Antique American Clocks January 2022
177. $100
Luman Watson shelf clock, 1816-1834. Watson made mostly tall case wooden movement clocks until
they fell out of favor in the 1820’s, when he switched to shelf clocks like this. He died at the age of 44 in Cincinnati. These clocks are highly valued in Ohio and Kentucky, and I rarely encounter a good quality Luman Watson clock. This one is no
exception. While the case is in good shape, with mahogany veneer on the sides and a grain-painted front (to my knowledge all
of Watson’s clocks were grain painted), the upper dial glass is missing and the lower glass is old but may not be original. The Kellogg & Comstock hand-colored lithograph was printed around 1850, and so is not original to the clock. The columns
have held their original bronzing rather well; the splat is original and may not have been painted and stenciled. The wooden
dial board is clean and bright, maybe too clean and bright, although it does have some age. I suspect it was repainted some
time ago. The minute hand is missing, probably because the square end of the center shaft is also missing from the untested
wooden Luman Watson 30-hour movement. There are two iron weights, an iron bell, and a very good label inside. Well,
that’s the way it is with Watson clocks. It was rough out on the frontier in the early 1800’s! $100-$200.