A mechanical clock is a timekeeper powered by a falling weight or a coiled spring, with its rate regulated by an oscillating device controlled through an escapement. The escapement releases the power of the train of gears in small, regular steps, allowing the hands to measure the passage of time.
The earliest mechanical clocks appeared in Europe in the late thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, mostly in cathedrals, monasteries and town towers, using a verge escapement and a foliot or balance. Domestic lantern clocks were made in England from the early seventeenth century. The introduction of the pendulum by Christiaan Huygens in the 1650s and of the anchor escapement soon afterwards greatly improved accuracy, leading to the longcase and bracket clocks of the golden age of English clockmaking associated with Thomas Tompion and others. Spring-driven clocks with a fusee allowed portable timekeepers, while later innovations included the deadbeat escapement and the marine chronometer. Mechanical clocks continued to dominate until electric and quartz timekeeping in the twentieth century. Collectors value original movements, signed dials and good condition, and a properly serviced mechanical clock can run reliably for many years.
