The longcase clock, also known as the grandfather clock after
the popular Victorian song, was the product of two pan-European
horological breakthroughs of the late 1650s - the application of
the pendulum clock and the invention of the so-called anchor
escapement.
First used in clockmaking by the Dutchman Christiaan Huygens in
1656, the pendulum made for near frictionless time-keeping, while
it was the anchor mechanism (probably invented around the same time
by British scientist Robert Hooke) reduced the swing and improved
accuracy.
The need to protect the movement within a high case to house the
heavy drive weights, and soon afterwards a long pendulum that beat
once every second, led to a style of clock that remained popular
for more than two centuries.
The story of the freestanding, weight-driven pendulum clock or
longcase is told through a succession of technological
breakthroughs designed to make the clocks more accurate, more
elaborate in their function or easier to maintain.
Often it is these technical sophistications, many of them
pioneered, improved or perfected by the great names in British
clockmaking, which interest serious collectors as much as the
splendour of the case.
Early rarities from the 'Golden Age' of English clockmaking in
the late 17th century are the preserve of the wealthiest
collectors. Clocks within the price range of the ordinary collector
are likely to conform to relatively standard forms which became
established, with regional and other variations, in the 18th and
19th century.
Above: the demand for 'golden age' English clocks has been
on something of a high for several years. Bonhams' sale in December
2009 included this Ahasuerus Fromanteel longcase which made
£340,000. It was one of only a few architectural longcases by
Fromanteel to survive.
One important distinction is the duration of the movement.
Longcase clocks were traditionally made with two types of
movement - eight-day and 30-hour. A small number of clocks with
deluxe long-duration movements were able to run for a month or more
without recourse to winding.
Typical 17th-19th century eight-day movements run on two weights
suspended on a cable and pulley - one driving the hands and the
other the striking mechanism - and require two keyholes for
winding. Thirty-hour clocks, generally less expensive when made
(although in the 18th century still costing the equivalent of two
years of a farm labourer's wages), were driven by a single
weight.
These are generally wound by pulling down on the weight-pulley
cord inside the case.
Whatever lies beneath the hood, the most immediate difference
between one longcase and another is seen in the design of the case
or the treatment of the face. These range from the simplest
estate-made pine case and painted tin dial, to Boulle marquetry and
silvered brass. But both will typically reflect the fashions of the
time and provide a clue to date.
Case styles will also differ by region. On a national scale this
can be seen in the differences between circular dial clocks made in
early 19th century Scotland, the potbellied Comtoise clocks from
the Franche-Comté region of France and the white-painted Bornholm
and Mora clocks from Scandinavia.
On a local scale there are distinct characteristics observed in
clocks made in different clockmaking centres of England. These can
be as simple as the use of indigenous timbers rather than expensive
tropical imports, but the characteristics of the case, the dial and
the movement differ from region to region.
As the market for provincially-made clocks has grown (naturally
many people wish to own a clock from their locality) specialist
publications have been written on a range of British clockmaking
centres. These are typically accompanied by information regarding
otherwise obscure local clockmakers - from detailed analysis of
surviving examples of their work to the simplest of genealogical
data.
The clock market is multi-faceted and the price range is
huge.
The top end is typically occupied by so-called Golden Age clocks
by celebrated makers from the late 17th and the first half of the
18th century. These venerable timepieces, housed in elegant cases
of ebony, walnut, mulberry, marquetry or japanned lacquer, have a
long collecting history and appeal beyond the relatively small
field of horology.
Pricing depends heavily on quality, condition, movement and
maker. Good clocks by eminent names such as Ahasuerus Fromanteel,
Thomas Tompion, George Graham, the Knibb family, Joseph Windmills
and John Ellicott will bring five- and six-figure sums on the
occasions they come to the market. But, across a typical year, only
a small handful is likely to be available.
More plentiful are the late 17th and early 18th 'furnishing'
clocks by lesser names that - if some imperfections and restoration
are tolerated - sell in the £8000-20,000 bracket.
A connoisseur market also exists for those clocks designed for
precision timekeeping. The literature is dominated by technical
terminology that, although confusing to the uninitiated, is of
paramount importance to value.
Harrison's maintaining power, the deadbeat escapement and
developments in the field of temperature compensation were all
innovations of the 18th century - the period that saw the birth of
the regulator clock.
These precision timekeepers, often with outwardly simple dials
and cases but very substantial six-pillar movements and heavy
grid-iron pendulums, have seen some substantial price movements in
recent times. Examples by leading makers such as John Arnold,
Edward John Dent, Benjamin Vulliamy and Charles Frodsham are
commanding record sums.
Technical sophistication on any level adds value to a clock.
These range from a simple calendar aperture or a strike/silent
options (for an uninterrupted night's sleep) to rocking ship
automatons and rolling lunar cycle (knowledge of the phase of the
moon was of great importance when planning a journey during the
hours of darkness) to annual calendar dials and the times of
sunrise, high and low tides.
Most longcase clocks strike the time on each hour or fraction of
an hour, but musical movements were a further sophistication and,
by the Edwardian era, many longcase clocks, often with monumental
revivalist case styles, housed triple weight-driven movements
capable of quarter-striking with the Westminster, Whittington or St
Michaels's chimes.
These high quality clocks, capable of high four- and sometimes
five-figure sums a decade ago, are sometimes hampered by size but
remain popular with the export market.
Above: a late Victorian 6ft 4in (1.94m) tall mahogany
regulator with a single-train movement with centre seconds,
subsidiary hour and minute dials, with offset weight and mercury
compensated adjustable pendulum. The silvered dial is inscribed
'Russells Limited, Liverpool'. It sold for £10,000 at Mitchells of
Cockermouth in March 2012.
The price trends for unexceptional or 'furnishing' Georgian or
Victorian longcases closely follow the curve set by furniture of
the same period. At the present time the market is very soft.
Out of fashion and sometimes simply too large for the modern
home, the many clocks currently selling at auction for under £1000
appear excellent value for money. It is certainly a fraction of the
original cost in real terms.
Nevertheless, an important feature of the market over the last
25 years has been the growing interest in regional clockmaking,
admired for the genius and idiosyncrasies of individual makers
(many of them a match for their London contemporaries) and their
sense of place. In contrast to the precision timekeepers made at
great cost for an elite clientele, many unsophisticated provincial
clocks, made for people of more modest means, appeal in much the
same way as vernacular furniture and folk art. A bonus can be their
relative small size.
Now that their role as timekeepers no longer of paramount
importance, this has occasioned some very substantial prices for
30-hour clocks, once a poor relation of an eight-day clock.
Equally, the traditional view that a brass dial clock is more
valuable than a painted or white-dial clock has been eroded. White
dials (popular c.1770-1870) have grown in popularity and are no
longer disregarded as they might have been 40 or 50 years ago.
At all levels of the market, from a Golden Age clock to the
humble North Country oak-cased clock, condition is key. That a
much-valued practical time-keeper will have received some attention
in its life is only to be expected, but collectors will quickly
distinguish between honest upkeep and excessive restoration,
'improvements' and 'marriages' that comprise a case and movement
that did not start out life together. Equally, colour and patina
are as important for clocks as they are for antique furniture.
In short, there is a large financial gulf between the few clocks
that have survived in original condition and those that have been
significantly altered or updated.
The Longcase Clock by Tom Robinson, Antique Collectors'
Club, ISBN-10: 0907462073.
Painted Dial Clocks by Brian Loomes, Antique
Collectors' Club, ISBN-10: 185149183X.
Clockmakers of Northern England by Brian Loomes,
Mayfield Books, ISBN-10: 0952327058.
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