CARRIAGE CLOCKS

These clocks, first made in France, were produced to take on journeys or to be moved around the house. Carriage clocks are spring-driven and fitted with a platform escapement, where the balance with hairspring acts as a regulator and has the same function as the pendulum. Clocks with a pendulum only run well when kept static and setup correctly in one place Most pendulum clocks proved to be unsuitable as 'travelling' clocks.

Carriage clocks come with a range of different strike mechanisms to sound the hours, the quarters and/or the half hours. Some types have the option that when desired, a push button can be pressed on the top of the clock to repeat the striking and to indicate the time audibly.

The simplest version of the carriage clock is the carriage clock timepiece, which just tells the time. Carriage clocks were first made in France fully brass-cased (the 'Pendule D' Officier') and later in the well-known glass-panelled clock case, but later also made other countries such as England and Austria.

MANTEL CLOCKS

Mantel clocks were made to be used in more ‘static’ locations and less likely to be used on journeys. These clocks were (and still are) not only used on mantelpieces as a timekeeper, but were also part of the interior. Mantel clocks are spring-driven and very often made as pendulum clocks, which means that the timing is regulated by a pendulum. The clock comes in several different varieties, such as small mantel timepieces where a platform is fitted on the backplate of the mechanism, or on rare occasions to the front, where the oscillating balance is visible. Other examples are nautical clocks, or perhaps better put, clocks which were used on board ships, which will not keep time with a pendulum and therefore are fitted with an escapement using a balance and hairspring.

Mantel clocks can be made with or without a striking mechanism, where the hours, half hours and/or quarters can be struck on a bell or a gong. In contrast to carriage clocks, mantel clocks were usually not made with a strike-repeat mechanism.

The style of the clock case can be very sober, almost architectural, with sharp lines or very ornate, with gilded features and floral designs. Particularly French clocks can be richly embellished with floral designs, statues and even complete rural scene. By contrast, English mantel clocks are rarely as flamboyant as French clocks. Mantel clocks were also made (in small numbers) as night-clocks, where the dial was backlit by a candle or oil lamp and the (Roman) numerals were cut out in a rotating disk. These antique clocks were made before the invention of electric lighting and fire hazards were an issue, which is likely the reason why not many of these clocks survived or were made.

Ironically enough, the mantel clock earned its name by being in the worst position in the house where a clock can be: on the mantel piece. The heat rising up from the fireplace has ill effects on the oil in the clock and re-oiling and servicing should be done far more frequently than the usual ten years. 

TABLE (OR BRACKET) CLOCKS

Larger in dimension than mantel clocks are the table or bracket clocks. Some of these clocks were made to be situated on wall-mounted brackets (especially French Boulle-clocks, which rest on brackets decorated in a style similar to the clock case itself) or on tables. High-quality bracket clocks are often made with a glass panelled backdoor to display the backplate of the movement, which is often decorated by highly skilled engravers.

The clock case itself could be built on a turntable base. This allows the owner to rotate the case on its base to see the time from a different angle or to admire the backplate. Early examples of bracket-clocks were fitted with a pendulum and a verge escapement. This tradition which started around the 1660’s was the commonly used escapement for a long time.

The invention of the pendulum in combination with an escapement was made by the Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens (1656). Although the type of escapement used in clocks changed over time to gain even better accuracy in timekeeping, the pendulum as a regulator remains in use up to the present day. Table clocks were also made with the hairspring balance and mentioned above under mantel clocks. These clocks might have been used in situations where the clock would have to be moved or where external influences (the rocking motion of a ship!) might have disturbed the motion of the pendulum . Table clocks are spring-driven, the spring being the driving force of both going and striking trains, almost invariably in spring barrels. The springs have to be wound by an external input (human or mechanical).

Table clocks can be found as timepieces, only telling the time without an audible time indication, or as timepieces with pull repeat, which only tells the time on demand on a bell or gong after pulling a cord. Other types are striking clocks which sound the time every hour, half-hour or sections of the hours AND can be fitted with a pull or trip repeat. The pull repeat allowed the owner to determine time during the night without having to light any candles and were useful for people with (partial) visual disabilities.

Before 1650 clocks were also made, but they were rare, expensive and not produced for common use. In the 2nd half of the 17th-century, clocks gradually became more common and owning a clock became within reach of not just the very wealthy. In the first number of years following 1657, when the first pendulum clock was invented and built, the case styles were plain and square. The case was made to contain the mechanism and no more than that. Although the clocks of this era looked like table clocks, they also could be used as wall clocks.

From the 1660s onwards, table clocks became more elaborate in design and were produced in the Netherlands, England and France and other countries. Case styles in England and the Netherlands remained fairly sober, but the French and Italians took case styles to another level by adding more and more ornamental features (the previous mentioned 'Boulle-Clock' is a good example). The dials of a table clock can be plain and functional, but also quite elaborate with engravings in wonderfully artistic ways. Multiple functions can be added such as the phases of the moon, the time of high water in local harbours, a date aperture, calendar indications and the difference between solar time and mean time.

WALL CLOCKS

Wall clocks were made to be fitted directly to the wall and to leave the floor space below the clock unoccupied. The development of the wall clock goes back to the earliest Gothic clocks, made entirely of iron. In the Renaissance period richly embellished and engraved gilt brass clocks appeared, followed in the early 16th century by Lantern Clocks. Domestic wall clocks as we know them today started to appear in the late 17th century and followed their own development throughout the following centuries.

Perhaps the best-known type of wall-clock is the 'Vienna' wall clock. A true Viennese wall clock is weight driven, the clock dial is made of baked enamel and the mechanism is made to high standards. Another well-known wall clock, which was made in the huge numbers, is the white dial clock, sometimes called 'railway' clock or the 'school' clock. These (public) clocks were dial clocks built with a wooden 'saltbox' hidden behind the circular dial. The dial is usually protected by a glass front held in a brass bezel.

Another type of wall clock worth mentioning here is the 'Act of Parliament' clock. At the end of the 18th century a tax was introduced to be paid on each watch and clock owned. The story goes that in a response public places like pubs (another name for 'Act of Parliament' clock is 'Pub' clock) started to install large, weight driven clocks fitted with large dials. The protest from clockmakers on this added tax was enormous and the new tax only lasted nine months. Whether this story is true or not, is not sure, but the fact is that the 'Act-of-Parliament' clocks were only made for a short period of time.

Wall clocks were made as spring-driven clocks as well as weight-driven clocks, made as timepieces to indicate the time on a dial only, or as striking clocks to sound the hours, half hours and/or quarters on a bell or a gong (or multiple bells or gongs). In contrast to bracket clocks, wall clocks were usually not provided with a pull-quarter repeat mechanism. The type of strike mechanism can often be derived from the number of winding squares visible in the dial, or the number of weights driving the mechanism. One weight/winding square for a timepiece, two for a striking clock and three for a quarter-chiming clock.

After the wall clock became common after the second half of the 17th century the case style was plain and simple to serve as a protector of the mechanism within. Quality woods were used such as ebony and walnut to build the cases. There was close interaction between clockmakers in the Netherlands and England, and the styles in both countries were not that different in the early days. At first the French adopted the same style as the Dutch and the English, but this soon changed. Eventually, every clock-producing country in the Western world developed their own clock style, where the most elaborate casework was made in France and Italy.

LONGCASE CLOCKS

In the early years of the pendulum clock only short pendulums were used, so there was no practical need to put the clock mechanism in a tall case. Even the first floor-standing clock were fitted with a movement with verge escapement and a short pendulum.

Around c. 1670, the invention of the seconds pendulum (sometimes called the royal pendulum), which is one meter long and has a period of swing of exactly one second, was another step forward in accurate timekeeping. Longcase clocks were built for domestic and scientific purposes and can be found in a wide range of different qualities. The highest quality longcase regulators were built to keep time as precise as possible and the movements are encased in glass/brass inner casings. The duration varies from eight days to one year. A common (domestic) longcase clock is of eight-day duration and has a brass or painted dial.

In the days of the industrial revolution the mechanisms of longcase clocks were often made in production, the most famous of cities for this being Birmingham. Clock cases were usually made locally and made to the fashion of the time in a region. The clock mechanism and the dial were bought in and signed with the clockmaker’s name on request. The longcase clock is often referred to as 'grandfather' or when they were smaller as 'grandmother' clock, which became the widely used name for this type of clock after an American composer wrote a song in 1876 about a 'grandfather' clock.

The regulator, a precision longcase clock, was built to be an accurate timekeeper. Striking the hours, half hours or quarters was not needed. However, well-built domestic versions can be found with striking mechanisms. The striking longcase clock can be recognised by the bell(s) or gong(s), but also by the number of winding holes in the dial and/or the number of weights driving the mechanism.

The (case) style of the longcase clock follows the style of the bracket/table clocks. In the beginning, the case styles were plain and austere. This soon changed when owning a longcase clock came into fashion and costs of production became lower. With the change of fashion and taste, the style of the longcase clock changed too.

The most ornate longcase clocks can be found in France and Italy. Dials of longcase clock were at first made of brass, silver, pewter or even velvet-covered iron. They could have painted or silvered parts. Longcase clocks were also made as night clocks, with a candle or oil-lamp behind the dial to backlight the numerals on a rotating disk. In later days, baked enamel can be found as the most common dial material of choice in France (first dials with the so-called 'cartouches', later fully enamelled dials) and painted dials in the Netherlands ('stoelklok' and staartklok'). After around 1770 painted dials are becoming more common in Great Britain.

In general longcase clock dials show the time, date and seconds. The date mechanism is often not sophisticated and only counts the days in a sequence of 31 days and the date needs to be corrected when the months do not have 31 days. Other features which can be shown on the dial are the (local) time of high water, the phases of the moon, the difference between solar and mean time, the day and month or even the position of the planets and stars!

(SMALL) TURRET CLOCKS

The first clocks developed and put in use to tell the time were (public) turret clocks. These clocks were made of wrought iron and were placed in church towers and other public places where the sound of the bells would be heard by as many people around the clock’s location as possible. These early clocks were built to literally ‘tell’ the time.

Initially there was no dial with hands connected to these early clocks and time was only indicated by a hammer striking a bell. Not long after turret clocks were fitted with a dial or several dials to show the time, and a striking train, which struck the hours accordingly.

Lucas Clocks is able to undertake the restoration/repair of certain types of turret-clocks. Accessibility and dimension of the movement are the key-factors whether we will be able to take on the work to restore the turret-clock in question. Please contact us for more information.