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The dial clock made its first appearance in the 1720s in the form of a simple round faced, black painted, spring driven clock.
In contrast the cartel clock, with a highly carved and decorated case, was taken from the French design but made only a brief impression on high fashion, A more successful form was the imposing tavern clock (often erroneously called an 'Act of Parliament Clock') which evolved through several very attractive forms, all of which are now much sought after.
While the need for a well made reliable clock was appreciated in the middle of the eighteenth century, it was the emergence of Britain as an industrial nation and the increasingly accurate timetables of the stage coach era, which placed importance on good time keeping and resulted in the growth of dial clock production in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The heyday of the dial clock was the Victorian period, when it was to be found in every office, factory, school and railway station.
The Bank of England alone had 400. An individual mechanism which required regular winding (often by a man paid to do nothing else) was bound to be superseded by the electric master clock and its innumerable slaves, Nevertheless, the dial clock is occasionally to be found still performing its function accurately. Increasingly, however, it is collectors who appreciate the simple elegant dials and the very fine workmanship of the movements.
The author is an experienced horologist who has acquired a specialised knowledge in the best possible way, by handling hundreds of examples and repairing a large number himself. The various types are carefully documented and beautifully photographed. The evolution is explained not only of the clocks themselves but also of their features, such as hands, bezels, pillars and dial surrounds, which are illustrated with clear line drawings and detailed photographs of mechanisms.
Now in its second edition, with additional illustrations and two new chapters, Unusual Dial Clocks and The Later Years , this invaluable book earns its place on the shelf of both the horologist, and the collector of these attractive timepieces.
Brand new book published by Antique Collectors' Club 2000.
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