Are these all actually desk clocks?

No. The heading gathers small clocks of desk and table scale, and what dominates is the mantel or mantle clock, the carriage clock and the table clock. Purpose-made desk models do appear, mainly the 20th-century ones: small alarm clocks, strut and easel clocks meant for an office or bedside rather than a chimneypiece.

What does a carriage clock listing usually mean?

A small brass-and-glass travelling clock with a handle on top. Carriage appears in 152 titles, 31 of them specifically brass carriage. Dealers grade them by size, from sub-miniature and mignonette up to giant, and by case profile: gorge, corniche, doucine, one-piece. Repeating examples re-strike the last hour at the push of a button.

Why do so many say only 19th Century?

Because dating in this category is often left at a century or a reign. "19th Century" is the largest single period bucket at 126 titles, with "Victorian" close behind. Titles reading "19th Century" sitting beside a description giving circa 1875 or 1880 are common, and 461 of the 732 listings carry a clean year at all.

How many turn up in a year?

Around 94 are listed in a year on Sellingantiques, and 118 different dealers have handled them. That's one of the broadest dealer bases in clocks. Spread across five branches, it means the French mantel and carriage groups appear steadily while the odder things surface singly.

Which Art Deco desk clocks appear?

The Art Deco group is about an eighth of the category, most of it dated around 1930. Chrome carries 23 titles. Materials in the samples run to chrome, bakelite, vitrolite, mirror and opaline or uranium glass, marble and onyx. Sculptural Art Deco groups reach the upper end of the range; plain chrome cases sit in the bottom third.

Do 18th-century examples come up?

The dated field starts at 1750, and the earliest sample is a French Louis Quinze pendule given as circa 1750. But such entries are a handful: a Louis XVI marble urn clock, a three-piece set dated 1770, little else. The bulk of the field is 19th century and 1930s.

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Antique Desk Clocks

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Small spring-driven clocks made to stand on a desk, table or chimneypiece: French mantel and carriage clocks, English fusee timepieces, and 1930s chrome and glass models.