Perpetual Calendar Wall Timepiece, Gale's Patent

The twenty-six inch painted dial is signed Gale's Patent. An outer day of the month ring encloses subsidiary dials for time, day, moon phases and date. Calendar and four year dial indicate leap years. The movement is signed, E.N. Welch Forestville Ct U.S.A. The rosewood veneered case includes a wood bezel and the original gold and black label on the back. A wheel is driven from the hour wheel controlling the complicated calendar work below.

Daniel Jackson Gale (1830–1901) of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, patented his perpetual calendar in 1869. In 1870, he sold the rights to manufacture it to Welch, Spring & Co. These clocks were used in banks, offices, telegraph offices, universities and other businesses. A clock of this complexity was an important contribution to American horology and stands in contrast to other clocks of the era that were mass produced for quick profit.