
A late 18th century mahogany table clock William Wall, Richmond
Sold for £3,187.50 inc. premium
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A late 18th century mahogany table clock
The break arch top capped with a brass handle and moulded cornice, with three-quarter length side frets and glazed front and back doors, moulded base and brass ogee feet. The 7-inch signed silvered Roman and Arabic break arch dial with engraved floral medallion spandrels and basket of fruit to the centre with date aperture and matching blued steel hands. The twin gut fusee movement with five large knopped pillars and knife edge verge escapement with backplate engraved with flowering vines and a flaming urn, framed by an oval symmetrical border. Ticking and striking, with a winding key and case key. 45cms (17.5 ins) high
Footnotes
William Wall was recorded as working in Richmond, London, around 1772, before being registered as 'William Wall & Sons' in 1791. One of his presumed sons, William Wall Jnr., worked in Putney and Wandsworth between 1791-1839 and took out a patent (4097) on a new escapement in 1817. It was described at the time as a new form of horizontal escapement, though would today be more accurately described as a frictional rest; it had two English lever-type escape wheels on the 5th and 6th arbors, as well as train wheels which intersect, effectively coupling the 5th and 6th arbors. The two escape wheels take it in turns resting on a cylinder, dropping into and then escaping a slot that has been cut into the cylinder, thus transmitting impulse to the train. A watch with this escapement, sold by 'Wall & Frost, Wandsworth' is in the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter.
Bacon, D. H. (1978) 'William Wall of Wandsworth', Antiquarian Horology, Volume 10 (6), page 739.