Abel Hutchins of Concord, New Hampshire. An inlaid decorated tall clock. XX-16.
This clock is a fine example of classic New England design. The case is constructed from a variety of woods, including cherry, mahogany, tiger maple, holly, and American White pine. The primary wood is cherry. The case's surface retains an older, mellow finish. The cherry wood glows. Its presence would warm any room where this clock is placed. The case stands on a cut-out bracket base. The feet have good height and slightly flare at the bottom. Between the feet, the design forms a drop apron. A complex narrow band of inlay separates the apron from the base panel. This inlay pattern runs along the front and sides. The long vertical base panel features an additional line of complex inlay. This pattern is a different design from the one previously mentioned. It forms a border around the base. In the center of the panel is an inlaid oval of tiger-maple. The maple wood is lighter than the cherry panel, making it stand out. The oval is trimmed with a line of light and ark alternating squares. The waist is also long and features a rectangular mahogany door with applied molding. This door is decorated with an oval inlay similar to the one found in the base. A fourth pattern of complex inlay frames the door. The key lock is decorated with a brass escutcheon. The waist door provides access to the two drive weights and the brass-faced pendulum bob. Fluted quarter columns with brass rods and decorative brass capitals sit at the front corners of the waist. These columns are positioned vertically inlaid blocks. The bonnet is topped with an open fretwork pattern often seen in Concord, New Hampshire. Three-line inlaid chimney plinths, a fifth pattern variation, support brass ball-and-spike finials. The two bonnet columns are fluted and stopped with brass rods. These are positioned on either side of the arched, glass-fitted bonnet door, which opens to reveal the painted dial.
This iron dial is of Boston origin. The medallions found in the four spandrel areas are framed with gilded decorations. In the arch of this dial is a lunar calendar or a moon-phase mechanism. This will track and display the phases of the moon. In between the moons are two painted scenes. One is a pastoral setting. The other scene features a nautical theme. The time ring is formatted with Roman numerals for hours. Smaller Arabic numerals indicate each of the five-minute markers. A subsidiary seconds dial is located in its traditional location. The Maker's name is signed in a script format above the hour numeral "VI." The city or working location of "CONCORD" is signed in a block format.
The clockworks are constructed in brass and are of good quality. Four turned brass pillars support the two brass plates. Hardened steel shafts support the polished steel pinions, brass gearing, and recoil escapement. The winding drums are grooved. The weight-driven movement is designed to run for eight days on a full wind. It is a two-train, time-and-strike design with a rack-and-snail striking system. As a result, it will strike each hour on the hour on a cast iron bell mounted above the movement. The works are mounted on a seatboard.
The clock is about 7 feet 10 or 94 inches tall to the top of the center brass finial. The bonnet molding is 20.5 inches wide and 10.25 inches deep.
This clock was made around 1810.
Inventory number XX-16.
Abel Hutchins worked with his older brother Levi in partnership from 1786 through 1803. Both boys were born in Harvard, Massachusetts, the sons of Colonel Gordon Hutchins & Dolly or Dorothy Stone. They had eleven children. Levi was born on August 17, 1761, and Abel was born two years later, on March 16, 1763. Both men lived into their nineties.
On December 6, 1777, the brothers entered into an apprenticeship with Simon Willard of Grafton, Massachusetts. At this time, Levi was sixteen, and Abel was fourteen years old. In 1780, Levi moved to Abington, CT, for approximately eight months to learn some watchmaking skills. He then moved to Concord, New Hampshire, and opened a shop on Main Street. Levi was the first clockmaker to manufacture brass clocks in New Hampshire. Abel worked for a short time in Roxbury after his commitment to Simon was over. Abel is listed in the Roxbury tax assessor's records in 1784. In Roxbury, he was also appointed a fireward along with Aaron Willard and Elijah Ward. It is in Roxbury that Abel married Elizabeth Partridge on January 22, 1786. Two of her sisters also married clockmakers Aaron Willard Jr. and Elnathan Taber. Shortly after their marriage, it appears that Abel moved to Concord, NH, and formed a partnership with his brother sometime in 1786.
Abel and his wife lived in Concord for 67 years, having five sons and eight daughters. Soon after their marriage, Abel partnered with his brother Levi in a three-story dwelling house in the central part of the main village. Here they began what must have been a very productive business of making clocks. In 1793, Levi & Abel purchased a farm approximately three miles from their original home on the western side of Rattlesnake Hill, also called Granite Hill. In the early part of 1807, Abel bought out his brother's interests in the partnership. He continued making clocks in the same location downtown. (Levi lived on the farm.) The shop was destroyed by fire on November 25, 1817. Abel built the Phoenix Hotel on the same site. It opened for business on January 1, 1819. He prospered as an innkeeper until he retired in 1832 when his son Ephraim took over the business.
