Of pins and needles

Your Local Horologist knows that not every part of this profession... 

er... endeavor... 

um... dalliance...

hobby?...

hmm... 

Fools errand!

Ahem...

It's not all thrills and chills.

But it was last week.

I received a call from Adam (name changed) who has a grandfather clock that needed "some TLC." Adam was referred from friend Rick.

No further information on the clock. Was it a "modern" Ridgeway or perhaps a 100 year old German variety or something else? 

Adam lives just 10 mins away. This curious cat headed over 2 days later.

Adam was warm and directly walked us over to a clearly very old tall case clock.

(YLH wishes he'd gotten a shot of the full clock standing against the wall. Alas.)

"It's old. Been in the family well over 100 years. It's an heirloom. I'll pass it down to my kids."

It was a handsome clock.

The case was well over seven feet tall, quite old and overall, while a bit worn, in good shape. 

What caught this clock lover's eye was its dial. It was all brass which almost certainly placed the clock as 18th or late 17th century. 

By the 19th century painted dials were de rigueur.

YLH commented about this. Adam said "Yes we have the history of the clock and our family's ownership somewhere here. It goes back to the 1700's I believe."

Nice.

These brass dial clocks are handsome and YLH enjoyed working on a particularly fine 18th century example, as extensively documented here.

Unprompted Adam then reported the primary concern as the minute hand was "wobbling" and, demonstrating such, he wiggled the hand back and forth. 

Oh, yes, that hand was very loose indeed. Definitely something amiss.

Before digging in further this clock doc asked Adam a few questions about the clock's history. 

Does it run, keep time, etc. 

It does.

When was it last serviced and what did they do?

Just last fall up in San Juan "Capistrano" (hmm... Bautista maybe? There's a clock shop there) and just a cleaning.

When did you notice this loose hand?

A few weeks ago.

OK. Let's take a look.

Your clock detective saw it almost immediately. The taper pin that holds the hands to the dial was missing.  They don't usually just fall out.

This one did.

Looking around Hawkeye Horologist found the pin on the floor just inches from the foot of the case and less than a foot from a nearby parked Roomba.

It was a replacement pin (no big deal, pins are replaced all the time) but it was long and very thinly tapered.

YLH got out his flat pliers and reinserted the pin, curling the end so that it could not fall out on its own.

It fit snugly and now so did that minute hand.

Adam was thrilled.

He then showed YLH another issue: The clocks weights were scraping the latch of the door.

Turns out Adam had the case tilted away from the wall using a wine bottle cork as a shim. We redid the shim to about half the width with a proper wood shim. Problem solved. 

And we did a power test and a beat check. All good.

We decided to take off the hood to see some of the innards on this bad boy.

This is a pretty typical style known as the English Bell Strike. Strikes on a bell (vs. a gong or rods). Very common design on older tall case clocks. Emulated all over the world. 

There's a nice overview of a guy servicing a 19th century Scottish example here. Note that it has a painted dial and not brass. 

And here is the same guy asking the folks on the NAWCC board to help him solve several issues he ran up against as he worked on it. Gotta love the NAWCC.

A couple summers ago this clock hunter himself picked up a 19th century English variation. Still haven't worked on it yet but it looks great in the dining room.

A few more discussion points, some Q&A and things wrapped up well inside of an hour. Adam was very pleased.

So... 

What's so special about this clock other than it's old!?

Well when examining this clock YLH saw the name of the maker at the base of the dial. A very common design element in 18th century clocks.

Especially early ones.

Here's the clock with the hood off, dial in full view.

And a close up of the maker's name.

William Claggett of Newport. Rhode Island that is.

On site, in Adam's house, this reader of so many things horological had a whisper in his head... 

Claggett. That name...

Hmm...

Well happy customer bidden farewell YLH returned home and curiosity bated, sat down at the computer and in about 20 seconds...

Oh hell no!

William Claggett!

Of Newport, Rhode Island! 

William Claggett was born in England or perhaps Wales in 1696 and emigrated to the colonies sometime before 1714 because in that year he got married. 

Who was the officiant? Cotton Mather!

He advertised his clock shop in 1715.

William Claggett was one of the earliest clockmakers in America. He died in 1749.

He was quite the Renaissance man known for his endeavors as "an organ builder, engraver, compass maker, printer, lecturer, author, notary public, founder of a fire company, and experimenter in the new field of electricity."

And to that last bit... he is thought to be the guy who introduced the science of electricity to Ben Franklin!

Oh and Claggett's clocks are rare.

Here we will turn to the Delaney brothers, Sean and John, very well known clock dealers who YLH has enjoyed on the Antiques Roadshow many times.

Quoting the Delaney's... "very few examples are known."

And some of those that are known...

Well there's one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Do look at this one that was recently for sale from Bonhams. The clock looks almost exactly like Adam's. The case is virtually the same (albeit Adam's is a bit more worse for wear).

There is a photo on Bonham's site of the dial.

from Bonhams

That dial is identical in design and, in YLH's opinion, in worse condition than Adam's!

Oh and that clock was listed for $15,000 - $25,000 at auction.

Here's one at Christie's that was estimated at $30,000 - $50,000.

It went for $60,000.

Gulp.

Delaney's has a nice write up on Claggett that includes a few examples they have sold here.

So yes, Adam's clock is very likely close to 300 years old and now ranks as the oldest clock YLH has ever worked on.

Does Adam know just how rare his clock is?

Hope I see him and it again.