How to look up the maker of
your clock
The bible of the clock collector
is a book called 'Watchmakers and Clockmakers
of the World', a two-volume work, Volume One
by G. H. Baillie, Volume Two by Brian Loomes,
published in London by Robert Hale. These two
volumes cover almost 100,000 makers of the English-speaking
world and Europe, listing briefly those known
details of each maker. You need to check in
both volumes to see whether details of a maker
are known. It is hoped that these two volumes
will shortly be unified into a single book,
with additions and revisions, but such a unified
volume may be some years away. Entries in this
work are very brief, but summarise what is known
about each maker. More detailed information
is usually available in a book covering an individual
county, where such a book exists.
'Old Clocks and Watches and
their Makers' by F. J. Britten lists only some
25,000 makers, most of them already in the previous
book, but 'Britten' often has additional information
on London makers. This book, presently into
its ninth edition, is published by Methuen Spon,
London.
Clocks made in Scotland can
be identified from the lists of makers in 'Old
Scottish Clockmakers' by John Smith, first published
in 1921 by Oliver & Boyd of London, reprinted
by E. P. Publishing Ltd., Wakefield. Makers
of clocks made in Wales can be looked up in
'Clock and Watch Makers in Wales' by Iorwerth
C. Peate, published by the National Museum of
Wales, Cardiff.
There are books on the makers
of many individual counties of England, and
new ones are constantly appearing. A list of
those counties on which books have been written
can be found in the Bibliography section in
'Watchmakers and Clockmakers of the World'.
Owners of American-made clocks
can now consult a recently-published compendium
of all known American makers, 'American Clockmakers
& Watchmakers' by Sonya L. & Thomas
J. Spittler and Chris. H. Bailey, published
in 2000 by the Arlington
Book Co, Fairfax, Virginia 22031-1409, USA.
Signed copies can be ordered direct from the
author, Tom Spittler, 10925, Sigler Road, New
Carlisle, Ohio 45344. at $39.99 including postage
within the US.
Those Americans with a deeper
interest in clocks might like to join the
National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors.
Copyright
© 2001 Brian Loomes
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