Alexander Cumming, London

• two train fusee movement between three plates, verge escapement the block pallets with white sapphire linings, highly polished steel balance visible through the dial, striking on a bell • white enamel dial, Roman numerals, outer Arabic minutes, beetle and poker hands • gilt-metal glazed case engraved with bands of flowers and foliage in a neo-classical manner • mainspring scratch signed and dated Nightingale 19th Sept 1765

Cecil Elsom Collection

Terence Camerer Cuss, The English Watch 1585-1970, p. 225, pl. 135

Although not strictly speaking a watch in the construction of its movement and dial, this very small clock has many of the characteristics of one. The white enamel dial is of especially high quality and is enhanced by the visible balance, which is elegantly fashioned from polished steel. Regulation is via a square adjacent to the front bezel hinge which turns an endless screw.

Jewelled block pallets are exceptionally rare.  They were introduced by John Harrison and were fitted for the first time by a highly skilled watchmaker he employed, John Jeffreys, to make a watch for him that incorporated a number of refinements that Harrison would soon include in his triumphant H4. The aforementioned watch, hallmarked for 1752 and signed by Jeffreys, belongs to Hull Trinity House, is on extended loan to the Clockmakers’ Company and is now in the company’s Museum at the Science Museum. See Clocks & Watches in the Collection of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers, Clutton & Daniels, pages 6-7 and Figure 187, pages 30-31.

Alexander Cumming FRS (1732-1814), born in Edinburgh, was a highly respected and accomplished clock and chronometer maker. He published “The Elements of Clock and Watch Work” in 1766 and was elected an honorary Freeman of the Clockmakers’ Company in 1781. He was a member of the committee appointed by an Act of Parliament to examine John Harrison’s fourth marine timekeeper, the so-called H4 in March of 1763. Cummings’ works included a sumptuous barometrical clock with padouk veneer, gilt bronze mounts and internal ivory columns, which is part of the Royal Collection at Buckingham Palace. The barometrical clock records the height of the barometer every day throughout the year. Cummings was paid an immense £2,000 for the clock and given an annual allowance of £200 for its upkeep. See, Britten, Old Clocks and Watches and their Makers.