Lewis Walduck
Cataloguer
Lot 82
A late 17th century ebony veneered quarter repeating table timepiece, together with a copy of Radage, Charles Gretton, Clock and Watchmaking through The Golden Age. Charles Gretton, London
2 July 2025, 13:00 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £7,680 inc. premium
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A late 17th century ebony veneered quarter repeating table timepiece, together with a copy of Radage, Charles Gretton, Clock and Watchmaking through The Golden Age.
Charles Gretton, London
The caddy top with leaf-tied handle over a moulded cornice, rectangular glazed side panels and sound frets, on a moulded base with four block feet. The front door with a pierced sound fret backed in silk. The 6.5-inch square brass dial with silvered Roman and Arabic chapter ring with unusual half hour markers signed C Gretton, London between V and VII, framed by winged cherub spandrels, the matted centre with chamfered date aperture, curved and decorated mock pendulum, ringed winding square, and pierced blued steel hands.
The five-pillar single gut fusee movement with knife edge verge escapement and pull quarter repeat on a pair of bells mounted to the frontplate. The backplate elaborately engraved with a wheatear border, central foliate decoration, a pair of dragons heads issuing foliate scrolls, and a finely pierced and engraved apron. Signed Charles Gretton, London. Sold together with a bespoke Knibb style winding key, a case key and a 'Deluxe'copy of Through The Golden Age by Dennis Radage with leather binding, gilt edges and foil-stamped slipcase.
41cms (16ins) high.
The caddy top with leaf-tied handle over a moulded cornice, rectangular glazed side panels and sound frets, on a moulded base with four block feet. The front door with a pierced sound fret backed in silk. The 6.5-inch square brass dial with silvered Roman and Arabic chapter ring with unusual half hour markers signed C Gretton, London between V and VII, framed by winged cherub spandrels, the matted centre with chamfered date aperture, curved and decorated mock pendulum, ringed winding square, and pierced blued steel hands.
The five-pillar single gut fusee movement with knife edge verge escapement and pull quarter repeat on a pair of bells mounted to the frontplate. The backplate elaborately engraved with a wheatear border, central foliate decoration, a pair of dragons heads issuing foliate scrolls, and a finely pierced and engraved apron. Signed Charles Gretton, London. Sold together with a bespoke Knibb style winding key, a case key and a 'Deluxe'copy of Through The Golden Age by Dennis Radage with leather binding, gilt edges and foil-stamped slipcase.
41cms (16ins) high.
Footnotes
Charles Gretton (1647/48–1731) was born in Claypole, Lincolnshire, to Charles and Agnes Gretton. After being baptized on 24 January 1647, he left home at the age of 14 to apprentice with Humphrey Downing in London. His career flourished during the Golden Age of English Clockmaking, with Gretton becoming a freeman of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers in 1672. Over his career, he produced numerous clocks and watches, including longcase clocks, spring clocks, and complex repeating watches. He was known for his innovative use of marquetry, casework, and striking mechanisms.
Gretton contributed significantly to the clockmaking community through his philanthropy, founding a fund for orphaned clockmaker apprentices and establishing a school for poor boys in Claypole. He remained active in civic life and the Clockmakers' Company until his death on 25 June 1731.
Literature: This clock is discussed and illustrated in Radage, Charles Gretton, Clock and Watchmaking through The Golden Age, pp 356-359, item SC32, a 'Deluxe' copy of which is included with this lot.
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