Clocks go back this weekend: time to bid

Here is a selection of specialist timepieces coming up for sale that tell us about the recent history of timekeeping and the companies that made the clocks.

Keeping everything on track

Stations, signal boxes and offices all depended on accurate timekeepers to ensure trains ran on time and just about every Victorian railway company commissioned clocks. 

The South Eastern & Chatham Railway was supplied with its drop dial wall clocks by Grimshaw Baxter & Elliott Ltd of London. This large example from c.1900 (the dial was repainted some time after the creation of British Rail in 1948) spent its railway working life on the platform at Maidstone West station.

At GW Railwayana in Evesham on November 12-13, the opening bid on this clock is set at £1200.

It is a regulator – meaning it was more accurate than most clocks of the period, its large brass movement featuring sophistications such as a mechanism known as ‘Harrison's maintaining power’ which ensured a clock would keep accurate time without stopping during winding.

At GW Railwayana in Evesham on November 12-13, the opening bid is set at £1200.

More sophistication, less winding

The story of the longcase clock, also known as the grandfather clock after the popular Victorian song, is told through a succession of technological breakthroughs designed to make the clocks more accurate, more elaborate in their function or easier to maintain.

Often it is these technical sophistications, many of them pioneered, improved or perfected by the great names in British clockmaking, which interest serious collectors as much as the splendour of the case.

This George II clock in a handsome walnut case has a long duration movement. Unlike 30-hour clocks or eight-day clocks it requires winding only once a month.

This longcase clock is estimated at £5000-£8000 at Woolley & Wallis

The dial has subsidiaries for recording the date and the seconds and a signature panel reading Claude Viet London. He was a Huguenot maker originally from Orléans who moved to London, joining the Watchmaker's Company in 1698.

The clock, which dates to about 1725, has a guide of £5000-8000 when Woolley & Wallis sells the contents of Upper Slaughter Manor, the collection of Micheál and Elizabeth Feller, in Salisbury on November 9-10.

Powered by temperature changes

Jaeger‑LeCoultre created the first Atmos in 1928 – an ingenious clock powered by temperature change. Within a sealed capsule, a mixture of gases expand and contract with each rise and fall causing the mechanism to wind naturally, without any human intervention.

The classic ‘skeleton’ design that allows the observer to see the complexity of its machinery from all angles has remained its signature.

This Jaeger‑LeCoultre Atmos clock from c.1960-70 has a guide of £150-300 at Potteries Auctions in Stoke-on-Trent on November 11-13.

This clock is powered by changes in temperature.

A bold statement

From the Georgian table clock to the Victorian carriage clock, many classic clock designs have been reproduced time and again.

This mantel clock of impressive proportions at 80cm high comes in a Louis XV style rococo case although was probably made in the latter years of the 19^th century. Housed in a kingwood and foliate gilt metal mounted case, it certainly makes a statement at 80cm high.

The estimate is £800-1200 at W&H Peacock in Bedford on November 5.

This large French mantel clock will provide a centrepiece to any room it is in.

Small but perfectly formed

As the perennial late 19th century retirement gift, French gilt brass carriage clocks survive in some number. Most standard examples represent great value for money. This one, with a guide of £80-120 at Halls of Shrewsbury on November 3, is a little better than most.

A miniature standing just 8cm high, it also has an alarm, leather carry case and key. Bid for this French miniature carriage clock now.

This miniature clock is just 8cm high.

The French Foundryman

Late 19th century French ‘industrial’ clocks with automatons come in a remarkable number of forms which celebrated the creative possibilities offered by new technology. This 17in (42cm) example, made by André Romain Guilmet, Paris c.1890, is known as The Foundryman and features a pumping steam hammer and a figure flattening a steel rod.

The clock strikes every half an hour and is stamped with an inscription suggesting its manufacturer was a gold medal winner at the Paris international exhibition.

Raised on a lacquered base and under a glass dome, this automaton clock is expected to bring £5000-7000 at McTear’s in Glasgow on November 4.

This French automaton clock comes from the late 19th century.

Time to browse and bid

There are many more clocks coming up at auction in the next few days and weeks ahead so you are sure to find the one that's right for you.

You can view them on our special clocks page where you can search by brand or type or value.

And if you also want to consider getting a wonderful wristwatch we have compiled a selection of watches coming up for sale in November.