James Stratton
Director
Lot 73
A good late 17th century ebony veneered quarter repeating table clock Charles Gretton, Fleet Street, London
2 December 2025, 14:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£4,000 - £6,000
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Lewis Walduck
Cataloguer
A good late 17th century ebony veneered quarter repeating table clock
Charles Gretton, Fleet Street, London
The shallow caddy top with floral bud handle set on pommels and a moulded cap, to an overhanging moulded cornice, the front door with (later) escutcheon and pierced sound fret backed in red silk, the sides with glazed rectangular observation windows, the rear door with moulded edge and centred glass panel, all raised on a moulded base.
The 6.25inch square brass dial with winged cherub head spandrels and silvered Roman and Arabic chapter ring, the half hours marked by fleur-de-lys, with heavy dotted inner quarter-hour track, the matted centre with chamfered date aperture above VI, the flanking winding squares with decorated ends, together with finely finished blued steel hands. The twin fusee movement with five knopped pillars, knife-edge verge escapement with short bob pendulum set behind a shaped and engraved apron, striking the hours and repeating the quarters on two bells via a repeat cord to the right hand side, the finely engraved backplate with a single line border framing a symmetrical pattern of pairs of flowers within scrolls, to the left sits an engraved arc showing 2-0 to denote strike or not strike, with blued steel arrow-headed selection lever, signed within a central foliate cartouche Charles Gretton in Fleete Streete (sic). Ticking and striking and sold together with a case key.
34cms (13.5ins) high.
The shallow caddy top with floral bud handle set on pommels and a moulded cap, to an overhanging moulded cornice, the front door with (later) escutcheon and pierced sound fret backed in red silk, the sides with glazed rectangular observation windows, the rear door with moulded edge and centred glass panel, all raised on a moulded base.
The 6.25inch square brass dial with winged cherub head spandrels and silvered Roman and Arabic chapter ring, the half hours marked by fleur-de-lys, with heavy dotted inner quarter-hour track, the matted centre with chamfered date aperture above VI, the flanking winding squares with decorated ends, together with finely finished blued steel hands. The twin fusee movement with five knopped pillars, knife-edge verge escapement with short bob pendulum set behind a shaped and engraved apron, striking the hours and repeating the quarters on two bells via a repeat cord to the right hand side, the finely engraved backplate with a single line border framing a symmetrical pattern of pairs of flowers within scrolls, to the left sits an engraved arc showing 2-0 to denote strike or not strike, with blued steel arrow-headed selection lever, signed within a central foliate cartouche Charles Gretton in Fleete Streete (sic). Ticking and striking and sold together with a case key.
34cms (13.5ins) high.
Footnotes
Literature:
Radage devotes four pages to this clock in 'Charles Gretton – Clock & Watchmaking through the Golden Age', pp306–309. Another Gretton clock with similar backplate engraving can be found illustrated on page 312.
This clock bears striking similarities to the following lot by Jacob Hassenius and serves as yet another reminder of the collaborative nature of the horological world through the Golden Age and beyond.