Holmes, London

Fine George III table clock. Circa 1800

Case

Elegant proportioned ebonised break arch case now a mellow chocolate brown colour with raised pad top surmounted by a brass flamed carrying handle. The front door with brass moulding and break arch brass fish scale fret side apertures, standing on brass bracket feet.

Dial

7 inch one piece silvered break arch dial with strike - silent dial to the arch and calendar aperture above VI. The centre of the dial signed Holmes, London. Fine blued steel hands

Movement

The substantial movement with thick plates and five large baluster pillars. Half dead beat escapement with original steel stirrup rod pendulum having a heavy brass faced bob and calibrated rating nut is suspended from the large double roller backcock. The plain backplate is signed Holmes London with pendulum holdfast above. Striking the hours on a bell.

Height. 15 1/2 inches (38 cm)

John Holmes (1727-1797), was apprenticed to Henry Hindley of York in 1743. At the end of his apprenticeship, around 1750, he moved to London and lodged in Holborn with his second cousin, John Smeaton, the instrument maker, horologist and civil engineer responsible for Eddystone lighthouse. In 1760 Holmes moved with his young family to new premises in The Strand, just east of Somerset House, where he was to remain for the rest of his life. A fine and innovative maker, he was particularly well connected in the horological world in London during the second half of the 18th century. He maintained his close association with John Smeaton and corresponded with Cambridge astronomer and mathematician Rev William Ludlam. After his death in 1797 the business was continued by his wife and two of his sons until it finally closed in 1816.