A tavern clock, also known as an Act of Parliament clock, is a weight-driven wall clock with a large wooden, painted or lacquered dial. Commonly installed in taverns and coaching inns, they provided travellers with the correct time.^[1]

Such clocks had been in existence since the 1720s, but following the introduction of a deeply unpopular tax on clocks and watchesAct of the Parliament of Great Britain imposing a tax on the ownership of clocks and watches. introduced by William Pitt the Younger in 1797, the clocks were erroneously said to have been developed in response to the tax, hence the name “Act of Parliament clock”.^[1] The earliest known use of the term dates from 1899.^[2]