Longcase clock by Benjamin Gray, England, c.1750

Summary — Victoria and Albert Museum

Gray, of Pall Mall, was clock-maker to George II. Vulliamy emigrated from Switzerland and settled in London early in the 18th century, entering into partnership with Gray. He married Gray's daughter and carried on the business after his death. The family of Vulliamy held the office of clockmaker to the reigning sovereign until the death of Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy in 1854. The case has a plain pedimented hood and the door flanked by chamfered corners with columnar fluting. The brass dial has openwork vase designs in the spandrels. There is a standard clock of closely similar design at Windsor Castle.

Physical description — Victoria and Albert Museum

Case: Mahogany veneer on oak carcass. Interior of trunk employing glue block construction, exterior with chamfered, fluted and wooden strung corners to front. Rectangular trunk door with moulded border. Concave moulding below hood. Sliding hood with similar chamfering as trunk to front, pedimented top, square hinged door with moulded border and rectangular glazed side panels. Plain frieze. Rectangular base with moulded border on double plinth. Inside trunk top, the very insubstantial chops reinforced with additional wood pieces. Opposite these on outside of chops are short runners to locate hood. Cut outs for hinges on inside of trunk door are larger than existing hinges and unused holes are visible. Dial: Brass, 12 inches square. Centre matted. Three plain winding holes, below central, pinned to dial plate is a silvered brass oval plaque engraved Benj: Gray /Just: Vulliamy / London . Urn and two eagle spandrels each located by a single screw. Pinned to the dial plate is the silvered brass chapter ring with an engraved minute band, Arabic minute numerals at intervals of five and Roman hour numerals. Pinned to the dial plate below "XII" is the subsidiary seconds ring of silvered brass with engraved seconds band and Arabic seconds numerals at intervals of five; its diameter is such that lower portion is partially cut away to clear central hole for hands; the 30 is much reduced in size in comparison with the other seconds numerals. Four dial feet attached to movement front plate by pinning. Hands: Pierced steel hour and minute. Seconds hand absent. Movement: Brass and steel, weight driven, quarter chiming, hour striking of 8-day duration with recoil escapement, pendulum regulated. Four pillars, parallel in section with a concave portion at both ends, each riveted to the backplate, pinned to the front. Quarter chiming on eight bells, hour striking on a single bell, both controlled by racks and snails, end of hour rack bent through 90 degrees forming locking surface for gathering pallet. Brass train wheels with four semicircular crossings, cannon and minute wheels with three-spoked crossings, latter located on front plate by a cock. Wheels on going and striking trains significantly thinner than those of chiming train. Where visible, chiming and striking great wheels, and striking warning wheel with scribed lines; roots of some wheel teeth flanked by short marks. Generally, such markings not obvious on chiming wheelwork. Double profile wheel collets of differing shape on striking and chiming trains: striking with domed part against wheel, abutting a short cylindrical portion along arbor on all except warning; chiming with two cylindrical sections, the larger adjacent to the wheel, the smaller portion along arbor. Going train wheels riveted to pinion heads - no collets. Going and striking train pinion heads with detailed differences to those of chiming train. Steel recoil pallets having short vertical stalk to anchor span 9½ teeth of escape wheel; mounted on pallet arbor by brass collet. Steel crutch of oval section. Hammer stop screwed to the inside bacplate above hammer arbor. Chiming greatwheel click is of the type separate from its screw; going and striking clicks of one-piece variety with integral thread. Chiming hammers are discs. Substantial backcock occupies half width of backplate. Description and notes by Francis Brodie, c. 2008

Brief description — Victoria and Albert Museum

Longcase clock with triangular pediment, the case veneered with flame-figured mahogany on a carcase of oak, with simple mouldings; the dial of brass with a silvered chapter ring, engraved with the makers' names.