page_title: Grandfather clock
section_title: Naming
hierarchical_section_title: Grandfather clock / Naming
caption_attribution_description: English: Longcase clock circa 1730 by Timothy Mason of Gainsborough
context_page_description: A grandfather clock is a tall, freestanding, weight-driven pendulum clock with the pendulum held inside the tower or waist of the case. Clocks of this style are commonly 1.8–2.4 metres tall. The case often features elaborately carved ornamentation on the hood, which surrounds and frames the dial, or clock face. The English clockmaker William Clement is credited with the development of this form in 1670. Until the early 20th century, pendulum clocks were the world's most accurate timekeeping technology, and longcase clocks, due to their superior accuracy, served as time standards for households and businesses. Today they are kept mainly for their decorative and antique value, having been widely replaced by both analog and digital timekeeping.
context_section_description: The Oxford English Dictionary states that the popular 1876 song My Grandfather's Clock is responsible for the common name "grandfather clock" being applied to the longcase clock.
  The song was composed by an American songwriter by the name of Henry Clay Work who discovered a long grandfather clock in The George Hotel in Piercebridge, in County Durham in England. When he asked about the clock, he was informed that it had two owners. After the first owner died the clock became inaccurate and when the second owner died, the clock stopped working altogether. The story inspired Henry to create the song.
  Grandfather clocks are of a certain height. There are also "grandmother" and "granddaughter" clocks, which are slightly shorter in height.
caption: Longcase clock circa 1730 by Timothy Mason (clockmaker) of Gainsborough, Lincolnshire.
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