Mahogany longcase clock by Bryson of Edinburgh

The substantial  8 day duration movement strikes the hours on a bell and has a recoil anchor escapement. The round silvered brass dial features matching blued steel hands, Roman numerals and the makers name is engraved to the centre of the dial, Bryson of Edinburgh. The movement also features a large brass pendulum bob to aid regulation and matching cast iron flat Scottish weights.

The elegantly proportioned Regulator style mahogany veneered case of typical drumhead design has high quality crossbanded veneers throughout with reeded quarter columns to the trunk. Also with a three quarter length trunk door and with a veneered oval panel below.  The base has a raised single moulding and a shaped plinth with bracket feet. To the hood a glazed concave lockable brass bezel allows access to the dial.  The plain drum shaped top which is typical of the period and Edinburgh area is mounted upon turned horizontal supports with ebonised paterae.

The ever popular drumhead designed longcase clocks have both a contemporary and period feel.

Note: The Bryson family are described as eminent and inventive Clockmakers. Robert Bryson was born in 1778 and died in 1852. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and made a Sidereal Regulator for the Edinburgh Observatory. He had two sons, Alexander and Robert who succeeded him. It’s quite possible that this clock was made by more than one Bryson as it is simply signed ‘Bryson’.

Alexander Bryson was a great inventor including “a new clock impelled by a combination of Gravitation and Electro Magnetism” and “the means of determining the presence of icebergs during fogs or darkness at sea.