Mantel Clocks
Mantel clocks are a type of antique clock that differ to a bracket clock.
A mantel clock tends to be a smaller antique clock in a base metal, often ormolu
or bronze, or in a marble case, and tend to be of French manufacture.
As the name suggests, mantel clocks where made to sit on a mantelpiece and,
therefore, the proportions tended to favour a case that was longer but thinner.
A French ormolu and chempleve enamel clock garniture went to the Chinese market
for a winning bid of £4,200.
The majority of mantel clock examples that pass through our hands are of French
manufacture, with movements supplied by the leading clock makers of the day such
as Henri Marc, Pons, Samuel Marti, Japy Freres and Raingo Freres being the most
prolific, with each mantel clock movement maker having his own individual stamp
that would be embossed on the backplate of the clock movement.
Other, more illustrious French mantel clock makers were supplying the nobility and
aristocracy of France in the late 18th and early 19th centuries and, therefore,
mantel clocks signed by makers such as Lepine, Lepaute, Janvier and, of course,
the great Abrham Brequet command quite a premium.
The English also produced fine mantel clocks with Victorian makers such as the Vulliamy
family, although their clock movements tended to be made with a fusee rather than
the French style with a spring barrel.
Other countries were producing fine mantel clocks, not least the Austrians, the
Germans, and the Dutch who were at the forefront of horological innovation, Amsterdam
being the home of Christiaan Huygens who, working his magic on Christmas Day, 1656,
adapted an existing clock movement to use a pendulum and so invented the first pendulum
clock, as opposed to the far less relable balance escapement.
Specialists
 | Martin McIlroy Department Head
|  | Leigh Extence Clock Consultant
|
Mantel Clock Clockmakers
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Aubert & Klaftenberger
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Baillon, Albert-Vincent
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Benson, JW
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Birch & Gaydon
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Clark, Joseph (d 1831)
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Gaston Jolly Fils
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Gounouilhou & Francois
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Handley & Moore
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Hour Lavigne
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Jaegar-LeCoultre
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Japy Freres et Cie
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Japy, Frédéric (1749-1812)
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Knox, Archibald (1864-1933)
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Le Roy et Fils
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L'Echopié, Adam (Senior) (fl 1772)
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Lenzkirch
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Marti, Samuel
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Mercer, Thomas (1822-1900)
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Moreau, Auguste Louis Marthurin (1834-1917)
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Parkinson & Bouts
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Raingo Freres
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Valogne
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Vincenti, Jean (d 1834)