Carlton Clocks

Description

An interesting Night Watchman’s clock made by Sims, Watford, dated c.1880.

The night watchman would have depressed the lever on the top of the clock to show that he had visited a location. This in turn depresses a pin on the outer chapter of the dial, readable over the next 12-hour period through the gap surrounding the dial. Multiple pins may be depressed, one each time he visits. With the initial design of these clocks, a canny watchman would leave the lever depressed, thus stopping the clock as it caught on the next pin a half hour later. Late improved designs such as this mechanism overcame this problem by incorporating a pivoted section on the plunger, so that if the plunger was jammed down, it would pivot out of the way and flick back to its correct position without affecting the pins. After the night shift, the person overseeing the watchman would be able to the the times when the night watchman had patrolled the area of this clock. After 11½ hours, an internal “ramp” forces the pins back up.

The bezel is locked by padlock through the hinged latch, giving only the watchman’s superior access to the movement, for timesetting and winding of the clock.

The eight day single fusee movement has a half-hourly passing strike on a bell.

The silvered dial with Roman numerals is inscribed ‘Sims, Watford’, on a rectangular base.

Height 14″ (36cm)
Width 9″ (23 cm)
Depth 7″ (17cms)

Overhauled and guaranteed for 3 years.
We are proud to be one of the UK’s finest suppliers of high quality Antique Clocks. We are based in Somerset, but also serve the rest of the UK. We are also delighted to have a number of overseas customers.

The workshops have recently relocated to Somerset and we continue to stock a large range of antique clocks and new clocks at very competitive prices.

We are proud to be members of LAPADA, the Association of Art and Antique Dealers.
Carlton Clocks is also a business partner of the British Horological Institute.

Ian has years of experience in restoring and maintaining clocks. He has a particular interest in early electric clocks. You will see from our Electric Clocks catalogue that we also manufacture and supply a small range of parts for Bulle, Eureka and Brillie electric clocks.

The mix of other clocks for sale is limited only by what Ian finds interesting and/or beautiful, aesthetically or mechanically.