Clock types · Shelf, mantel and table clocks

Skeleton clock

A clock with its case stripped away and its plates pierced, so every wheel can be seen, usually displayed under a glass dome on a decorative base.

By David Ray · clocks.fyi

What a skeleton clock is

A skeleton clock is built to show off its own machinery. The Holburne Museum in Bath describes the type as a clock that displays its movement without a case. In practice that means no wooden box around the works and brass plates that are cut away into open frames, so the wheels can be seen from every side.

Because the works are fully exposed, these clocks were normally kept under a glass shade, often set on a handsome marble base. The Holburne Museum in Bath notes that buyers liked them for libraries and studies, where their scientific look suited the setting.

How it works

A skeleton clock works like any other mechanical clock. A spring or weight supplies power, a train of wheels carries it to the hands, and an escapement with a pendulum or balance controls the rate. What differs is the frame: the brass plates that hold the wheels are pierced into scrolls, arches or other shapes, leaving the gears in plain view.

Makers used whatever mechanism suited them. A skeleton clock of about 1830 by Charles McDowall at the Science Museum has a going barrel, a platform lever escapement and unusual helical gearing. A copy of a Dwerrihouse skeleton clock in the same collection is a spring-driven pendulum clock with a coup-perdu escapement. An English example at Museums Victoria in Melbourne is spring wound with an anchor escapement.

The glass shade does real work as well as looking elegant. Without a case, the oiled pivots and fine teeth would otherwise sit open to dust; the Holburne notes that its own example has lost its original shade.

See also: naming the gears you can see in an open movement on OnlineClock.app.

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History

Skeleton clocks became popular in the early nineteenth century, according to the Holburne Museum. One early example is recorded at the Victoria and Albert Museum, which holds the pendulum from a skeleton clock by Hubert Sarton of Liege, made around 1810.

The form reached a high point of public attention at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851, where the Holburne notes that fine examples were displayed. Production continued through the Victorian period; the Metropolitan Museum of Art holds a British example made around 1850 to 1865.

Interest has never entirely faded. In 1973 the London firm Thwaites and Reed made a limited edition of 100 copies of a skeleton clock by Dwerrihouse, one of which, No. 88, is now in the Science Museum Group collection with its glass dome.

Museum examples

The Holburne Museum's skeleton clock, signed by Thompson and Warren of Bath, was bought by Sir William Holburne in 1829 or 1830 for the dining room mantelpiece of his house on Cavendish Crescent. Thompson and Warren were silversmiths and clock and watch retailers recorded at 1 Westgate Street, Bath, in 1826.

The Met's British skeleton clock, made around 1850 to 1865, is built of brass with rosewood veneer and velvet and measures 18 inches tall including its glass dome. The clock alone is about 14 inches.

Charles McDowall's clock at the Science Museum, made around 1830, is small at about 195 mm tall. It is signed Chas McDowall Inventor of the Helix Lever and is lent by the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers for display in the Clockmakers' Museum gallery.

Museums Victoria in Melbourne holds an English skeleton clock, about 27.5 cm high, with its brass movement mounted on a mahogany base and a scalloped silver ring for a dial, marked with Roman numerals. It came to the museum as a loan and later bequest in 1930.

The 1973 Thwaites and Reed copy of the Dwerrihouse clock gives a sense of scale for a larger piece: about 380 mm tall and 6.45 kg for the clock alone, and about 427 mm tall with its glass dome.

How to recognize one

The giveaway is that you can see straight through the clock. There is no box around the movement, the plates are openwork, and the wheels are visible from the front, back and sides. Many have a ring-shaped or cut-out dial, like the scalloped silver ring on the Museums Victoria clock, so the dial does not hide the wheels behind it.

Most were made to sit under a glass shade or dome on a base of marble, wood or velvet-covered wood. A clock that has lost its dome, like the Holburne's, is still a skeleton clock, but without one the exposed works are open to dust. The Science Museum catalogs the dome, pendulum and winding handle of its Dwerrihouse copy as separate parts, a reminder that these pieces can be lost or swapped over a clock's life.

The metal tells you something too. The frames are normally brass, sometimes partly silvered or painted, as on the Met's clock, and the dial is often a silvered ring or plate signed by the maker or retailer, like McDowall's inscription or the Thompson and Warren signature on the Holburne clock.

Look at the timekeeping parts, not just the look. A true skeleton clock has a working mechanical movement on display, with a pendulum or balance controlling it. Decorative clocks that merely show gears around a dial, with a separate hidden movement doing the work, borrow the style without being the real thing.

See also: having a delicate antique movement cleaned on OnlineClock.app.

Questions people ask

Why do skeleton clocks have glass domes?

Because the movement has no case, the dome or shade protects the exposed wheels and pivots from dust while still letting you see them.

When were skeleton clocks most popular?

They became popular in the early nineteenth century, and fine examples were shown at London's Great Exhibition of 1851.

Are skeleton clocks still made?

Yes. In 1973, for example, Thwaites and Reed made a limited edition of 100 copies of a Dwerrihouse skeleton clock.

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