Clock

Positive news from Dreweatts' clocks sale at Donnington Priory, Newbury on February 10 which posted a 92 per cent selling rate.

When first unveiled at the International Exhibition in London in 1862 (and subsequently shipped to Paris in 1867 and Vienna in 1873), the St James’s Clock, as it became known, was heralded as the second largest clock in the world after E.J. Dent’s Big Ben.

A substantial reward is being offered for the return of a George III ormolu and white marble table clock by Matthew Boulton stolen from Knightsbridge dealership Hotspur on the afternoon of Wednesday, August 22.

Four antique clocks and two barometers were stolen in a raid on Chislehurst Antiques in Kent in late December.

“In 20 years I have never seen anything quite like it,” says auctioneer Richard Bromell of Sherborne’s Charterhouse. “It has a central dial for Greenwich which is surrounded by 11 smaller dials telling the time in the various countries. Having originally been presented to a Victorian relative [of the vendors] who built railways for a living, he would have been able to keep track of time with all his business interests.”

ANOTHER of the top-priced clocks to feature at Christie’s King Street (19.5/12% buyer's premium) on July 2 was this Regency rolling ball skeleton timepiece pictured right, made in Edinburgh by Robert Bryson after the model by Sir William Congreve, the inventor of the rolling ball clock.

Samuel Watson (1649-1710) is not perhaps as well-known as his contemporaries East, Knibb, Graham or Tompion but he is one of the blue chip names of late 17th century London clockmaking – good enough to enjoy the patronage of both Charles II and Sir Isaac Newton.

MIDDLESEX organiser Carl Barnes has found much favour over the years with his specialist clock fairs, so he was dismayed recently when fire destroyed the National Motorcycle Museum, long the venue for his Midland Clock & Watch Fair.

£16,500 clock adds to the maker’s – and seller’s reputation: THE Dent family of clockmakers have achieved lasting fame as the builders of the clock mechanism for St Stephen’s Tower – known to tourists worldwide as Big Ben. But it was not just on the grand scale that they excelled.

TIME waits for no man, the saying goes, and clients of Abraham-Louis Bréguet were certainly reminded of this fact when paying their monthly instalments to the Swiss-born watchmaker for Souscription pocket watches like this example right which featured at Woolley & Wallis’s sale on January 29.

There were two horological offerings last month at Christie’s South Kensington (17.5/10% buyer’s premium). The auctioneers kicked off on October 3 with a mid-range clocks and barometer selection then followed it up on the 10th with a grander offering styled as Important Watches.

THE trade’s fears that the events of September 11 would usher in the long expected recession with a collapse in international bidding were allayed here in Herefordshire at Brightwells on 12-13 September.

FEW clocks can claim to be as rare as this example, pictured right, which is being offered for sale at Sworders of Stansted Mountfitchet in Essex on October 23. The rarity is based in part on the maker’s misfortune.

Sotheby’s 236-lot Clocks, Watches and Barometers sale was the largest of the three held on September 20. Timed to capitalise on the recent opening of the Olympia saleroom, it brought £417,645 and was 73 per cent taken up by lot. This small olivewood marquetry longcase clock, c.1680, 7ft 6in (2.15m), by Joseph Knibb, stole the limelight.

THE first UK clocks and watches sale after the summer lull presented a good opportunity to examine the health of a market which is notoriously prone to ups and downs. From results at Gardiner Houlgate, Bath, it would seem that the trade in gentleman’s pocket watches remains buoyant, while ladies’ wristwatches are still hard to shift.

UK: The trade are being warned to be on their guard following the theft of a Louis XV rococo clock worth in the region of £10,000 from Mayfair dealers Howard Antiques. At approximately 4pm on Tuesday, August 21, a man aged between 40 and 45 and of Eurasian appearance entered the Davies Street shop.

UK: A HAMMER total of £94,350 from the 91 pieces to get away among the 109 offerings was an excellent start to the month when the Chester rooms could offer some real quality on a day dedicated to clocks and barometers.

Devon auctioneers’ Rendells mammoth 2000-lot sale saw keen interest and strong prices for a selection of horological pieces.

UK: SOTHEBY'S Barometers and Clocks sale at Billingshurst on February 1 was one of the few areas where Joe Marshall’s treasures did not make a showing but expert-in-charge Jonathan Hills happily remarked on the current strength of the market across the board for horology.