What does 8 day mean on a drop dial clock?

It means the clock runs for eight days on a single wind, so a weekly winding keeps it going. The word 'day' appears in eleven titles on Sellingantiques. It's stated most often on the American striking clocks, though English fusee examples are wound on the same weekly rhythm.

Are drop dial clocks always English?

Not always, but nearly. The archive is dominated by English fusee timepieces, with 'english' in 31 titles and 'london' in 28, covering both London and provincial work. Nine American examples appear, usually 8-day striking clocks in walnut or mahogany. Beyond those, a single French ebonised case and one German or Austrian wall clock are the only non-English entries in 234 listings.

How big is the dial on a drop dial clock?

Titles quote dial size in inches, and the figures run from 8 inches at the small end up to one 16-inch example. Eight inches is the commonest stated size, with 10, 12, 13 and 14 inch dials filling the middle. Anything from 12 inches up reads as a large clock in this category.

What is side-winding on a fusee wall clock?

Side-winding means the movement is wound through a hole in the side of the case rather than through the dial front. It turns up on early examples, and titles naming a side-winding fusee sit consistently among the highest-priced clocks sampled, several dated between 1800 and 1835.

Do railway drop dial clocks come up often?

They appear now and again rather than regularly, and they scatter across the range with a bias toward the upper part of it. Marked dials in the archive include Great Western Railway, South Eastern Railways, the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway, a British Railways clock named to a Hampshire station, the GPO and a GvR-marked example.

How many drop dial clocks come up for sale?

Around 29 come to market in a year on Sellingantiques, and 64 different dealers have listed one. That spread means it's a form almost every clock dealer keeps rather than the preserve of a handful of specialists.

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Antique Drop Dial Clocks

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A drop dial clock is a wall clock with a glazed round dial above a short shaped trunk that drops below it to house the pendulum, made for shops, offices, stations and other rooms where a floor-standing case wouldn't fit.