I talked about tavern clocks which are really the start and a branch of English dial clocks. In this post I would like to focus on the more standard wooden dial clocks or drop dial clocks that run from about C1770 to right up until modern day. I will focus up until WWII but clearly high quality fusee wall clock were made for station clocks and post offices etc  up until the advent of radio controlled quartz clocks.

The Act of Parliament in 1797 which imposed a tax on clocks and watches forced many clockmaking factories to close or cut back production or swap production to these wall clocks, which in many cases could escape the tax. When the tax was repealed many factories that swapped over production to dial clocks continued and increased production to take advantage of the more favourable conditions.

During the 19th century movement factories making fusee movements for these dial clocks were becoming increasingly successful and the later you go through the 19th century more and more movements for these dial clocks are made by larger establised firms. It was found increasingly that the clockmaker bought in movements for his clocks during the 19th century and fewer and fewer clocks were made by the clockmaker on the dial. Production had turned to a form of assembly. In fact from the middle of the  19th century onwards more and more clocks were signed by the retailer of the clock and not the actual maker.

The earliest round dial wall clocks are very collectable and they are found with silvered brass dials,  verge movements and ‘salt box cases’. It is rare to find these types of clocks and most dial clocks will be from C1820 in date and typically the most I see on my travels date from around C1860/80.  These clocks will usually have mahogany cases and anchor escapements. 99% of these clocks will not be striking and have only one train, just for the timekeeping. The dials can either be flat or convex as will be the glass. The most popular size for manufacture was 12 inches across the dial, using a flat white painted dial. More collectable dial clocks tend to have 8 inch or 10 inch dials and the very large 18inch dials are also very hard to find. Most of the best spring driven wall clocks throughout the 19th and even 20th centuries will have fusee movements. These are far better movements than the typical French movements made throughout the 19th century. The French may have excelled in design and with interesting mystery clocks etc but the British still excelled in the quality of the movements made through this period for spring driven clocks.

As I have pointed out the earliest dials were silvered brass dials but most of the dials produced after C1820 are iron white painted dials, you will sometimes find a rare example of a wooden dial dial clock like pictured above right.

During the 20th century dial clocks still had an important role to play in the emerging factories and in the post offices and stations of the UK. RAF sector clocks are also very rare and were used during WWII and the Battle of Britain. These wall clocks are very collectable and be very careful when purchasing, as many have repainted dials and are made to look like original sector clocks. RAF sector clocks commonly had 14inch dials, movements were generally made by the Elliot company and they were dated. The cases usually had a RAF log on the back and a date as well. The finest examples had fusee movements, some cheaper examples had going barrel movements. These sector clocks allowed you to see which squadron was in the air at any one time. There were normally three colours painted to the dial in triangles by the side of the numerals. see picture below.

Alot of research has been carried out into  antique tavern clocks, many books have been written, but I wish to correct the commonly held view that these clocks started life only as early as C.1720. You may know these antique clocks by another name, they are sometimes called ‘ Act of Parliament’ clocks.  They were later commonly called this as a result of the tax imposed on clocks and watches in July 1797. With the government being short of funds as a result of many years of war etc, extra ways to increase tax were thought out.  The Act imposed a duty of 5 shillings on every clock, 10 shillings of every gold watch and 2s.6d on every silver or other watch. Assessors were sent round to take account of how many clocks you owned above a certain value. There were certain exemptions to the Act, these included public houses. Alot of these tavern clocks as the name says were housed in public houses and so they were exempt from this very unpopular tax. It led to a decline in the clock trade and luckily was  repealed after only  9 months of it being in force.

These tavern clocks were usually decorated in laquer work, had wooden dials, made up from usually three sections, had simple single 5 wheel train movements. The extra wheel in the train generally makes them go for longer than a standard longcase clock, even though they actually have a shorter drop.  They usually had brass hands so the time could easily be read against the black painted dial. The earliest dials known were wooden and shaped like a shield, later circular dials were introduced and tear drop shapes to the cabinets.

Although books on the subject commonly stated the earliest examples of these clocks are from roughly C1720, we have owned for over 10 years, a clock of this form that is pre 1700 in date. It is an amazing tavern clock, it is the only antique clock of this type I have ever seen with an original brass dial, instead of the usual wood form. The antique clock maker is from a family which emigrated to London from Augsburg in Germany. Bushman is a fantastic clockmaker and by all accounts the finest clockmaker to come out of Germany ! He is mentioned as being on a par with the great Thomas Thompion in some quarters.

If I took a picture of the clock minus the hood it looks like a very early Augsburg table clock, I can see where the idea for the manufacture started. I believe this clock to be one of the first, if not the first,  tavern clock. John Bushman is provable in London between 1661 until just after 1692 ( date of death unknown), clearly we do know he came from the Augsburg area, and you can tell that from the design of the cabinet work on this clock. Bushman was admitted to the clockmakers company in 1662. You can see the huge pull the Clockmakers Company which I have talked about previously, had on all the best clockmakers from all over Europe. Everyone wanted to come to London and work in the 17th and 18th centuries. It truly was the centre for clockmaking in the world at the time.

Many people will ask if this clock has 5 wheel train, how does it have a second hand, a sweep centre seconds hand in this case. The movement has a one to one reversing wheel to enable for it to do this. You can see the amazing engraving to the unusual dial and superb unrestored lacquer work to the case. A very rare collectors clock.

In this blog I wish to talk about the process of sympathetic restoration of a C.1770 antique bracket clock. I will show you the time consuming process that is generally carried out on most 18th century antique clocks at some part in their life.

Sympathetic restoration done professionally can literally transform a clock into a wonderful piece of art and bring it back to life. Restoration done poorly or done by an unqualified person can literally destroy the value of a clock.

I also hope you can understand the reason for the difference in price of buying an unrestored antique clock from an auction and a carefully sympathetically restored guaranteed example from a respected antique clock dealer. Restoring an antique clock from what we call a ‘sleepy’ state to ‘showroom’ condition takes time. In todays world labour costs are expensive. You can easily spend 10/15 working days restoring a cabinet and 5 working days on any antique clock movement. 20 working days, nearly a month of a highly skilled persons wages, costs alot of money. Some clocks may not need as much work, maybe this will have been carried out at some time in the past, but how well has this been done? There are lots of over restored clocks on the market. I have seen examples that just make you want to shake your head, sticky french polish, open grain wood. These are not beautiful antiques anymore. Our cabinet restorers have worked with us from school, they have about 20 years experience and have proper in house training. The antique clocks director of a major auction house once stated, ” no one in his opinion restores their antiques as sympathetically.”  The restoration process is a slow labour intensive process, it can not be rushed and corners must not be cut. Clocks or antique furniture do not leave our workshop until the owner himself is happy.

Below are a series of pictures detailing the transformation of a bracket clock from a tired somewhat distressed state,  into a beautiful loving cared for example, that will give many years joy to its new owners. Finding clock is such a ‘sleepy’ state is far better generally as it means they have not be ‘butchered’ by over enthusiastic workmen in the past.

As you can see in the above pictures where mouldings or pieces are loose these need to be removed and adjusted/repaired and then refitted with animal glues. Animal glues are what 18th century cabinet makers used. They have a superb property that when heated they become unstuck and so repairs to veneers or mouldings can be carried out.  If modern pva wood glues were used to clock sections, repairs would have been more difficult.

As you can see all loose veneers on clock or damaged sections need to be removed and either replaced by wood of the same age and then carved to shape by hand or simply re-glued with animal glue.

Further pictures from a painstaking restoration to a beautiful C.1770 antique bracket clock. A clock might look immaculate as in the top picture prior to restoration but generally many weeks work are required to bring any clock into proper showroom condition.

All repairs can only be done when cabinet is structurally sound. Animal glue over many years can become brittle and mouldings can become loose or have been stuck on incorrectly over years.

I think we are approaching the end of small repairs and structural repairs to clock. From now on, the clock will start looking like a clock again!

You will notice repairs carried out and when done properly with wood of the correct flame and age are unnoticeable.

A few pictures showing various repairs to antique bracket clock perfectly carried out by an experienced cabinet restoration specialist.

The finished clock minus frets to door that need to be fitted. A transformation that is time consuming and can only be carried out be a fully qualified experienced cabinet restorer. For any futher information on antique clock restoration please contact me directly, I will be happy to help. Later in the year I will write on antique clock movement restoration. Please subscribe to my rss feed to received regular information.

Daniel R Clements

Antique Clocks Blog

We often get asked about moonphase grandfather clocks and were they just a form of decoration or were they an important feature on antique clocks? The lunar moon repeats with a cycle of 29.5 days, this is shown on all antique clocks with a moon feature, the disc moving once or twice per day.

On early pre C.1800 examples they certainly were more of a feature that the owner required for a specific purpose. That purpose was first and foremost travel. Whether you would be travelling by ship or travelling by road, knowing  when the next full moon was vital part of life back in the 18th century. A merchant might live near the coast and need to know when the next high tide was, this feature will also be accompanied by a moon disc. He could look at his clock and on that day it would say the high tide would be 7am /7pm etc.

Tidal times are sometimes stationary. i.e. set to the port of the clock, Bristol Key etc or variable by an indicator to the arch which can be set to your local port, high tide time.

On an 18th century antique clock a moon disc can either be a  circular disc to the arch, a globe moon to the arch, sometimes called a ‘Halifax Moon’, or a small ‘penny moon’ normally to the dial centre, where the seconds disc normally would be. Clocks with moon discs and not accompanied with high tide indicators were for help when travelling by road. The highwayman was always a risk for the merchant in the 18th century, it was always advisable to travel on days with the full moon and lots of light. Generally the highwayman did not work on such nights, as he would be more likely to be recognised. The most famous of northern highwayman was a Edward ‘Highwayman’ Higgins, who was a gentleman by day and a thief by night. He resided on Gaskell Avenue in Knutsford, only 5 miles from where our antique clock workshop is based. Higgins was hanged for his crimes in 1767.

London longcase clocks with moon features are very collectable as London had street lighting in the 18th century and the arches on London clocks are slightly reduced and not a full semi-circle. They were not really designed for moons.  On provincial clocks you will notice the arch is a full semi-circle and alot more suited to a moon disc. It is for that reason finding a genuine London 18th century clock with a moon is highly sought after. Adding this feature to an 18th century London grandfather clock, can add up to £5,000 to the price on an equivalent clock.

I have been talking above about pre C.1800 clocks and clocks where the dials are 12inches from side to side or less. Later clocks with dials of 13 inches or even larger are more likely to have moons and are not quite so rare. Clearly lots of later 19th century wider eamples can have moons. These are more common and the moon disc on these is more for a form of decoration in my opinion than for any other purpose.

Pictures of different styles of moon dials below