#WILLIAM CLEMENT CLOCKMAKER FREE#

(Isn't that all they sell at auctions?) There were two tall case clocks tucked into a corner. Keith Bates is an amateur horologist who has been researching clocks, watches and chronometers and their makers for over 30 years.I went to a local auction a few years ago to look for clocks. His great achievement was recognised by his fellow craftsmen but has sadly been forgotten in later years until the present day when few people even in horological circles are aware of his achievements and that he was an exceptional clockmaker and worthy of our highest praise. Unfortunately, William ClementвЂ™s career ended in poverty as he was not able to work after c.1701 due to poor health and he died in 1709. in 1697, while at the same time he was made an Assistant on 30 Sept.1678, a Warden on 15 Oct. He became an Assistant by 1680 and a reluctant Warden of the B.C. where he had sworn a lifetimes allegiance to that Company when he had been freed. He still had to continue his commitment to the B.C.

#WILLIAM CLEMENT CLOCKMAKER FREE#

1677 he gave in to their pressure and joined the Company as a free brother and вЂњgreatвЂќ clockmaker. William was a very modest man and for many years resisted their advances until eventually on 3 Dec. After he had introduced the anchor escapement c.1665 the ClockmakersвЂ™ Company (C.C) were determined to make him a member of their Company. William Clement was held in high regard by his contemporaries who were always anxious to have his opinion on any horological matter. You can read more about his work and this clock here. His turret clocks must have been more accurate than his competitors because in 1667 he received an order from the Society of Middle Temple (lawyers) for a clock to go over the entrance of their hall, which was to be better than the one on the hall of their fellow lawyers at Lincolns Inn. This early clock by William Clement could be the clock he experimented on when he was developing the anchor escapement. The plates had been drilled for a cross-beat escapement, which presumably had been fitted, but then it had been fitted with an anchor escapement and a long 1 Вј seconds pendulum. The plates had been marked out for a verge escapement, but the holes had not been drilled. The Fromanteel type movement (with split front plate) had been altered during its construction. Most of William ClementвЂ™s early clocks were turret clocks with anchor escapement and long pendulums, but one of his earliest longcase clocks was illustrated in вЂњHorological MasterworksвЂќ published by the Antiquarian Horological Society in 2003, example number 19, has a very early movement. The anchor escapement was regulated by the Royal Pendulum, 1 metre in length and beating once every second. A short bob pendulum was introduced to regulate the verge by Ahasaureus Fromanteel in the first longcase clocks made by him in 1658. Most clocks prior to this were regulated with a verge escapement. William Clement, junior, must have assisted Walter from time to time, making his anchors which had prompted the idea of an anchor-shaped escapement. An earlier William who was baptised in 1638 must have died. So, we must assume that William was probably about 4 at that time. Their father, William, senior, had died in June 1646, almost 9 months before WilliamвЂ™s baptism on 7th March 1647. His elder brother Walter was an anchorsmith in Rotherhithe and lived in the family home.

He had been apprenticed to Thomas Chapman of the B.C. William Clement invented the anchor escapement about 1665. If it had not been for William Clement, clocks might still have been treated as objects of amusement and not useful timekeepers. One of the most important вЂњgreatвЂќ clockmakers of the 17th century and probably the least well-known, was William Clement.

William clement clockmaker