Antique Travel Clocks
A small spring-driven clock made to be carried, and under this heading that means, four times out of five, the glazed French brass carriage clock with a handle on top.
Antique Travel Clocks
The heading covers two strands, and one dominates. Carriage clocks account for 239 of 288 titles on Sellingantiques and nearly all of what's listed now: a small rectangular or oval brass case with glazed panels, a carrying handle, a platform escapement on top of the movement, and often a fitted leather outer case.
The single most likely listing is a plain gilt or polished brass French carriage clock of the 1880s to 1900s, eight-day, either striking or timepiece only. French origin is stated in 100 titles. Dealer dates cluster hard in that window: 47 in the 1890s, 42 in the 1900s, 35 in the 1880s. Where a listing says "19th Century", "Victorian" or "Edwardian" instead of a year, read it as approximate.
The smaller strand is the clock that was genuinely built for a suitcase. Folding and flip-up silver and enamel cases, some hallmarked, some engine-turned or guilloche, and a pocket of 1930s pieces in chrome, Bakelite, leather and silver plate with their carry cases. Twenty-two listings sit in the 1930s alone.
Size runs from a mignonette or sub-miniature of around 2¾ inches to cases dealers call giant. The one-offs are worth knowing about: a travel clock shaped as a prayer book, a double-sided carriage clock, a travelling desk compendium, a capucine, a pendule d'officier, and one carriage clock fitted with a compass and thermometer.
Where The Range Sits
Striking complication maps almost exactly onto the range. Plain timepieces sit at the bottom, simple striking just above, and then the complicated end takes over: quarter repeating, five-minute repeaters, petite sonnerie, grande sonnerie, and the few with moon phase and date work. Repeating appears in 31 titles, alarm in 32, sonnerie in 16, and between them they hold almost the whole top of the category.
Decoration is the second lever. Engraved cases, enamel, porcelain panels, Limoges and guilloche enamel and bronze panels all sit well clear of the plain brass. So does a named case form, and that is the scarcer thing: gorge shows up in only 14 titles, the one-piece case in a bare handful, and both cluster high. Unspecified, oval and serpentine cases spread across the lower and middle ground.
Two other things lift a listing. A signature or retailer name in the title sits markedly higher than the many that read simply "A French Carriage Clock". And the original travelling case, box, key or paperwork counts, which is why dealers put "with original travelling case" in the title when they have it. Size helps at both extremes, giant and mignonette alike, while ordinary-sized plain examples fill the middle.
Antique Travel Clocks Retail Price Guide 2026
Typical UK retail prices for travel clocks, calculated from the Sellingantiques database of over a million retail prices indexed since 2003. This retail price guide relies exclusively on Sellingantiques data; no external sources or auction records are used, so the figures do not describe the wider market.
The top sale of the last year on Sellingantiques was a sterling silver and gilt metal travel clock with blue enamel and a floral dial, in February 2026.
Drocourt
The Antique Travel Clocks Glossary
- Carriage clock
- A small glazed spring-driven clock with a carrying handle on top, and the form behind four in five titles under this heading.
- Eight-day
- Runs a week and more on one winding. The usual movement duration quoted, often written 8-day.
- Timepiece
- A clock that doesn't strike. Used in 12 titles to separate them from the striking examples.
- Repeating
- A push button re-strikes the last hour. Repeating appears in 31 titles, repeater in 14.
- Gorge case
- A moulded case profile with a grooved cornice, named in 14 titles. Corniche means a plain stepped cornice instead.
- Mignonette
- The smallest carriage clock sizes, with sub-miniature smaller again. Thirty-four titles say miniature; one measures 2¾ inches high.
Antique Travel Clocks: Frequently Asked Questions
Why are carriage clocks listed under travel clocks?
Because they were made to travel. The glazed brass case with a top handle and a platform escapement became the standard portable clock from the second quarter of the 19th century, usually supplied in a fitted leather outer case for the journey.
The stock reflects that history rather than the heading. Carriage appears in 239 of 288 titles on Sellingantiques, and in almost everything currently for sale.
How many come up for sale each year?
Around 37 a year across the marketplace.
Sixty different dealers have listed them, so no one dealer sets the tone of the category. What you see is a broad spread of French brass work with a thinner seam of 20th-century portables running through it.
What does petite sonnerie mean on a carriage clock?
It strikes the quarters on one bell or gong and the hour at the hour. Grande sonnerie goes further and strikes both the quarter and the hour at every quarter.
Grande sonnerie is the most complicated striking that turns up under this heading, and titles carrying it sit at the very top of the range. Sonnerie of either kind appears in 16 titles.
Are there 20th-century travel clocks in this category?
Yes, as a distinct pocket rather than a main strand. Twenty-two listings are dated to the 1930s and eleven to the 1920s, almost all chrome, Bakelite, leather or silver-cased alarms supplied with carry cases.
A handful of later pieces run through to 1960, resting on very few listings.
Does the original leather case matter?
It sits in the title when a dealer has one, which tells you something. "Original travelling case", "with original key" and "in the box with the paperwork" all recur, and cased appears in 13 titles.
Those listings sit above comparable clocks offered on their own.
How small do miniature carriage clocks get?
Miniature appears in 34 titles. Below that come the mignonette and sub-miniature descriptions, and one listing records a case 2¾ inches high.
Size tells at both ends. Very small and the giant cases both cluster high, while ordinary-sized plain brass examples make up the middle of the category.