Clock types · Shelf, mantel and table clocks

The Lighthouse Clock

Simon Willard's patented alarm timepiece set a dial and movement under a glass dome on a slender column. Collectors later named it the lighthouse clock.

By David Ray · clocks.fyi

What a lighthouse clock is

A lighthouse clock is a small, weight-driven American clock whose dial and movement sit under a glass dome on top of a tapering column, which in turn stands on a square, octagonal or round base. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, describes this as the classic arrangement. Seen whole, it looks rather like a lighthouse.

That is where the name comes from, but it was not Willard's. The Metropolitan Museum of Art notes that the name was applied later because of the shape, and the Art Institute of Chicago points to the clocks' resemblance to the Eddystone lighthouse, which stands in the English Channel off Plymouth, England. Willard himself called his invention an alarm timepiece.

Simon Willard's last patent

Simon Willard of Roxbury, Massachusetts, was already well known for the banjo clock, which he had patented in 1802. Houston's museum says the lighthouse clock was the subject of his third and final patent, granted in 1819 for an alarum timepiece, and both the DAR Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago give the same year. The Art Institute describes it as the first American alarm clock.

The Met adds a wrinkle to the dating. In 1822, it says, Willard advertised that the President of the United States had granted him a patent for his newly invented alarum timepiece, one that would run eight days on a single winding, and the advertisement carried a wood engraving of a clock identical to the Met's own example, right down to its ball feet. Sources therefore tie the form to both 1819 and 1822, the first being the patent itself and the second Willard's advertising of it.

Willard intended the clocks to be portable. Houston's museum says he described them as easy to carry from room to room, and the Art Institute of Chicago says they were meant for use around the house or when traveling.

See also: where Willard's alarum timepiece fits in the alarm clock story on OnlineClock.app.

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Why so few were made

The lighthouse clock was not a commercial success. Houston's museum estimates that about 200 were made, and the DAR Museum says scholars put the number at fewer than 200. They cost far more to make than banjo clocks.

The design had practical drawbacks, too. The glass dome left the dial vulnerable to damage, and heavy weights in a small freestanding case made the clock less stable, so owners probably left it in one place rather than carrying it around as Willard had imagined.

See also: modern clocks sized for a shelf or desk on OnlineClock.app.

Variations

Willard kept refining both the clockwork and the case after the patent, which is why, as the DAR Museum puts it, no two lighthouse clocks are exactly alike. Houston's museum says early versions had a rectangular, box-shaped mahogany case, while the more familiar later form has the plinth-and-column base. Cases might be painted, clear-finished mahogany or painted sheet iron, and they came with or without alarms.

The DAR Museum's example, made by Simon Willard and Sons around 1825, is what it calls Willard's third and final model. It has no alarm or bell, and a gilt finial sits where the bell would have been. The Met's example of 1825 to 1830 has a blown-glass dome with swirl decoration, ball feet and gilded brass ornament on its octagonal base. It carries a dummy bell but no alarm, which suggests the alarm was an option buyers could choose.

Famous examples and how to recognize one

Lighthouse clocks are held by the Met, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Art Institute of Chicago, the DAR Museum in Washington and the U.S. Department of State's Diplomatic Reception Rooms, among others. Most stand roughly 25 to 30 inches tall: the Met's and the Art Institute's each measure 29 1/2 inches, Houston's 28 3/4 inches, the State Department's 29 inches and one of Boston's 25 inches. Houston's example, made about 1825, is on view in the Chillman Parlor as part of the museum's Bayou Bend Collection. Its materials list, mahogany, brass, steel, iron, lead, glass and enamel, hints at what is inside, from the brass movement to the lead weights that drive it.

The museum dates cluster in a narrow window. The State Department gives about 1820 to 1825 for its clock, Boston about 1820 to 1830, Houston and the DAR Museum about 1825, and the Met and the Art Institute 1825 to 1830, with the Art Institute crediting its example to Simon Willard and Sons. That fits the story told by the patent: the form was new around 1819 to 1822, and the surviving clocks come from the few years that followed, when Willard was refining it.

Markings help. One of Boston's examples has Simon Willard / Roxbury painted on the dial and the initials S.W. on the weight, the back of the pendulum and the key. Curiously, that key is also marked 1779, decades before the clock was made, and the museum record does not explain why. The State Department's clock has an enamel dial inscribed Simon Willard and Sons/Patent. A domed dial on a column identifies the form, but a Willard attribution rests on details like these marks, ideally checked by a specialist.

Questions people ask

Who invented the lighthouse clock?

Simon Willard of Roxbury, Massachusetts, the maker best known for the banjo clock. He patented it as an alarum timepiece; the lighthouse name came later from collectors.

When was the lighthouse clock patented?

Several museums give 1819 for Willard's patent. The Met notes that Willard advertised the patent in 1822, so both dates appear in the literature.

Why is it called a lighthouse clock?

Because of its shape. A glass dome over the dial sits on a tapering column, and the Art Institute of Chicago likens it to the Eddystone lighthouse in the English Channel.

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