Clocks

The technological breakthrough of a clock which could keep accurate time to within one second every month was an unheard-of feat in 1727.

Suspended in a bubble of Baccarat crystal and powered only by temperature change, this Atmos 561 mechanical clock will become the first of its model to be offered at auction in the UK when it goes on sale at Fellows of Birmingham on September 3.

Among the clocks sold in London this summer, there were some of the glitziest and most expensive timekeepers to go under the hammer in recent times, many of them made for the Chinese market.

After 12 years of trading together, London clock dealers Nigel Raffety and Howard Walwyn of Raffety & Walwyn Ltd have announced that they will be going their separate ways this month.

Bids in the region of £1000-1500 are expected at Plymouth Auction Rooms on May 9 for this Eureka four-glass electric clock.

THIS large, 18in (45cm) high, London-made brass lantern clock, c.1660, proved the highlight of the recent single-owner estate sale conducted by Durrants of Beccles.

The latest sale at Duke’s of Dorchester included this 16in (41cm) wide French chinoiserie ormolu and lacquered bronze mantel clock c.1750.

In clock collecting, the gold standard of original condition can be a difficult one to meet. Clocks almost always needing repairs or replacement parts to keep functioning day in, day out for centuries.

THIS Holtzapffel & Deyerlein ornamental turning lathe made in London c.1827 came up for sale at Skinner in Marlborough, Massachusetts in a Science, Technology and Clocks sale.

THE discovery of a new clock by a Golden Age maker is bound to generate excitement in horological circles, but the £600,000 plus premium paid at Bonhams last week for the ebony table clock pictured here illustrates just how much the rarest and freshest examples can command.

THE highlight of the two-day sale conducted by Rosebery's of West Norwood, London on March 15-16 was this unsigned lantern clock, left, consigned 'in the rough' by a private vendor.

THIS brass inlaid mahogany bracket clock with a white enamel dial signed Drury, Cheshunt, was one of a number of antiques stolen during a break-in at Antiques at the Corn Exchange, Tunbridge Wells.

THIS rare Charles II clock by John Knibb of Oxford, c.1685, was recently found by the vendor when sorting through effects inherited from a family member around 50 years ago.

The demand for golden age English clocks has been on something of a high for several years now and shows little sign of abating.

A THOMAS Tompion table clock was among the items stolen in a raid on a Cumbrian stately home on Saturday, September 19.

A NEW crop of fake carriage clocks, believed to be made in China, has appeared on eBay.

JOHAN Ten Hoeve, a professional development diploma student on West Dean College’s clocks programme in West Sussex, has made a replica of a Thomas Tompion clock for the Royal Observatory Greenwich.

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

Two fine early 19th century clocks were among more than 100 mostly antique items stolen in Kingston upon Thames on October 10.

This japanned lacquer case to this Georgian bracket clock was stolen from a restorer in Norfolk on October 15. The case, which had been restored, is slightly larger than is normal, accommodating a musical movement.