Painted Dials on Clocks
A finely painted dial by Walker & Hughes for Cross of Bradford (on Avon, Wiltshire) showing the Four Seasons, and having the Phases of the Moon to the Arch
From the beginning of ‘commercial’ clockmaking the vast majority of clock dials had been made of brass with a raised silvered chapter ring and cast brass spandrels as ornamentation to the four corners. But in the late 1700’s, as a trend for French furnishing became more in vogue, so tastes changed with one of the main features from French clocks being the ‘white dial’. These tended to be on elaborate mantel clocks, and made from porcelain or enamel. The London maker’s started to look into using vitreous enamel and some of the finest bracket clocks of this period are made with this style of dial. Their use on these smaller clocks made customers ask for the same on longcase clocks but attempts to use enamel for this purpose proved fruitless as the area was too large and the enamel often cracked and buckled. So clockmaker’s dispensed with the chapter ring and spandrels and made the dials in one sheet of brass that was then engraved and silvered to give the appearance of a flat, near-white dial. Very soon the idea of actually painting the dial white was taken up, the earlier examples being plain with the chapter ring, subsidiary dials and maker’s name being the only adornment. Within a few years raised gesso work was applied to the corners which when gilded gave the appearance of the earlier brass spandrels. Most painted dials were made in Birmingham from the 1770’s onwards by such well known dialmaker’s as Wilson, Walker & Hughes and Osborne who seeing the opportunity to further extend the range started to paint both floral, shell and fan decoration in the corners. By the early 1800’s the city became the prime workplace for painted dialmakers and more styles were developing from different workshops. To save the dials from cracking and bending when applied to the movement they were first placed on a cast iron falseplate which in the majority of cases has the dial makers name cast into it. With excellent surviving records of their work places and working dates most dials can be fairly accurately dated, especially when combined with the actual clockmakers details.nnia waiting on the port side whilst the battle rages behind, or with a memorial to his death. Up until 1800 Roman numerals had been the norm but the use of Arabic’s soon became fashionable as dictated by taste. By the mid 1800’s dials tended to be heavily painted ‘all-over’ matching the solid construction of the clock itself and although in general the quality of work diminished by the 1860’s a fair number of finely painted dials where still being
