Mappin and Webb travel clock

Comerman

Hi Folks, could anyone help me date this clock? The seller says 19th century but not very specific.
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/142338457645?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

MysticMonk

Comerman wrote: »

Hi Folks, could anyone help me date this clock? The seller says 19th century but not very specific.
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/142338457645?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

It's not 19th century at all at all.

The very earliest that is would be 1920's.

Comerman

Any basis on that? I emailed mappin and webb and they don't have anything on it in their "limited archive countries was the reply.

MysticMonk

Comerman wrote: »

Any basis on that? I emailed mappin and webb and they don't have anything on it in their "limited archive countries was the reply.

I don't know what you mean by "basis" but to my eye it's 1920's or 1930's..i may be wrong but thats my opinion.

These are not rare clocks..they were manufactured in thier hundreds for several decades..i've seen the same sort of clock made in the 1960s.

Comerman

Apologies, I wasn't being smart but just wondered how you were able to get that date is all. This is a reply I got from another source.

The date came about through studying the movement - the three 'bars' across the movement were, I believe, a later style of reinforcing the clock's movement and protecting it from damage. In the 18th century the movement would have run on a fusee movement, and later it would have changed to an 'all-inclusive' movement with a plate protecting it. After the start of the 20th century, the 8-day travelling clock was generally phased out due to the increasing popularity of wristwatches, as there was less of a need for a fairly large clock to travel with.

ohnonotgmail

the clock has a luminous face. i think that would place it closer to the 1920's than 1900.

coylemj

Comerman wrote: »

After the start of the 20th century, the 8-day travelling clock was generally phased out due to the increasing popularity of wristwatches, as there was less of a need for a fairly large clock to travel with.

I fail to see how the transition from pocket watches to wrist watches (I believe WWI had something to do with it) affected the sale of travelling clocks. Even today, you can buy small bedside alarm clocks, the successor to the OP's model. In the 1960s, the models that folded into a small case were very popular....



Companies like Oregon Scientific sell alarm clocks which pick up the official time via shortwave, I don't go anywhere without this little fellow....