Gallery of synchronous mantel clocks

Abstract

A mantel clock is a clock intended for display either on a mantelpiece or on a piece of furniture. It has a dial that can be read from across the room. Domestic mantel clocks are mostly used in reception rooms. This is the commonest type of case used for synchronous clocks. The main purpose of this gallery is to illustrate the range of British synchronous mantel clocks that were available. A clock was assigned as a mantel clock primarily on the basis of the legibility of its dial. The dial on most of the clocks in this gallery is larger than 9 cm. There are back and front views of each clock, together with a brief description. Clocks are mostly illustrated as found, and some are in poor condition. The sample of 64 synchronous mantel clocks illustrated cannot be regarded as representative of clocks that were produced, or have survived. Nevertheless, the statistics provide a rough indication for clocks that have survived. The large number of Smith clocks (28 %) and Temco clocks (26 %) is noticeable. A number of clocks (23 %) have Art Deco cases, but there are few clocks with other identifiable artistic styles. Relatively few clocks (14 %) are self starting. None of them has an outage indicator. A significant number of clocks (30 %) do not have any form of tell tale to make it easy for a user to determine whether or not a clock is running. None of the clocks show the date, or the day of the week.