Antique Longcase clocks have weight driven movements. Their styles vary greatly particularly the cases and materials used in the construction. Early clocks of high craftsmanship could only be afforded by a wealthy elite at the time but as the trade grew into the provinces a greater number of more accessible timepieces became available..
In November 1658 Ahasuras Fromanteel placed an advert in the Commonwealth Mercury, offering exact clocks that '..may be made to go a week, a month, or a year, as well as those that are wound up every day, and keep time as well....
In November 1658 Ahasuras Fromanteel placed an advert in the Commonwealth Mercury, offering exact clocks that '..may be made to go a week, a month, or a year, as well as those that are wound up every day, and keep time as well...'
From this date weight driven clocks regulated by a pendulum and housed in a longcase were to become the essential feature and fixture of the English domestic scene.
The loncase clock is known by many as a grandfather clock since 1875 when Henry Work wrote a song about the tall clock that ran accurately for the ninety years of a mans life only to for good when the old grandfather died.
The early Longcases of the Fromanteels which were veneered in exotic ebony and could be afforded only by the privileged few but the styles developed quickly using marquetry and walnut and mahogany later in 18th century on the finer clocks.
Timepieces with charm were also made being made in the provinces many of these were cased in oak and of a shorter 30 hour duration. It is the rich variety of over two hundred years of skilled English clock making that present in my stock.
