Simon Willard Tower Clock

Object Details

Willard, Simon

Description

Almost from the moment of the mechanical clock's invention, the local clock tower on a church or other public building dominated the landscape. Tower clocks announced the time to people within earshot of their bells and regulated urban life in the Western world. The introduction of the pendulum and the anchor escapement in the late seventeenth century made these clocks remarkably accurate. They were set at local noon (when the sun reached its highest point in the sky at a particular location), and thus gave each town a time of its own, depending on its longitude.

In America, before specialized manufacturers began mass-producing tower clocks in the second half of the nineteenth century, the clocks were built to order by versatile individual clockmakers and, occasionally, by adventurous blacksmiths. The tower clock shown here is one of the few built by Simon Willard (1753-1848) of Boston, the most famous of the many clockmaking members of the Willard family. Willard was inventive as well as prolific, a clockmaker who worked not only for a regional clientele but also for Thomas Jefferson and the outfitters of the U.S. Capitol.

Marked "Made in 1832 by Simon Willard in his 80th year," this tower clock served for more than a century on the First (Unitarian) Parish in Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In all details the movement shows uncompromising craftsmanship. It has a pinwheel dead-beat escapement with maintaining power and a rack-and-snail hour striking train.

Location

Currently not on view

Credit Line

Gift of Newton L. Lockwood

1832

ID Number

ME.330398

catalog number

330398

accession number

288890

Object Name

clock

Other Terms

clock; Mechanical, Weight-Driven; Tower Clock

Physical Description

brass (movement material)

iron (frame material)

iron (movement material)

Measurements

overall: 48 in x 42 in x 16 in; 121.92 cm x 106.68 cm x 40.64 cm

overall: 45 in x 66 in x 68 in; 114.3 cm x 167.64 cm x 172.72 cm

place made

United States: Massachusetts, Boston

See more items in

Work and Industry: Mechanisms

Industry & Manufacturing

National Museum of American History

Record ID

nmah_850815

Metadata Usage (text)

CC0

GUID (Link to Original Record)

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746aa-7897-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa