LIBRARY CLOCK Arnold, 84 Strand London No. 504 Circa 1820-1830 England

M&R12

LIBRARY CLOCK
Signed: Arnold, 84 Strand London No. 504
Circa 1820-1830
England

Movement
This library clock has a spring-driven brass movement between plates with a going train only. This going train consists of a spring barrel with chain fusee, Harrison’s maintaining power, three wheels and an English lever escapement on a platform with hairspring balance and regulation. The regulation is accessible through the back door, the direction of which is facilitated by the indications slow/fast. The maker has signed and numbered the movement on the back plate Arnold London No. 504.

Dial
The elegant white enamel dial has a Roman chapter ring with five-minute and minute divisions. The maker has signed and numbered the dial above the middle in gracious letters: Arnold, 84 Strand London, 504. Above the VI is the grommeted winding hole. The time is indicated by a fine pair of fleur-de-lis hands.

Case
The rosewood case has facetted glass on all sides so that the movement is almost entirely visible. It is surmounted by an elegant carrying handle, has mouldings at the top and bottom and rests on four flat brass bun feet.

Duration 1 week

Height 27 cm, including the carrying handle
Width 16 cm.
Depth 13.5 cm.

*Price € 22500

Literature:

Brian Loomes, Watchmakers and Clockmakers of the World, London, 2006, p. 22.
Vaudrey Mercer, John Arnold & Son, pp. 1, 22, 23, 248 and 249.
Tony Mercer, Chronometer Makers of the World, pp. 98 and 99.

The maker
John Roger Arnold was born in 1769. He was apprenticed to his father on June 2, 1783. The name of the company then became Arnold & Son. The premises were on Bank Street in Cornhill, London. In 1796 Arnold became a member of the Clockmakers’ Company and he became master clockmaker in 1816. His father and he worked together until his father’s death in 1799. Arnold had his workshop in London (84 Strand). When he died in 1843, the company was taken over by Charles Frodsham. His adopted son Charles Hill Willson, who was given the surname Arnold too, also became a passionate clockmaker.