Night Clocks (Lantern-Lit Timepieces)

Movement & mechanism

• A pierced or fretted dial, often with a rotating hour disc rather than conventional hands, through which lamplight shines from a compartment behind
• Usually a going (time-only) train, without a strike, since the purpose was silent night-time reading rather than audible signalling
• Housed in a case with a lamp or candle recess positioned behind the dial

Identification

• A pierced, fretted or numeral-cut dial designed to transmit lamplight, rather than a conventional solid dial
• A lamp or candle housing built into the rear of the case
• A rotating hour disc reading against a fixed pointer, in some designs, rather than conventional hands

Terminology

• Pendule de nuit — the French term for a night clock
• Lamp clock — an alternative English term emphasising the illumination method

Known variations

• Rotating-disc night clocks
• Pierced-dial lamp-illuminated night clocks

Collecting notes

Night clocks are a relatively rare and specialist seventeenth- and eighteenth-century category; surviving examples with an intact original lamp compartment and pierced dial are of particular interest to collectors of unusual horological forms.