What is a Vienna regulator?

A slim glazed wall clock of Austrian or German type, weight-driven and hung on the wall. It's the form you'll meet most often under this heading, with "vienna" in 71 of 252 titles. Walnut is the usual case timber. Titles give the weight count, single, double or twin, and eight-day running is the default.

Why are longcase clocks listed as regulators?

Because "regulator" describes precision work as much as a shape. Floor-standing clocks with deadbeat escapements, maintaining power and month duration were built to the same standard, and dealers catalogue them accordingly. Longcase, long case and grandfather are used interchangeably in titles, often two or three of them at once.

How long does one run between windings?

Eight-day is the norm across the category. Above that the archive on Sellingantiques has thrown up 14-day and month-duration clocks, a 30-day grande sonnerie Vienna and one year-duration French example. Duration is the sharpest divider in the titles, and it tracks the range closely.

What are French crystal regulators?

Small mantel clocks with bevelled glass on all four sides, brass framed, so the movement shows from every angle. Around a sixth of the category, and a growing share of current stock. Onyx, ormolu, champlevé enamel panels and bow-fronted glass all recur among them.

When were most of these made?

The dealer-entered dates run 1800 to 1960. Where a decade is given, the weight falls heavily on 1850 to 1900, with the 1890s, 1860s and 1880s the fullest. Plenty carry no decade: 42 listings are dated only "19th Century", and another 33 as Victorian, Regency or Georgian.

Are unusual types ever listed?

Yes, though only in ones. The archive holds an equation-of-time table regulator, a five-glass Goliath table regulator, a portico regulator on knife-edge suspension and a wall clock with pinwheel escapement. Two electric wall regulators have also passed through, at the late end of the date range.

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Antique Regulator Clocks

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A regulator is a clock built, or sold, as a precision timekeeper: the standard against which other clocks and watches were set in workshops, observatories and public buildings.