Single Fusee Carriage Timepiece By Thomas Cole and James Cole, Retailed By Hunt

An English gilt brass chronometer carriage timepiece with original travelling case, key and bill of sale. The grained gilt tapering case has a folding handle with bevelled glass panel to the top, bevelled glass panels to the sides and a solid rear plate with hand setting function and start/stop lever, signed Thomas Mercer and numbered 1184, dating from 1974 The silvered dial signed Thomas Mercer, with Roman numerals, subsidiary seconds dial and a state of wind indicator. Blued steel hands. The substantial eight day chain fusee movement with maintaining power, Earnshaw type detent escapement with a free-sprung palladium helical balance spring and heavy bimetallic balance. The original black leather tooled travelling case with lift out front cover is lined in blue velvet and the original safety winding key is stored in the top. Thomas Mercer was founded in 1858, and became one of the greatest chronometer makers of the 19th and 20th centuries. Ernest Shakleton used a Mercer chronometer on the 1914 Imperial Trans-Antartic Expedition, after the Endurance became trapped and destroyed in the pack ice, he heroically journeyed in a whaleboat, the James Caird, to South Georgia to get help for his stranded compatriots. He navigated with a Thomas Mercer chronometer...

This giant single fusee dial clock would have been made for a public space like a railway station. Made By Swinden and Sons of Birmingham, it has a su...

A Fine English Tripod Table Regulator Clock by Thomas Cole, With Integral Thermometer and Barometer, Retailed by Hunt & Roskell, London Signed to the dial for the retailer ‘Hunt & Roskell, London.’ No. 1318 /38 The circular six-inch silvered dial with cast bezel, signed ‘Hunt & Roskell, London’, above Roman chapters and blued steel spade hands, set with a large subsidiary seconds dial below XII, the centre finely engraved with scrolling strapwork decoration. The steel winding square protruding through an engraved and shaped plate immediately below 6 o'clock with handset achieved by adjustment to the rear. The movement with tapered plates joined by cylindrical screwed pillars, a two-part backplate, a going barrel, and deadbeat escapement. The pendulum suspended from the apex of the tripod from a G-bracket, with plumb line above, fine regulation achieved by a sliding cylindrical weight on the rod, terminating in a heavy silvered spherical bob secured via Cole's pendulum-locking system. The case formed of three cylindrical rods set on a gilt and stepped circular base engraved with scrolling foliage, the recessed centre with a semi-circular glazed barometer with silvered register scale, blued steel hand and manually adjustable gilt recording hand. The tilted thermometer within an engraved and gilded surround. Below the tip of the pendulum is a beat scale resting on a bimetallic bar providing thermal compensation, the base resting on three adjustable gilt-metal levelling nuts. Retaining its original glass dome and brass winding key. England, Circa 1855. This fine and rare timepiece by Thomas Cole is a masterpiece of design. Described by Hawkins in 'Thomas Cole & Victorian Clockmaking' as “the first English table regulator for a gentleman’s library table,” Cole’s strut clock underwent over eight iterations before achieving a design that combined precision with extraordinary elegance. The use of a tripod to determine the optimal pendulum suspension point is just one of several ingenious mechanisms Cole employed. Three adjustable nuts serving as feet allow for effective levelling of the clock, while a plumb line and bob ensure precise vertical alignment. Relocating the winding square directly beneath the dial eliminates the risk of scratching the surface or damaging the hands, while the inclusion of a thermometer, angled at 45 degrees, effectively conceals the beat scale and pendulum locking mechanism. Ingeniously designed, the locking mechanism positioned just below the pendulum’s tip includes a beat scale resting on a brass bar that can be raised to secure the pendulum in place. This mechanism also provides thermal compensation through a bi-metallic strip, which automatically raises or lowers the bob in response to temperature fluctuations. Both inventive and aesthetically striking, this rare clock exemplifies the highly ornamental Victorian timepieces...

George III Bell Top Bracket Clock Fine flame mahogany case with ormolu mounts and ormolu caryatids standing on bracket feet. Silvered dial with subsidiary dial for strike/silent,...