Tall Case Clock Movement

Date1760-1775

Artist/Maker Thomas Walker

MediumBrass, steel, and iron.

DimensionsOH: 17"; OW: 12"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1951-578,B

DescriptionDial:
One piece brass arched 12”W x 17”H dial. Moon phase in arch with two semi-circular projections along the bottom of the opening engraved as globes with lines of longitude and latitude. Behind the opening is the moon dial one-half of which has the days of the lunar month engraved on the periphery, and the center having an engraved moon "face" against a blue-painted sky with white clouds and gold stars. These features are repeated on the other half because the disc makes one revolution in two lunar months, the mechanism being accurate to 29.500 days (somewhat short of the true lunar month). A small steel indicator is fastened at the center of the arch. The dial is fitted with an applied silvered chapter ring having a minute band with large Arabic numerals for minutes along the perimeter and Roman numerals for hours along the interior. The maker's name (Thomas Walker) and town (FREDS/BURG) are engraved on the lower part of the chapter ring spanning VI. Applied spandrels have cast flower and scroll ornaments in gilt brass. The matted dial center has a silvered seconds dial with Arabic numerals in ten second increments below XII and touching the silvered hour/minute chapter ring. Below the center arbor is a rectangular aperture for the silvered calendar which registers the days of the month (non-compensating for the short months). The three dial hands are filed steel, the hour and minute hands are pierced. The seconds hand is secured via a screw, not a pin.

Movement:
Eight-day brass time, strike, and calendar weight-driven movement measuring 6.6” H x 5.3” W. Plate thickness is 0.121” and clearance between front and back plates is 2.42”. Clock has an anchor-recoil escapement regulated by a seconds beat pendulum. A rack-and-snail strike sounds the hours.
Four brass pillars are riveted into the back plate and pinned at the front plate. The time side top pillar is lower and further inside the plates than the strike side top pillar. The movement is fastened to the seat board by steel seat board screws threaded into the bottom pillars. The brass time and strike barrels are covered with a wrapped brass sheet which is grooved for the weight cords. All time and strike train wheels have four-arm crossings. The conventional motion work is uncrossed, except for the hour wheel which has three arm crossings. The round steel crutch-rod is serpentine in shape and has a closed-end fork. The pendulum bridge base is rectangular with rounded bases and circular cutouts at the lower right and upper left. It is fastened to the back plate with two screws and two locator pins below the screws. The bell stand and bell are missing.

There are no pulleys or weight cords present. The overall length of the pendulum is 43.5”. The pendulum rod is steel. The bob is a dark metal shell back filled with lead. It is 4.2” diameter and 1.0” thick at its center. The weights are cylindrical cast iron with rounded bases, semi-conical tops, and cast in metal hooks. One is 2 ¼” diameter, 7” long, and weighs 12 lbs. The other is 2 3/8” diameter, 8” long, and weighs 13 lbs.
Label TextThe mechanism of tall case clocks were the most expensive and durable parts of an 8-day clock. With the westward migration of Virginians to Kentucky at the end of the 18th century, it is likely that an older clock movement labeled by Thomas Walker of Fredericksburg and probably dating to 1775-1785 was brought west by one of the many Virginians looking for new land. A new case was acquired locally once the owner arrived in Kentucky in the early 1790s.
MarkingsDial engraved "Thomas Walker/ Fredsburg"
ProvenanceGinsburg & Levy acquired the clock from New York City antique dealer Abe Keyman in 1947. 1951, when they sold it to Colonial Williamsburg, was the second time they had handled the clock.

Based on the cleaning inscriptions inside the case (A), the clock and case were owned in or near Lexington, Kentucky from the mid-19th century until at least 1901.

Exhibition(s)