Object Story: Federal Tall Case Clock

Imagine, for a moment, that there is no such thing as 8 a.m. or 5 p.m. For most of human existence, this is how we lived: orienting our schedules to the rhythms of the sun or our physical needs rather than a specific time on a clock.

The word “clock” comes from an Old English word meaning “day measure.” The earliest clocks were primarily used by monks to mark times of worship. Later they were placed in clock towers to summon people to church and workers to their place of work.

A Fancy Clock in the Living Room

This tall case clock (sometimes called a “grandfather clock”) in the Fielding Collection was among the first kinds of clocks widely purchased in America. Crafted with a pendulum mechanism, it was made in about 1820. This seven-foot-tall colossus was more than a timekeeping device, it was also a piece of furniture; the extra height was needed for the long pendulum that swung back and forth. In early America, clocks like these were among the most cherished and expensive items in a family’s home. Around this time, only about 13 or 14 percent of adults in the northern United States owned a clock. Featuring a clock like this in one’s living room would have signified an owner’s wealth or status.

The inner gears and clockworks were made of wood, not metal, something clockmaker Riley Whiting was known for. What’s most interesting about American clocks with wooden works is that they could be made locally, whereas most clocks with metal works up to this point were made and imported from England and only assembled in America. Wood was much less expensive than metal, so more families could have afforded a clock like this. The clock cabinet was made by another craftsman and is painted to look like a variety of different types of wood, which was a popular style in the time period.

Federal Tall Case Clock

Tall grandfather-style clock in a wooden case painted to resemble different types of wood grains.

Riley Whiting (American, 1785–1835), Clock movement, Winchester, Connecticut, ca. 1820; Unknown, Painted case, probably Maine, 1820, spine, glass, wood, and paint. Jonathan and Karin Fielding Collection, L2015.41.23

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Jonathan Fielding Talks about the Clock

In this video Jonathan Fielding discusses his Tall Case Clock, ca. 1820, by Riley Whiting of Winchester, Connecticut. While Whiting painted the face and made the works, someone else worked on the case, and that is what interests Fielding most: the exuberant painting that makes the clock appear to be housed in a combination of expensive woods and marble.

Pendulum Clock

Dutch astronomer and mathematician Christiaan Huygens (1629-1693) created the first working pendulum clock in 1656. He observed that a weighted pendulum will swing back and forth the same distance each time. This meant that the pendulum clock was able to tell time one hundred times more accurately than previous mechanical models. This was a huge turning point. The improved accuracy increased demand for clocks. When pendulum clocks became available, some tradespeople began to turn clocks into furniture like this one.

This video shows the inner workings of a 3D printed pendulum clock replica built based on Huygens' original designs.

Accurate Timekeeping

In 1675, Huygens’ genius struck again. He did not want to limit accurate timekeeping to living rooms. His "balance spring" invention made pocket watches accurate within a minute each day and sparked an immediate rise in the demand for on-the-go timekeeping.

Life Changes with Timepiece Availability

The spread of the pendulum clock, like this one, and the more portable pocket watch, changed the way we work and live. Franklin’s idea of “time is money” played out in different ways over our history.

As more and more workers went to work in factories, there was a need to document how long they worked because they were paid by the hour. Time clocks became used to punch in and out of work and became a way of life for factory worker. Schools were also redesigned with bells ringing between class periods and desks aligned in rows to train new generations of workers who moved from farms or workshops to factories. More than just a way to keep track of the hours, clocks allowed newly forming industries to synchronize the actions of their workers.

The ability to accurately know the time no matter where you were led to a dramatic shift in the way that people thought about time. Time was no longer something fluid and dependent on nature. It could be measured and divided in equal portions. The mechanization of time may have inadvertently mechanized lots of other things too, including the way that we work and live. Some researchers think that clocks have disconnected us from our true needs and wants in a way that is unhealthy and less necessary in today’s postindustrial world.

Questions for Discussion

Owning a tall case clock would have been a status symbol. It was large, very visible, and relatively expensive. Tall clocks were also almost always used in public areas of a household, like entrances or staircases or front parlors, rather than private ones such as bedrooms. Given its prominence in the household, what else might this object tell you about the owner’s view of timekeeping, innovation, or even science?
How is your life regulated by the time?
How have cell phones changed your concept of time? Does anyone you know wear a wrist watch?
What kind of activities are based on everyone knowing what time it is?
What would happen if there wasn’t a standard measure of time?
Look around your home. How many clocks and timekeeping devices are visible? Are they expensive? Are they large?
What do your timekeeping objects say about you? How structured is your life? Do the timekeeping objects in your household reflect those habits?

Object Story: Federal Tall Case Clock