Antique Grandfather Clocks

An English Grandfather Clock (Paul Rimbault, 1773, London)

Grandfather Clocks at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
(By Wynlok, Flickr)

A Grandfather Clock at Rosehill House, Coalbrookdale, England
(By Elliott Brown)

(By Dan Brady)

(By Duncan McNeil)

I love antique grandfather clocks.

Grandfather clocks, also called longcase or tall-case clocks, emerged in the 18th century with the invention of the anchor escapement around 1670. The verge escapement, which was widely in use for clock movements that were made before, required very wide pendulum swings to run; therefore, longer pendulums such as the ones found in grandfather clocks were not practical before the 18th century.

The clock consists of the hood, which houses the movement (mechanism) of the clock, the waist, which houses the pendulum, and the base.

To me, unlike today's grandfather clocks, antique clocks seem to possess certain elegance and humaine texture. Many old grandfather clocks have painted dials, and almost all of them have cases that are fully enclosed without having any glass openings. Some cases feature exotic wood veneers and beautiful craftmanship, while others were made simply with English Oak or mahogany. It seems English made many grandfather clocks during the 18th and 19th century, and the dials of these clocks bear their origins, such as London or Cockermouth.


As a child, I really enjoyed reading a collection of fairytale stories. In one of the stories (by Grimm, I later found out), a wolf attacked a house full of young lambs and ate them while their mother was away. The youngest, however, escaped by hiding inside of a grandfather clock. It was so impressionable that I wanted to hide inside if I found one.

The first time I had personally encountered such an old grandfather clock was back when I visited my mother's workplace about a year ago. It was there, a remarkably beautiful old clock that did not work, standing quietly at a lobby. It was from Dartington, England, and its metal dial was one of its fine features. I was rather surprised at the pendulum, which looked so simple, and the weights, which looked rather earthy. When I swinged the pendulum, the clock's second hand turned second by second as it completed one swing.

It made a sound, a sound that resembled a heartbeat. For how many years did it make that same sound?

I look forward to having an old grandfather clock as my lifelong companion.