Tall Case Clock

Object Details

Willard, Simon

Description

By the end of the eighteenth century when this clock was made, the most common style of domestic clock came to look like a piece of household furniture. A wooden case enclosed the movement, weights and pendulum. Through a glass window, the dial was visible.

The dial of this clock is signed “Simon Willard,” one of the most prominent clockmakers in the Boston area of his era. With his brother Aaron, he coordinated an extensive network of independent artisans for building clocks. They set up two separate workshops in Roxbury, close to the Boston market and shipping routes, and employed more than a score of workmen. They also attracted to the locale additional independent craftsmen with related skills. More than twenty clockmakers, cabinetmakers, dial painters and gilders worked for the Willards in Roxbury by 1807. To meet customer demand for things with English style and quality, they provided English-made clocks under their signatures, assembled English clock kits and made clocks from English components. They even made clock parts of their own.

References:

Robert C, Cheney, “Roxbury Eight-Day Movements and the English Connection, 1785-1825,” Antiques (April 2000), 606-615.

Philip Zea and Robert C. Cheney, Clock Making in New England, 1725-1825 (Sturbridge, MA: Old Sturbridge Village, 1992).

Location

Currently not on view

ca 1799

ID Number

ME.322431

accession number

247826

catalog number

322431

Object Name

case clock

clock, tall case

Measurements

overall: 94 1/4 in x 20 in x 10 in; 239.395 cm x 50.8 cm x 25.4 cm

pendulum: 43 1/2 in x 4 3/4 in x 1/2 in; 110.49 cm x 12.065 cm x 1.27 cm

winding crank: 4 1/2 in x 3 in x 19/32 in; 11.43 cm x 7.62 cm x 1.524 cm

case key: 1 3/4 in x 3/4 in x 3/16 in; 4.445 cm x 1.905 cm x .508 cm

hood: 25 1/2 in x 19 in x 9 1/2 in; 64.77 cm x 48.26 cm x 24.13 cm

case: 82 3/4 in x 20 in x 10 in; 210.185 cm x 50.8 cm x 25.4 cm

wood parts to hood: fretwork: 9 in x 6 1/2 in x 3/16 in; 22.86 cm x 16.51 cm x .508 cm

wood parts to hood: chimney: 3 3/16 in x 1 5/16 in x 1 5/16 in; 8.128 cm x 3.302 cm x 3.302 cm

finial #1: 7 in x 3 in; 17.78 cm x 7.62 cm

finial #2: 6 3/4 in x 3 in; 17.145 cm x 7.62 cm

finial #3: 7 in x 3 in; 17.78 cm x 7.62 cm

movement: 16 1/4 in x 14 in x 6 1/2 in; 41.275 cm x 35.56 cm x 16.51 cm

screw #1: 1 1/4 in x 1/4 in; 3.175 cm x .635 cm

screw #2: 1 1/4 in x 1/4 in; 3.175 cm x .635 cm

See more items in

Work and Industry: Mechanisms

Measuring & Mapping

National Museum of American History

Record ID

nmah_834236

Metadata Usage (text)

CC0

GUID (Link to Original Record)

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746aa-7896-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa