How to Find the Age of a Grandfather Clock - Oh My Clock.
The client is "ca-pub-5108921451035366" and it has a width of 336 and a height of 280.
The client is "ca-pub-5108921451035366" and it has a width of 336 and a height of 280.
The client is "ca-pub-5108921451035366" and it has a width of 336 and a height of 280.
The period between 1680 and 1770 is when the brass dial is most likely to have been made.The ones made before 1700 are very rare.The average person didn't need to know the time to the nearest minute, and with a bit of experience you can tell when it's time on one of these early clocks.
The majority of grandfather clocks had two hands.One hand is not an absolute guarantee of an early clock, but it is a good guide.Village life was very conservative, and the people living in villages still had no need for "to the minute" time.
The brass dial clock was made all over England in ever-increasing numbers, and the dial became more ornate as time went on, especially on the eight-day clocks.There were more features, such as seconds hands in a small subsidiary dial, date hands or wheels, and moon phases, usually in an arch on top of the dial.
The dial on the later Southern clocks is usually a single sheet of thin brass, silvered all over, and resembles an early painted dial.Period 1800 to now.
There was a plain, un-matted engraved and silvered dial centre on the southern dial.
From C.1750 onwards, the decorative half-hour markers were replaced by an easier to engrave diamond shape, or left off altogether.
The dial centres were engraved with foliage designs after they were matted.A good example of this is the Sam Lomax dial below right, which was engraved over a matted centre.Most of the time, the clock went back to a plain or matted centre.It can get a bit confusing at times.
The decorative rings were left off from C.1750 onwards.
There was a fixed hand pointing to the date number.The current date number was displayed behind the dial on a wheel engraved with the date numbers.
From C. 1760 onwards, the edges of any cut-out on the dial were decorated.The feature began to appear in C1760 and continued afterwards on good quality work.
The early clock had a small dial.The dial is likely to be eleven inches by the time the size goes from 1740 to 1770.When taken with other features, these sizes are a good general guide.
During clock repairs, I have noticed that the screws in the early movement have square heads.The screw heads are round after 1750.
After 1730 longcase clocks ceased being made in London, the clockmakers followed the demands of fashion and made brackets.When imports of cheap German and American wall and mantle clocks put an end to the making of longcase clocks, many provincial clockmakers trained in London made large numbers of them.
A bird-cage movement with vertical pillars and horizontal plates is often seen as a sign of an early clock.In Southern England, the clockmakers made this type of movement from the start to 1820.The bird-cage movement is a guide.The movement was basically the same as the earlier Lantern Clock movement.Northern makers used the normal plated movement from the start of their clockmaking.
The early clock trunk doors were flush in the door opening and covered the hole sides by fitting against the case front.
After this date again with a very few exceptions, the mouldings of the clock were always curved.
Hood pillars were either plain or fluted after 1705.The hood pillars were attached to the hood door up to 1700.By 1715 most of the clocks were separate from the door and fitted to the hood frame.
From 1740 onwards, cast brass capitals were fitted to the columns on the hood and trunk.
After 1740 the fashion came in to put horns on the top, often decorated with round wood or brass facings, and the country clock had a plain, but nicely proportioned Oak case.
The "caddy" top was used from 1690 to 1710, then the fashion changed to the "pagoda", with three ball and spire screwed decorations on the right, left and centre.The hood top was carried on from 1740 to the end of the brass dial period.
It was used on top-end cases in London from 1675 to 1720.There aren't many provincial marquetry cases.
Lacquered cases, which were fashionable from 1725 to 1770, were stripped back to the wood years ago because of our climate.
Pendulums have a time progression from 1680 to 1740, they had a thin wire rod with a small rounded bob.From 1740 to 1800 the wire rod stayed, but the bob became flattened into a saucer shape, often with a brass case.The late ones have a wide strip of iron instead of the wire rod, and the same four inch brass-faced bob.Sometimes the bob is cast iron and painted gold or black.
Lead weights were not always used.There were brass-cased lead weights.The cast iron weights on the brass dial clock are not original.
A cross with arrow heads is a good sign of an early clock.The chapter ring edge is where the base of the cross runs.C. 1670 to 1705.
The minutes were numbered inside the minute band and small.The minute ring is moved inside the chapter ring and the numbers are engraved outside.
The minute number 5 had a short tail until 1710, this tail grew longer over time to form a circle.It is easier to see than it is to describe.
Taking all the clues together will allow you to have a good idea of when the clock was made.Don't be disappointed if your clock maker is not listed in the directories, there were many, many one-man makers working in England who only made a few.
All of the South of England can be found in these notes.North means Scotland.
If you are thinking of buying a clock, these notes should help you to avoid some of the "altered" clocks, of which there are many, and unscrupulous antique dealers used to put a good brass dial eight day movement in a nice Mahogany case to increase it's value.The dealers put the painted dial movement in the plain Oak or Pine case and sold it off cheaply.If you want a nice original clock, you need to know what to look for.I hope the features I have given here will help you make an informed choice.
An early 10" brass dial, one handed, circa 1710
The date can be found in the hands of various people.A good idea of the date to within ten years can be found by taking these features together.
The hands were usually on the London clock from 1685 to 1700.
An early period "finned" pillar, used by London makers, and good provincial clockmakers.1740 to 1660.
The brass dial clock ceased to be made after 1765, but there were a few exceptions in the far southern counties of England.The majority of grandfather clocks were made in the North of England.The brass dial was not made in the big clock making centers after 1780 because it was cheaper and easier to produce the painted dial.
It may be worth mentioning that the clocks we are talking about were the same in both cases, but the dial changed.
Fortunately the painted dials followed a certain progression as the fashions slowly changed over time, this means that we can usually date a clock to the nearest five to ten years.It also means we can see the important features without having to disassemble the clock.
The first white dial from 1772 to 1800 was lovely and decorated lightly, with a lot of the white background showing.The decoration consisted of spandrels painted on in gold paint in the four corners.A lot of flowers were painted on the dial face, but it was very restrained.The hands were made of steel and not matching.
The use of dots for the minutes with small Arabic numerals round the dial is an indication of an early dial.The hours are marked by Roman numerals.
The style of the dial changed from 1800 to 1830.The minutes were usually dots, and not the lines inside two narrow circles that we are used to, but often the minute numbers changed to the quarters only.The numbers were replaced with symbols that looked like stars.
Arabic numerals were used for the hours instead of Roman numerals.The arched dials have a scene painted in the arch, often with a spray of flowers on each side.The corner painting is spreading, and the imitation spandrels are often geometric designs or fan shapes, which fill the corner.
The later clocks are from 1830 to 1880.Grandfather clocks in the North of England were usually fifteen inches wide and eight feet tall by the end of the period after 1830.
The corner paintings became little masterpieces in their own right, and the decoration spread from the corner right up the side of the dial circle, to meet the next corner painting.Most of these clocks have an arched dial, and the artist painted in a large scene, often a biblical illustration, or a country scene.
The hours have gone back to Roman numerals and the hands are decorated in brass and matching.The brass hands were used after 1830 for the rest of the period when grandfather clocks were made.
The minutes are shown by a minute band, two circles close together, with lines inside to represent each minute.The small ornate hands fitted to these are also brass and matching, and the date and seconds subsidiary dials are the same as before.
The Grandfather clock production days ended with a late dial.Not a lot of white left here.
Only the center seconds and use of minute numbers are typical of the late dial.They could be used as seconds here.Between 1860 and 1870.
A good guide to the approximate year can be found by looking at all of the features.