Longcase clock by Thomas Stones, England, c.1700

Summary — Victoria and Albert Museum

Thomas Stones was apprenticed to John Westoby in 1684. He was a member of the Clockmakers’ Company from 1692 to 1735, becoming Master in 1730. He worked in Lothbury. The marquetry on the case combines floral and bird decoration. Interestingly, and somewhat impractically, the lenticle for observing the pendulum is glazed with a mirror. There are also rectangular mirrors decorating the sides of the case. The brass and steel weight driven two train movement has hour striking on a single bell controlled by an inside countwheel

Physical description — Victoria and Albert Museum

Dial: Twelve inch square. Brass dial plate with ringed winding holes and seconds aperture, matted centre with curly engraving around square calendar aperture behind which is a silvered calendar ring. Twin cherubs with crown spandrels are screwed to corners of dial plate, silvered chapter ring and subsidiary seconds ring pinned at back of dial plate. Minute divisions set in from edge of chapter ring by a plain scale having Arabic five minute numbers and half quarter marks similar to Maltese crosses. Roman hour numerals. Arrow heads with semi-circles quarter hour division marks. Signed between VII and V on chapter ring Thõ Stones London. Seconds ring with broad Arabic five seconds numerals occupies a considerable part of the upper dial space between inside of the chapter ring and top of hour hand. Dial attached to front plate by four dial feet pinned to movement. Hands: Steel hands with very little carving to surfaces, the seconds hand with a tail. Movement: 8 day, brass and steel, weight driven, two train movement. Hour striking on bell controlled by inside countwheel. Going train with recoil anchor escapement embracing 6½ teeth. Five pillar movement, each pillar having fins and a semi-circular knop. Pillars riveted to the backplate, four pinned to front plate, bottom central fifth secured by a substantial latch. Lay out scribe lines present on outside of front plate. Proportions of movement plates give a less tall appearance than other studied in this project. Striking pin wheel collet semi-circular in profile. Short pinion head. Remaining wheel collets of two section profile, arbors tending to a parallel profile with longer pinion heads. Where visible without dismantling, scribe lines present on striking gear wheels and Going great wheel. Fly is rectangular. Mounted on pallet arbor with double profiled collet, are broad-armed pallets. Plugs of brass evident around the pallet arbor pivot hole in front plate. Hour wheel bridge of lenticular shape coming to a point at each foot. Dial: The twelve inch dial in combination with the broadening out of the minute scale and the extent to which the seconds ring occupies the dial centre are all pointers to an early 18th century date. The type of spandrel used appears to have come into general use about 1700, whilst the elaborate engraving around the calendar aperture developed a few years earlier. Hands: Less carving and bevelling of the surfaces suggesting an early 18th century date. The seconds hand would seem to be later owing to the presence of a tail. Movement : Having the striking controlled by an inside countwheel was the next stage of development after external countwheel control but was largely superseded by rack striking in London clocks by the first quarter of the 18th century. Other components which show turn of the century (17th to 18th) style include the semi-circular collet mounting the pin wheel, the profile of its arbor, the short pinion head and the scribe lines on wheel faces. Deviations from such styles in the form of, for example double profiled collets, parallel arbors and longer pinion heads are indicative of later, 19th or 20th century alterations. It would appear that most of the Going train wheelwork and striking train arbors higher up in the movement are replacements. Other modifications include the fly, where the original may have had more rounded vanes with an end mounted friction spring, and the pallets which may once have had slender arms with a deep drop to the pads. Alterations in the geometry of the escapement would also account for the work evident by the pallet arbor pivot hole in the front plate. The laying out scribe lines on the front plate are indicative of a handmade movement and may be seen occasionally on quite late clocks, usually provincial one-offs. The pillars are characteristic of the period, but having only one latched at the front when the remaining four are pinned is unusual. Whilst the shape of the latch is typical, its size is somewhat large. Finally the reduction in the proportions of height to width of the movement plates in later work is likely linked to the combination of larger dials and broader chapter rings. Description and notes by Francis Brodie, c. 2008

Brief description — Victoria and Albert Museum

EIGHT DAY LONG CASE CLOCK Marquetry of walnut and other woods Inscribed Thomas Stones, London, around 1700