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Clock Encyclopedia
Clocks are classified by drive, by escapement and by case form, and the three do not always agree. A lantern clock converted from balance to pendulum, or a longcase movement re-cased in the nineteenth century, must be described in terms of each element separately.
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The taxonomy below is a quick orientation. For full, filterable records — mechanism, identification, variations and collecting notes for every clock type — see the type encyclopedia.
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Weight-driven domestic
Lantern clocks
Early English brass-framed wall clocks, originally balance-wheel then pendulum converted.
Longcase (grandfather) clocks
Weight-driven, seconds pendulum, anchor or deadbeat escapement.
Vienna regulators
Refined Austrian wall regulators with light trains and delicate movements.
Regulator clocks
Precision timekeepers for observatories and workshops; deadbeat escapement, minimal striking.
Taxonomy
Spring-driven domestic
Bracket and table clocks
Fusee or going-barrel spring clocks, often with verge then later anchor escapements.
Mantel clocks
Broad family spanning French pendules, American shelf clocks and German production.
Carriage clocks
Portable platform-escapement clocks in glazed brass cases, frequently French.
Anniversary / 400-day clocks
Torsion pendulum clocks running roughly a year on one wind.
Taxonomy
Public and specialist
Turret and tower clocks
Large public movements with gravity or pin-wheel escapements and remote dials.
Astronomical clocks
Indicate solar, lunar and calendrical cycles alongside mean time.
Marine and ship clocks
Robust, often bell-striking clocks for shipboard use; distinct from chronometers.
Master and slave systems
Electrically distributed time from one regulator to many dials.
Taxonomy
Display and novelty
Skeleton clocks
Pierced frames intended to display the mechanism itself.
Musical and automaton clocks
Pin barrels playing bells or organ pipes, with moving figures.
Mystery clocks
Concealed drives creating an appearance of unconnected motion.
Cuckoo clocks
Black Forest bellows-and-whistle striking, wooden movements in early examples.
Method
Describing a clock accurately
Drive
Weight, spring-and-fusee, going barrel, torsion or electric. Look for the winding arrangement and, on spring clocks, for a fusee cone.
Escapement
Verge, anchor recoil, deadbeat, pin-wheel, gravity or platform. Conversions from verge to anchor are extremely common and usually visible.
Case and dial
Case form, veneer, dial material and hand style date the object socially; they do not necessarily date the movement.