Guide

How to Identify and Date Your Clock

Found an old clock in the attic or at an estate sale? Here is how to work out what it is, who made it and roughly when, using clues the clock itself gives you.

By David Ray · clocks.fyi

Step 1: Work out what kind of clock it is

Start with the overall form before you look for any names. Ask where the clock was meant to sit: hanging on a wall, standing on a shelf or mantel, standing on the floor, or traveling in a hand or a pocket. Each family has its own shapes, and many shapes are tied to a particular country and period.

Some outlines are distinctive enough to name at a glance. A banjo clock has a round dial, a narrow tapering waist and a box at the bottom. A schoolhouse clock has an eight-sided frame around the dial with a smaller pendulum box below. A carriage clock is a small brass case with a handle on top and glass panels on the sides, and an anniversary clock has a pendulum that twists back and forth under a glass dome.

Naming the type will not date your clock on its own, because popular shapes were copied for generations and are still made today. It does tell you which makers and which clues to look for next, and our clock type pages each end with a section on how to recognize that type.

Step 2: Find out how it is powered and how long it runs

Next, work out what drives the clock. Most mechanical clocks run either on a coiled mainspring or on falling weights. If you see weights hanging on cords or chains inside the case, it is weight-driven; if there are winding holes in the dial but no weights, it is probably spring-driven, though weights are sometimes lost, so check for empty pulleys or hooks where weights once hung. A cord, a plug or a battery compartment means it is electric or battery powered. Plug-in synchronous electric clocks, like Telechron's, and quartz clocks, first built in 1927, are 20th-century developments.

Count the winding holes. Each hole leads to a winding arbor, and each usually powers its own train of wheels: one for timekeeping, one for the hour strike and sometimes a third for a chime. So one hole usually means time only, two mean time and strike, and three usually mean a chiming clock.

Then find out how long it runs on one winding. Conservators distinguish day-running clocks, which go for 30 hours or less and are wound daily, from 8-day clocks that are wound once a week. The duration is often printed on the label or in the catalog description, and it is one of the details museum records list when they describe a clock, so it helps you match yours to documented examples.

Step 3: Look for a name on the dial

The dial is the easiest place to look, so start there, using a flashlight held at a low angle to bring up faded printing. Many American factory clocks name the maker plainly. A Henry Ford Museum shelf clock reads SETH THOMAS on its dial, and a Sessions mantel clock in the same collection reads Made by the Sessions Clock Co., Forestville, Conn, U.S.A.

Do not assume the name on the dial is the name of the maker. The dial may carry the name of a retailer or another firm. A French mantel clock of about 1855 in the Banco de España collection has a dial signed by J. Delaye of Grenoble, while the movement inside carries the stamp of Japy Frères. Treat a dial name as a lead, then check it against the label and the movement.

Trademarks count as names too. Junghans used a star with a J in the middle, and the bank's Junghans wall clock of about 1930 shows an eight-pointed star enclosing a J on its dial, with the rest of the company name arranged around it.

Related: All clock makers · Seth Thomas · Sessions · Japy Frères · Junghans

Want the exact time right now? See it on a big, clean clock at OnlineClock.app, free, with no sign-up.

Step 4: Check for a paper label inside the case

Many 19th-century American clocks have, or once had, a printed paper label pasted inside the case, usually on the backboard behind the pendulum or on the back of the clock. Open the door or remove the back gently and look with a light. Even a torn or faded label can carry a model name, a company name and a town, and each of those is a dating clue.

Company names changed over time, and those changes give you date ranges. The Ingraham firm traded as Brewster and Ingrahams from 1844 to 1852, as E. and A. Ingraham from 1852 to 1857, and under other names after that. Westclox clocks marked Western Clock Mfg. Co. belong to the years from 1888 to 1912. A clock labeled Sessions dates from 1903 or later, since earlier clocks from the same Forestville factory carry the E. N. Welch name.

Addresses help as well. Ansonia moved its manufacturing from Connecticut to New York between the late 1870s and 1883, so a New York address points to the later period. Seth Thomas worked in Plymouth Hollow, and Thomaston only became a separate town in 1875, so a Plymouth label suggests an earlier clock.

Read labels critically, though. A Connecticut Historical Society shelf clock from the 1830s has a label crediting the invention to Eli Terry, but it names another firm, Julius Peck and Co., as maker and seller. Other makers built clocks to Terry's patent design.

Related: Ingraham · Westclox · Ansonia · Eli Terry · Gilbert

Step 5: Read the movement

The movement is the working mechanism, and its plates often carry the most reliable marks of all. On many clocks you can see the back plate by removing the back of the case. Look for stamped names, trademarks, serial numbers, patent dates and country names, and photograph everything you find before you touch anything.

Materials are a clue. Early Connecticut shelf clocks often have wooden movements, and Britannica notes that brass replaced wood in these movements around 1840, when brass became cheaper. A pillar-and-scroll clock with a brass movement is therefore probably later than one with wooden works.

Some German makers stamped serial numbers that collectors have matched to years. Published tables for Gustav Becker and Lenzkirch give rough dates, though the tables disagree in places, so treat the result as an estimate. Hermle stamps a date code on the back plate of its movements: two digits give the year directly, while single letters began in 1988.

Movement marks can also contradict the case. Howard Miller labels that say Made in Germany refer to the movement rather than the case, according to the Zeeland Historical Society, and German movements were fitted into cases made elsewhere.

Related: Gustav Becker · Lenzkirch · Hermle · Howard Miller · Escapements

See also: the parts you will find inside a clock movement on OnlineClock.app.

Step 6: Use patent dates and country-of-origin marks

A patent date stamped on a clock tells you when an invention was patented, not when your clock was made. Its value is that it sets a floor: the clock cannot be older than the latest patent date it carries. A 30-hour Waterbury shelf clock in the National Watch and Clock Museum has patent dates running from May 1890 to May 1894 stamped on its movement, so it was made in 1894 or later. Makers kept stamping old patent dates for years, so the true date may be well after the last one.

Country marks work in a similar way. In the United States, the Tariff Act of 1890, often called the McKinley Tariff, was the first tariff law to require imported goods to be marked with their country of origin, and it barred unmarked goods from entry. A clock made for the American market and marked with a country such as Germany or France is therefore consistent with a date after that law, though the mark alone does not prove it. Other countries had their own rules; under Britain's, described below, U.S.A. was enough of an origin mark on American goods.

The phrase Made in Germany itself has British roots. Britain's Merchandise Marks Act of 1887 banned false indications of where goods were made, and a contemporary commentary explains that goods from non-English-speaking countries that carried English words or British symbols needed a statement of their foreign origin. A Made in Germany mark on a German clock therefore suggests, but does not prove, a date after 1887 and a clock made with export in mind.

Use these marks as clues rather than proof. A missing country mark does not prove a clock is older, because a clock sold in its home country might never have needed one, and labels and stamps can be lost or added later.

Step 7: Compare your clock with maker pages and museum examples

Once you have a likely maker, compare your clock with documented examples. Our maker pages collect the identification tips that museum records and company histories support, including label wording, trademark changes and the years when company names changed. Museum collection databases, such as those of The Henry Ford, the Smithsonian and the National Watch and Clock Museum, often photograph labels and movements and give a date range for each piece.

Reprinted factory catalogs are another strong tool. Model names on labels, like Ansonia's Cairo or Waterbury's Small Gothic, can be matched against catalog pages to narrow the date. The University of Connecticut, for example, has put a run of Ingraham sales catalogs online through its archives repository. For electric clocks, including office and school slave clocks, the ClockDoc archive has photo albums for hundreds of makers to compare against.

Combine every clue you have. A maker's name gives you a range, an address narrows it, a patent date sets the earliest possible year, and the movement type and case style fill in the rest. When the clues agree, you can be fairly confident; when they conflict, you may be looking at a clock with replaced parts.

See also: a quick overview of well-known clock brands on OnlineClock.app.

Step 8: Spot replacements, marriages and reproductions

Over a century or two, clocks were repaired, updated and sometimes assembled from parts. A marriage is a clock whose dial or movement has been fitted to a case it did not start out in. The simplest test is consistency: if the movement's maker, patent dates or style do not match the label, the dial or the case, parts may have been swapped. A repairer can check whether the movement fits its mounting as originally made.

Even museum pieces have mixed histories. The Metropolitan Museum's cartel clock by Jacques Caffieri received its present movement years after the case was made. Mora clocks from Sweden often had their movements replaced over two centuries, and families repainted the cases.

Reproductions are a separate issue. Kovels notes that excellent reproduction schoolhouse clocks have been made since the 1970s, and many modern banjo and schoolhouse-style clocks use a quartz movement behind a traditional dial. A battery compartment, a plastic movement or a crisp modern label are all strong signs of a recent clock, whatever the case looks like. Some sellers paint old-style initials onto newer Mora cases, so a name alone is not proof of age.

Step 9: Photograph it and ask the experts

Good photos make it much easier for someone else to help. The NAWCC library suggests clear pictures of the case, the dial and the movement, plus close-ups of any names, numbers or trademarks, with written transcriptions of marks that are hard to read. Note the clock's measurements, and where, when and from whom it was acquired.

The National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors (NAWCC) offers several routes. Its library answers identification questions free for members and for a fee for nonmembers, though its staff do not comment on value. Local NAWCC chapters meet around the United States and in other countries, and its chapter directory also lists special-interest chapters, including groups for alarm clocks, carriage clocks, electrical clocks and 400-day clocks.

The NAWCC also runs an online forum, the NAWCC Message Board, where collectors and repairers discuss clocks and help one another identify them. Other active forums include the "All Things Clocks" section of Watch Repair Talk, the "Clock world" section of WatchUSeek, and Flip Clock Fans for flip clocks. All of them can be read as a guest, and you register to post. Include the same set of photos.

Museums with clock collections and accredited conservators are other good contacts. In the UK, the Institute of Conservation (Icon) runs a Find a Conservator service and a register of accredited members, which can lead you to accredited horological conservators who can assess a clock's condition and advise on care.

Related: Clock makers · Clock types · Clock glossary

Step 10: Handle it carefully before any restoration

While you research, try not to change anything. Avoid touching the dial, since moisture from hands is corrosive, fingers leave grease and dirt, and handling can remove painted or printed detail; use cotton gloves on fragile dials. Do not clean off old labels, polish stamped marks or remove a case finish: those surfaces are part of the evidence.

If you want to get the clock running, be gentle. Conservators advise moving only the minute hand, never turning the hands backward without advice, and letting a striking clock finish before moving on. Lubricants deteriorate over time, so a clock that has stood for years may need cleaning by a professional before it runs well, and the Institute of Conservation advises leaving lubrication to a professional and warns against using off-the-shelf products to oil a clock.

Finally, decide what you want from the clock before any repair. Conservators work to a principle of minimum intervention, keeping as much original material as they can. Ask any repairer to keep replaced parts and to note what was done, so the next owner can still read the clock's story.

Questions people ask

How can I tell how old my clock is?

Combine several clues. The maker's name, and the company name and address on the label, give a date range; patent dates show the earliest possible year; country-of-origin marks, the movement material and serial numbers or date codes narrow it further. Compare the result with museum examples and reprinted catalogs.

What does 'Made in Germany' tell me?

It tells you the clock, or at least its movement, was made in Germany, probably for export. The wording traces back to Britain's Merchandise Marks Act of 1887, under which goods from non-English-speaking countries that used English words needed to state their foreign origin, and the United States began requiring origin marks with the Tariff Act of 1890. Treat it as a dating clue, not proof. On some clocks the mark refers only to the movement, not the case.

What does a patent date on a clock mean?

It is the date an invention used in the clock was patented, not the date the clock was made. The clock cannot be older than the latest patent date it shows, but makers often kept stamping the same dates for years, so the clock may be considerably newer.

Is my clock a reproduction?

Look for signs of modern manufacture: a battery or quartz movement, plastic parts, crisp modern printing and no signs of age inside the case. Popular styles such as schoolhouse and banjo clocks have been reproduced for decades, so the shape alone proves nothing. A specialist can check whether the movement, dial and case belong together.

Where can I get my clock identified or appraised?

For identification, try the NAWCC library's research service, a local NAWCC chapter, the NAWCC Message Board or the clock section of Watch Repair Talk, and send clear photos of the case, dial, movement and any marks. The NAWCC library does not comment on value; for a valuation, use a qualified appraiser who specializes in clocks, such as one found through the NAWCC's business directory.

Should I clean or polish my clock before I identify it?

No. Old labels, stamped marks and original finishes are evidence of age and origin, and handling a dial can damage it. Photograph everything first, and leave cleaning and lubrication to a professional or accredited conservator.