Domestic to turret
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.
Full database
Browse the clock types encyclopedia
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.
Open the clock types encyclopedia →Taxonomy
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.
Further reading
Go deeper on this subject
Clocks share the watch's principles but at a different scale: weights or springs, pendulums, striking trains and cases built for a room or a tower. These pieces explain how they run, how to keep them in beat and how to research one.
Articles
Technical Education · 3 min
How a Pendulum Clock Keeps Time
Separate the pendulum's oscillation, the escapement's impulse and the clock's indication before interpreting rate or a stopping fault.
Technology · 3 min
How Does a Grandfather Clock Work, and Why Is It Called That?
A grandfather (longcase) clock is powered by falling weights and timed by a long swinging pendulum. Its name comes from an 1876 popular song. This article explains both.
Collecting · 3 min
How to Wind and Set a Grandfather Clock
Wind and set a longcase clock only after identifying its trains, weights and controls; forcing keys, hands or chains can damage the mechanism.
Technology · 3 min
How to Make a Pendulum Clock Run Faster or Slower
A pendulum clock is regulated by changing the effective length of its pendulum. This article explains which way to turn the nut and how to make small adjustments over several days.
Clocks · 3 min
Tower and Turret Clocks
Public clocks were built to survive weather, scale and decades of unattended running, which shaped their mechanisms as much as accuracy or elegance ever did.
Clocks · 4 min
Travel and Carriage Clocks: A Field Guide
Portable clocks meant to survive a journey were built on different principles from a clock meant to sit still on a shelf, and the differences are visible at a glance once you know what to look for.
Identification · 4 min
Researching an Unsigned Clock
An unsigned clock can still be described well when its movement, case, dial and later alterations are recorded separately and compared with documented examples.
Restoration · 5 min
Storing and Handling Antique Clocks
More antique clocks are damaged in transport and storage than on the bench. Most of that damage is avoidable.
Academy lessons
Academy · Intermediate · 45 min
Clock Trains: Pendulum, Weights and Striking
Pendulum suspension and beat, weight lines and pulleys, and how striking and chiming trains are set up.
Academy · Intermediate · 30 min
Pendulum Suspension and Setting in Beat
How a pendulum is suspended, how it drives the escapement, and what 'in beat' means for a pendulum clock.
Academy · Intermediate · 30 min
Fusee and Chain Work
Servicing considerations specific to fusee-and-chain movements, building on the historical outline given earlier.
Research guides
Research guide
Longitude and marine timekeeping: clocks, watches and lunar distances
Understand why reference time matters at sea, how Harrison’s instruments differed, and why astronomical navigation and chronometers developed together rather than in a simple winner-takes-all contest.
Research guide
Reading chronometer rate records: error, correction and uncertainty
A documentary guide to interpreting time comparisons, keeping signs and units explicit, calculating interval rates and avoiding unsupported conclusions about a surviving chronometer.