TABLE CLOCK William Poulton Watchmaker to the King of Spain London Ca. 1750 England
M&R15a
TABLE CLOCK
Signed: William Poulton Watchmaker to the King of Spain London
Circa 1750
England
Movement
The eight-day spring-driven triple fusee movement has a going train with verge escapement, a rack quarter-striking train on a small bell as well as a rack hour-striking train on a larger bell. The clock sounds grande sonnerie, i.e. on all quarters the quarters are struck, followed by the hour. To produce this small clock, the maker positioned the striking train fusees facing the great wheels to the front to save space. The last hour and quarter can be repeated at will by pulling a cord on the side of the clock (trip repeat). The maker has signed the profusely engraved backplate William Poulton Watchmaker to the King of Spain LONDON.
Dial
The shouldered brass dial has a silvered chapter ring with black Roman hour, Arabic five-minutes and minute divisions in a ring. The time is indicated by two pierced blued-steel hands. Above the XII is a date aperture surmounted the signature of the maker William Poulton Watchmaker to the King of Spain London. The chapter ring is surrounded by solid silver rococo spandrels. In addition, there are two subsidiary silvered rings in the shaped top, the right one for rise-and-fall regulation, the opposite for switching off the striking mechanism (strike/silent).
Case
This small and extremely attractive English clock has an ebonised fruitwood veneered oak case. The inverted bell top case is glazed on all sides so that the movement is almost entirely visible. The case is surmounted by a brass handle and rests on shaped brass feet.
Duration: 1 week
Height: 34 cm (with handle up 38 cm).
Width: 20 cm.
Depth: 13 cm.
Literature
B. Loomes, Watchmakers and Clockmakers of the World, London, 2006, p. 625
The maker
William Poulton was a highly important clockmaker. Active as a clock and watchmaker around the middle of the eighteenth century. Obviously, he had Spanish royalty as his client, but otherwise not a lot is known about this maker, which is remarkable given he quality of this clock. Several clocks by his hand are known.
