Footnotes

• Literature: G White, 'English Lantern Clocks, Woodbridge, 1989, plates 152 and 153.
  
  Peter Closon is an important figure in the story of the first clocks made in London under the auspices of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers. He subscribed £5 to their incorporation in 1630, served as an Assistant to David Bouquet and was also a Warden. He later worked through the Civil War and was one of the few 'First Period' makers to come out of the war with a strong trade. Some of this success is down to his work shop practices - he evidently cast his own brass and must have supplied other makers, with both parts and complete clocks - some of his wheels or bell straps are cast with his own PC initials and examples of his clocks are known with hidden signatures set below the alarm dial. Furthermore, his designs were - for want of a better word - fashionable and the details of his dials, finials, hands, hammer stops and even strike work show an innovative and flexible approach to the growing clock market.
  
  He took many apprentices including John Wise in July 1638, Nicolas Tomlins the following year, Robert Crosby, Hugh Cooper, Richard Ames, William Speakman, William Fenkman, Philip Buckner and Humphrey Clark. He is last recorded in 1660.

Category: Clocks and Watches / Clocks