Antique Clocks Stood the Test of Time at Auction

Lot 615 was a particularly interesting piece to feature in the sale, as it was produced by the makers of perhaps the most internationally recognisable timepiece of all time - the clock atop the Big Ben tower.

 


The item in question was a beautifully preserved Victorian marine chronometer by Dent of London housed in a mahogany case, complete with an internal glass cover and thermometer. It included a technology known as ‘maintaining power’ which allows the chronometer to keep time even while being wound, meaning it would have been extremely accurate for its era.

 

 

A bidding war quickly emerged with the final hammer price reaching a staggering £11,000.

 

 

Lot 699 – a 19th century combination steam-powered clock and barometer - was also a firm favourite. Looking like a convoluted contraption that one might expect to find alongside similarly bewildering apparatus in a cluttered scientific laboratory, this intriguing brass automaton sold for five times its lowest estimate at £5,000.