Antique Bracket clocks
are spring-driven pendulum clocks, most often housed in a rectangular
case with a carrying handle on top. Although the earliest ones were
made in Holland, they reached the peak of their development in England.
 The
wall bracket on which bracket clocks were sometimes placed gave
bracket clocks their name, but they were also placed on a table
or sideboard as they would be today.
The English Bracket Clock
The English bracket clock first appeared in the early 1600s and
continued to be made into the 20th century. However, production
declined from the mid-19th century and ceased due to disruption
caused by the First World War.
The classic period for bracket clocks is 1660-1720, when they were
made with a square or rectangular dial. Thereafter the dial was
usually arched at the top, except for some Regency dials which were
round.
Examples from the 17th and 18th centuries have a verge escapement
19th-century clocks have an anchor escapement.
However, many verge escapement clocks were converted to anchor
escapement in the 19th century. Later re-conversion restores only
about half the value but an original verge escapement bracket clock
is much more desirable.
The price range and quality of antique bracket clocks is huge.
You could pay around £1000 for a typical ebonised Victorian
example or as much as £50,000 for a late 17th or early 18th-cenrury
clock by a top London maker such as Thomas Tompion.
Regency and Victorian bracket clocks have also become quite collectable
due to the quality of the movements.
European Bracket Clocks
The first Dutch pendulum clocks were the forerunners of English
bracket clocks and the earliest Dutch bracket clocks (circa 1658-70)
are known as Haagse clocks. They have a velvet-covered rectangular
dial with a brass chapter ring and spandrels. They were usually
hung on the wall by two iron loops attached to the back board. 
From the early 18th century most bracket clocks sold in Holland
had a London movement with a Dutch-made case. These clocks have
a chapter ring with the minutes marked on lobes between the hour
numerals. Some larger clocks have painted dials with windmills or
musicians playing in time to the music.
Eighteenth century Dutch bracket clocks can sell for two to three
thousand pounds, but Haagse clocks can sell for tens of thousands.
Clocks featuring music and automatons can be over £10,000.
The earliest French bracket clocks, called pendules rellgieuses,
date from the mid-1660s and are close copies of the Dutch clocks,
with a velvet, hinged dial. French clock movements were normally
put in the case from the front, the opposite of English clocks and
French dial doors or bezels were hinged on the left. English clock
doors were normally hung on the right.
By the early 18th century, the front mounting plate was no bigger
than the chapter ring and the front door closely framed the dial.
At the same time, the sides of the case began to be waisted below
the dial, heralding the sinuous shape of most French Regency and
Louis XV bracket clocks.
During the 18th century, French bracket clocks had the winding
holes positioned asymmetrically, unlike those of the 19th century.
Prices vary considerably, but standard French bracket clocks can
sell for one to two thousand pounds. Check the latest selling prices
in our antique
bracket clock sales section.
Bracket Clock Case Styles
From about 1660-1673, the architectural period, the earliest bracket
clocks are quite large about 16-20 in (40-50 cm) tall and have a
pediment top.
 By
1675, the characteristic case style was established and a rectangular
box with projecting mouldings top and bottom, a handle on top, glazed
doors front and hack, and rectangular panels, either glazed or with
pierced frets to the sides. Within this basic format variations
in the materials of the case and the shape of the top indicate the
date.
Case materials follow the same date lines through oak, walnut,
mahogany and so on. A few incorporate marquetry, but ebony and later
ebonising remained popular for as long as bracket clocks were made,
roughly one out of every two bracket clocks is black.
The antique bracket clock top from 1675 to 1720 was in the basket
or caddy shape. This is cushion moulded in wood or repousse gilt
brass. Some clocks have a double repousse basket top, with a secondary
cushion or bulbous moulded section above rhe first.
The inverted bell top with two contrasting curves, the lower convex,
the upper concave dates from 1720 to 1770. This style overlapped
with the bell top from 1760 to 1810 again with two contrasting curves,
but with concave below convex, like a church bell.
In the period 1765-1810 the arched top and in 1815-45 the chamfered
top were very common.
However, from 1780 to 1810 balloon cases were also made and from
1810 to 1860 lancet cases. During the 19th and 20th centuries various
style revivals saw the re-emergence of the arched, the bell top,
the chamfered top, the lancet and the balloon case.
Dating Bracket Clocks from the engraving :
Engraved back plates are one of the glories of 17th and 18th-century
English craftsmanship and the style of engraving can help to date
a clock. 
Around 1660-70 the first bracket
clocks only had the makers signature engraved on the back plate.
About 1680 the whole plate was covered
with acanthus scrolls ending in tulip flowerheads, (tulip engraving).
From 1685 clocks were engraved with
acanthus scrolls with birds dolphin heads and human or fantastic
masks.
By 1735 most figural engraving had
gone leaving only scrollwork, which became increasingly Rococo in
style.
In the 1740s, the engraving included
chinoiserie motifs.
By 1800 engraving was sparse
By 1830, the end of the Regency era,
the back plate had only a wheatear or egg-and-dart border.
By Victorian times most bracket clocks
had no engraving.
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