Lantern clock

It was only after a century had passed, when other types of domestic clocks began to be used in British houses, that more descriptive names for it appeared.

A group of craftsmen from the Low Lands (Flanders) and France, of which some were clockmakers, had established themselves in London at the end of the 16th century.

At the same time the middle classes in towns and cities of England began to prosper and the need arose for domestic clocks.

[citation needed] It is generally accepted that the first lantern clocks in England were made by Frauncoy Nowe and Nicholas Vallin, two Huguenots who had fled from the Low Lands.

Typical lantern clocks comprised a square case on ball or urn feet, a large circular dial (with a chapter ring extending beyond the width of the case on early examples), a single hour hand, and a large bell and finial.

[citation needed] The main style characteristics of English lantern clocks are similar to its Continental relatives: a wall clock with square bottom and top plates surmounted by a large bell, four corner pillars, a series of vertical plates positioned behind each other and a 30-hour movement with one or more weights.

[citation needed] Lantern clocks were originally weight-driven: usually one weight for time keeping and a second for striking.

This huge productivity was the result of the high demand for this popular clock in combination with an effective guild system.

This ensured independent clockmakers a plentiful supply of apprentices, who were also cheap labourers who helped to attain this high productivity.

Lantern clocks were produced in vast numbers during the decades before the pioneering invention of the pendulum by the Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens in 1656.

Shortly after Huygens' invention, the bob pendulum was introduced in England, and most English clockmakers adopted the new system quickly.

Measuring time became much more accurate, but most clockmakers kept building lantern clocks without minute hands: this may be just a matter of tradition.

In rural areas lantern clocks were produced until the beginning of the 19th century, and in those years they were also exported to countries like Turkey, and supplied with oriental numbers on their dials.