James Stratton
Director
Lot 92TP
An early 18th century walnut veneered longcase clock of one month duration Joseph Windmills, London
2 December 2025, 14:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£5,000 - £8,000
Ask about this lot
Lewis Walduck
Cataloguer
An early 18th century walnut veneered longcase clock of one month duration
Joseph Windmills, London
The moulded top with pierced sound fret backed in old silk on turned pillars with gilt capitals, with concave throat moulding and a D-moulded, quarter-veneered long trunk door, set on a crossbanded base and double plinth. The 12-inch square brass dial with cast and gilt spandrels, a silvered chapter ring engraved with Roman numerals and Arabic five-minute markers, enclosing a finely matted centre with subsidiary seconds dial and date aperture, blued steel hands, and signed at the six o'clock position Windmills, London. The month-going movement with five knopped pillars, anchor escapement, and outside countwheel striking the hours on a bell mounted above. Currently ticking and striking, and sold together with a pair of brass-clad weights and a brass-clad pendulum (suspension broken). 2.21m (7.25ft) high.
The moulded top with pierced sound fret backed in old silk on turned pillars with gilt capitals, with concave throat moulding and a D-moulded, quarter-veneered long trunk door, set on a crossbanded base and double plinth. The 12-inch square brass dial with cast and gilt spandrels, a silvered chapter ring engraved with Roman numerals and Arabic five-minute markers, enclosing a finely matted centre with subsidiary seconds dial and date aperture, blued steel hands, and signed at the six o'clock position Windmills, London. The month-going movement with five knopped pillars, anchor escapement, and outside countwheel striking the hours on a bell mounted above. Currently ticking and striking, and sold together with a pair of brass-clad weights and a brass-clad pendulum (suspension broken). 2.21m (7.25ft) high.
Footnotes
Joseph Windmills remains one of the most highly regarded clock and
watchmakers of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. According
to Brian Loomes, he was made Free of the Clockmakers' Company
in 1671 and trained numerous apprentices, including his son
Thomas, between 1686 and 1695. He was appointed Assistant
in 1691, rose to Warden in 1699, and served as Master in 1702,
remaining active within the Company until at least 1720. In 1710, he
succeeded Thomas Tompion in maintaining the clocks at the Tower
of London. A comprehensive study of his life and work is found in J.
A. Neale, "Joseph and Thomas Windmills, Clock and Watch Makers
1671–1737", The Antiquarian Horological Society, 1999.