Lewis Walduck
Cataloguer
Lot 89TP
A mid 18th century burr walnut longcase clock Windmills and Wightman, London
2 July 2025, 13:00 BST
London, New Bond Street£3,000 - £5,000
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A mid 18th century burr walnut longcase clock
Windmills and Wightman, London
The case with arched hood and deep moulded cornice on freestanding stop-fluted Doric columns with glazed sides, the long arched trunk door of lively figuring within a moulded edge and featherbanding on a matching base. The 12-inch arched brass dial with Roman and Arabic chapter ring framed by cast mask spandrels, the matted centre with subsidiary seconds and date aperture, signed in the arch on a silvered plaque with wheatear border Windmills and Wightman, London, with blued steel hands. The movement with rectangular plates supported by five knopped pillars, striking the hours via rack on a bell mounted above. Together with a pendulum and pair of later weights. 228cms (90ins) high.
The case with arched hood and deep moulded cornice on freestanding stop-fluted Doric columns with glazed sides, the long arched trunk door of lively figuring within a moulded edge and featherbanding on a matching base. The 12-inch arched brass dial with Roman and Arabic chapter ring framed by cast mask spandrels, the matted centre with subsidiary seconds and date aperture, signed in the arch on a silvered plaque with wheatear border Windmills and Wightman, London, with blued steel hands. The movement with rectangular plates supported by five knopped pillars, striking the hours via rack on a bell mounted above. Together with a pendulum and pair of later weights. 228cms (90ins) high.
Footnotes
Windmills and Wightman were active in London during the early 18th century. Thomas Wightman, possibly born in Lutterworth, Leicestershire in 1678 and son of Richard Wightman, was apprenticed to Henry Hester in 1692 and became free in 1701/2. He later operated from Lombard Street and George Yard, and took on several apprentices over the years. His career included periods of financial difficulty—being listed as in the "comfrey" (a debtors' prison). By 1748, he was recorded as a watch finisher. Clocks and watches bearing his name—often as "Tho. Wightman"—are known, including hooded and longcase examples. A partnership with Windmills is likely to have been a retail collaboration, a common practice among London makers of the time.
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