£2,400.00
This 30-hour longcase movement by John Wakelin of Mayfield, dating to circa 1695, is a particularly good example of late 17th-century provincial clockmaking at a moment when English horology was rapidly refining both its technical and aesthetic standards with confidence and refinement. The wheelwork is cleanly laid out and well proportioned, suggesting a maker thoroughly at ease with his craft. The countwheel strike typical of the period would have provided straightforward and reliable timekeeping over its 30-hour duration, a format still common before the eight-day longcase became dominant in the early 18th century.
The dial is of particular merit. The centre is finely engraved with foliate ornament of a quality above what is often encountered on provincial examples, and the spandrels are crisply engraved and well balanced in composition. Such work implies either a highly accomplished local engraver or collaboration with a London supplier — a reminder that even rural makers were not isolated from wider stylistic currents. Most notable of all is the original forged and cut steel hand: generous in size, elegant, and beautifully finished. Survival of an untouched hand of this calibre is uncommon, and it contributes greatly to the integrity of the piece. Examples retaining such original detail are increasingly rare.
| Year | 1695 |
|---|
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We are one of the leading antique clock specialists in the country, with an international reputation for our restoration and conservation work on pre-pendulum antique lantern and chamber clocks from the early 17th century.
Thomas Quaife, Sussex
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