Posted 8 years ago
GeodeJem
(404 items)
I would like to know what the style of clock. I believe its similar to 18th Century French carriage clocks. It had luminous paint on it so that has to be 1950's possibly.
So what is your opinion has to the style of it. Its a heavy little brass number that said me..........buy me buy me now! in a UK boot sale this morning..so I did!
Definitely not a Carriage Clock. In my opinion, depending upon the dimensions, it is more along the lines of a French Boudoir Style.
Carriage clocks are rectangular or oval in shape and have a handle on the top. Here is an example of an 18th Cent. carriage clock:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carriage_Clock,_unknown_artist,_France,_18th_century,_bronze_dore_-_Museum_of_Fine_Arts,_Springfield,_MA_-_DSC04090.JPG
Coral clocks were manufactured in Japan. I agree with Bruce99 - it has a French look.
If I may ask, what are the clock's dimensions?
G'day Bruce99 its 14.5cm tall with 7cm diameter clock face from 7 to 3 and additional 2cm for the frame.
Hi GeodeJem. Thanks for taking the time to post the dimensions.
There's no hard and fast rule regarding size that I'm aware of but in my experiences Boudoir Clocks tend to be smaller than Mantel Clocks simply because they were designed to be in the "Boudoir" where space for organization and personal care is at a premium. Some had other functions in addition to keeping time. Small mirrors, perfume bottles and jewelry box enclosures were a few extras built into the clock case. Others were just ornately beautiful.
The fact that your clock has luminous paint on the hands suggests to me that it was designed to function as a bedroom clock.
French clocks and some of the early American Clock Manufacturers who made "knock offs" of French/European Clocks offered models with cases in the *general* shape that your clock was made in. In their "Mantel" form, they were much larger. I would say that Ansonia's Metal Mantel Clock, the "Cygnet" was one very ornate example. See: https://www.google.com/search?q=ansonia+cygnet&biw=957&bih=461&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiOzZn-qtnJAhVGdz4KHd02CDgQsAQIGw
Ansonia also offered an Enameled Iron Mantel Clock they called the "Calais" after a town in France. See: https://www.google.com/search?q=ansonia+cygnet&biw=957&bih=461&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiOzZn-qtnJAhVGdz4KHd02CDgQsAQIGw#tbm=isch&q=ansonia+Calais
Both of these examples were roughly twice the size of yours.
As Efesgirl points out, Carriage Clocks were generally designed as timepieces to be packed for travel and had square or rectangular shapes. They often had their own cases and as a general rule, had handles on the top for convenience in moving them around. As you can imagine they were quite expensive in that they had to use a special kind of movement which was more like a Watch than a typical Clock of the period. Their movements were often quite beautiful in their mechanical intricacies and were made visible through glass cases.
You have a very nice looking clock. Thanks for sharing it with us. :)
Thank you again Bruce. I quite like mechanical wind up clocks. This isn't elegant its chunky and sturdy but looks the part.
You're very welcome GeodeJem.