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Tall Case Clock

Date1819-1829

Attributed to Elijah Warner

Maker Luman Watson

OriginAmerica, Kentucky, Lexington and Ohio, Cincinnati

MediumCherry, tulip poplar, mahogany; oak, cherryl, laurel, steel, lead, tin, and sand

DimensionsOH: 97 1/2"; OW; 18 3/4"; OD: 10 5/16"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase, The Friends of Colonial Williamsburg Collections Fund

Object number2017-288,A&B

DescriptionAppearance: Case features a broken-scroll pediment with turned rondels at termini of scrolls and three original urn finials; dial flanked by baluster-turned front and rear columns, deep cover moldings at top and bottom of trunk; applied molding about 2" from top of trunk creates appearance of a frieze; scrolled-top molded-edge trunk door with mahogany banding; trunk and base have chambered corners with lamb's tongue terminals; applied molding around base above a shaped skirt and straight French bracket feet.

Dial:
One piece white painted and gilt arched wood dial 16 5/16” H x 12” W. Dial is 0.29” thick. Blue urn with a weeping willow tree in the arch and a basket of flowers below the hands with the name "L. WATSON. CINCINNATI." around it. Arabic hour and minute markings and 15-30-45-60 minute numbers on outer ring. Seconds dial inside hour ring below 12. Raised gilt spandrel ornaments and gilt leaves surrounding hour dial. Gold trimmed false time and strike winding arbors each with gold star motif.

Movement description:
Thirty hour wood time, strike, and calendar weight-driven movement measuring 8 10/16” H x 6 3/8” W. Plate thickness is 0.270”. Clearance between front and back plates is 2.8”. Clock has an anchor-recoil escapement regulated by a seconds beat pendulum. A count wheel strike sounds the hours on a 3.7” diameter cast bell. The count wheel is mounted to the back of the back plate. The seat board is marked "IS".

With the exception of the escape wheel, all time and strike train wheels are solid wood. The escape wheel is brass on a wooden arbor. The conventional wood motion work is solid. The pendulum crutch is an open loop.

Instead of the usual 4 pillars commonly found to fasten the front and back plates, three wooden pillars are riveted into the top of the front plate and pinned at the back plate. The center pillar is slotted vertically and serves as the pendulum spring mounting. The bottom of the front plate is fastened to the seat board via a mortise and tenon joint. The back plate extends beyond the seat board and is fastened via two wooden pillars that protrude from the back of the seat board. This design eliminates the need for two of the longer pillars and combines movement plate securing with seat board mounting, thereby eliminating the two hooked rods and corresponding nuts that are common on brass tall case clock movements to secure the movement to the seat board. Each main wheel drum has two cords wrapped around it. The clock is wound by pulling down on one cord which turns the main wheel core which in turn pulls the weight bearing cord up and wraps it around the core, thus winding the clock. This design eliminates the need for metal winding arbors, a clock key, holes in the dial, and weight pulleys.

The overall length of the steel pendulum rod is 43 3/16”. The pendulum bob is rough cast, has a concentric circle on the front, and is 2.9” – 3.1” in diameter and 0.4” thick. The weights are sand filled cylindrical rolled sheet with sheet metal bases and nailed on top wood covers. They are both 6 3/4” long. Diameters are 2 1/2” and 2. 1/4”. They weigh 5 and 4 pounds respectively, indicating that most of the sand has been lost. Each winding cord has a cast counter weight.

Construction
Hood: The hood top is nailed from above to the sides. The sides are nailed from the inside to the overlapping upper side panels which are in turn are half-blind dovetailed to the tympanum. The stiles of the fixed front frame have reeds on the outer edges and are glued to the leading edges of the sides; the lower rail and arched upper rail are tenoned into the stiles. The side rails of the bottom frame are tenoned into the frame’s front rail. Mitered shaped moldings glued and nailed to the edges of the bottom frame extend below the frame to form a rabbet which overlaps the top molding of the trunk. The side rails are nailed from below to the hood sides and the front rail is screwed from below to the bottom rail of the hood’s fixed front frame. The side and lower rails of the front frame are rabbeted to hold the clock window glass. Three triangular blocks are glued to the back of the upper (curved) rail to form a rabbet to hold the upper edge of the clock window glass. Thin lath strips are nailed in the rabbets behind the glass to hold it in place. Rabbets on the inside back edge of the sides accommodate the back board when assembled.
The stiles of the arched inner frame are narrowed at the end to form open mortise and tenon joints with its rails. The inner frame was nailed with two nails to the lower rail of the front frame and with one nail to the center glue block of the upper rail. Current fasteners are modern.

The single board tympanum with broken scroll pediment has mitered cove “S” moldings nailed to the upper edges which continue on the upper edge of the upper side panels. The moldings terminate in turned roundels that are glued and nailed to the pediment. Finial pegs rest in holes in the central pediment plinth and on its two corners.

Baluster-turned front and rear columns are pegged to the underside of the overlapping upper sides and nailed to the underside of the bottom frame.
Trunk: The trunk stiles are glued to the edges of the sides, the joining reinforced with a series of triangular blocks. The edges of the stiles are chamfered in the center opposite the trunk door. The trunk rails are tenoned into the stiles. The hood rests on a coved top molding that is glued and nailed to the sides, stiles and upper rail. Immediately below the molding is a 1 ½” strip of mahogany veneer and below it a double bead mahogany molding is glued and nailed to the rail and sides. The sides extend 4 ½” above the top molding and support the seat board. The stiles extend 1 ¼” above to molding and are notched along with the sides to receive the edges of the hood’s base frame.
The single board trunk door is shaped at the top and rabbeted on all four sides of its back. It is edged on the front with a 7/8” band of mahogany veneer. Butt hinges are inset in the trunk stiles and surface mounted on the door and appear original. Lock is a replacement.

Base: The trunk sides, stiles and rails all extend into the base, and the coved belt molding is nailed to them and to the upper edge of the base front and sides. The leading edges of the base sides are glued to the front, and the joining is reinforced on the inside with triangular glue blocks. The sides and front extend to the floor, forming bracket feet as well as molded skirts.
The bottom board is set in dados in the sides. The small, plain, mitered molding nailed to the sides and front is a replacement. As with the trunk, the edges of the front corners are chamfered in the center.

Back: The back is comprised of three lap-joined sections. The vertically grained hood section is nailed into rabbets in the sides in the upper section of the trunk, and immediately below the seat board, to the edges of the sides. The vertically grained trunk section of the back (replaced) is nailed into rabbets in the sides. The horizontally grained base section of the back is nailed into rabbets in the trunk sides, rabbets in the base sides and to the edge of the base bottom

The case is cherry with the exception of mahogany veneer and molding as noted. The back, hood top and base bottom are tulip poplar.

A - Case
B- Movement
C- Pendulum
D & E - weights
Label TextThis tall case clock has a 30-hour wooden movement signed by Cincinnati clockmaker Luman Watson (w. 1815-1834) in a case attributed to the Lexington, Kentucky clockmaker Elijah Warner (w.1810-1830). Kentucky and Ohio were a virgin market for the relatively inexpensive wooden clock movements made popular by Connecticut factories in the early 19th century. Watson and Warner capitalized on the fashion and market for these clocks, hiring talented workmen to produce and sell these elegant, affordable timepieces to middle class homeowners throughout the region.
Inscribed"L. WATSON. CINCINNATI." is painted around the basket of flowers on the dial.
MarkingsSeat board marked "IS" by an unknown clockmaker working in Luman Watson's shop. At least two other Watson clocks (out of 42 studied) are marked by the same maker.
ProvenanceLuke & Ann Woods of Cincinnati, OH and Spruce Pine, NC; purchased in 1990 at an estate auction between Maysville and Lexington, KY.

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