Catalogue - Antique Clocks and Barometers

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GULIELMUS CLEMENT LONDINI FECIT
fine William & Mary period eight-day longcase clock by this important
maker. The case is constructed primarily of oak and veneered with
walnut and panels of bird and floral marquetry against an ebony ground.
The cross-grain mouldings are in walnut. Standing on bun feet, the clock
retains its original base and there is a lenticle to the trunk door. The hood
with front opening door is flanked by ebonised barley twist columns and
there is a delicate walnut sound fret set below the cornice.
The 11 inch square brass dial is mounted with cherub and foliate spandrels,
silvered chapter ring and subsidiary seconds ring. The dial centre is
finely matted and has an aperture to view the day of the month. The dial
plate has delicate foliate engraving between the spandrels and is signed
at the bottom by the maker between VII and V. The blued steel hands
are finely pierced and faceted.
The exceptional high quality eight-day duration movement has six latched
pillars and a very unusual trip repeat work mechanism for repeating from
above or below. There is also evidence that the movement originally had
shutters to protect the movement from damp, dust or dirt. The hours are
sounded on a bell with rack and snail strike.
Date: circa 1695–1700
Height: 80 in (203 cm)
* Gulielmus (William) Clement is most probably the son of the William Clement
who made the famous King’s College, Cambridge turret clock in 1671 and who
claimed the invention of the anchor escapement. He was born circa 1643 and was
apprenticed to Thomas Chapman (the same master as his brother, Francis) in 1656–
1657. He was made a Free Brother in the Clockmakers’ Company in December 1677
as a “great clockmaker”. In 1678 he was made an Assistant within the Company
very prematurely “by unanimous consent and approbation and for good reasons
and especial esteem”. The question is: was the preferential treatment given to him
due to the fact he, William Junior, had just invented the anchor escapement? The
question is and will probably always remain unanswered. He became Master of
the Clockmakers’ Company in 1694 and is said to have died in 1709. This clock is of
very fine quality like all of his work and has a number of unusual and innovative
features, viz. the substantial trip repeat mechanism and the evidence for the fitting
of shutters to the movement when the clock was first made.
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