An English bracket clock in the gothic taste

This impressive clock sold by John Bennett of 65 Cheapside London has a triple chain driven fusee movement striking the quarters on a graduated nest of eight bells and the hours on a coiled steel gong.

The finely carved solid golden oak case boasts a number of features including quadruple cluster column supports to either side of the front door, crocketed pediment and pierced oak side frets. The door with detailed foliate carving opens to reveal a silvered arch top roman dial with engraved decoration which is both signed and has two further subsidiary dials for strike/silent and time regulation. Overall a beautiful gothic revival bracket clock displaying Victorian craftsmanship at its best.

Sir John Bennett (15 October 1814 - 3 July 1897) FRAS was an eminent clockmaker and watchmaker. He was the eldest son of John Bennett, a watchmaker in Greenwich, South-east London and described by one biographer as a "flamboyant personality who seems to have aroused in his contemporaries varying degrees of ridicule, hostility, and admiration"

Bennett is recorded as working at 65 Cheapside in London from 1847 until his retirement from business in 1889. He took every opportunity to promote his watchmaking business and went into advertising in a big way; the façade of the Cheapside shop promoted him as "watch maker to the Queen" and "clock maker to the Royal Observatory". He also followed a career in politics, was

a Sheriff of London and Middlesex in 1871 and a Lord Lieutenant of the City of London, and knighted as part of the celebrations for the recovery of the Prince of Wales from typhoid in the same year. Bennett died on 3rd July 1897 at the age of 82. He was described in an obituary as "a man of strong

character, very eccentric, and one of the most familiar figures in London".

All are clocks are offered with a twelve-month guarantee.

Viewings arranged by appointment.