[NEW] Timetales.ca - ENGLISH HOROLOGY PAGE
-- You can write the author at rstl9999 @ gmail dot com
Below are links to documents I have written related to English Antique Horology (More content to come shortly)
1. An overview of provincial watch and clock making in Colchester, Essex, England, during the period 1710-1850. This is a Powerpoint presentation I prepared and gave in Fall 2019 to our local NAWCC Chapter 111. During the pandemic, it was borrowed and used in a zoom meeting of one of the Antiquarian Horology Society's sections, in the UK. It focuses on the lives and works of 4 makers: John Smorthwait (1675-1739), Nathaniel Hedge 3 (1710-1795), Nathaniel Hedge 4 (1735-1821), and Joseph Banister (1778-1875).
“We clock enthusiasts tend to become bogged down in the details of the clocks, their style, age, fine engraving, unusual escapements. We tend to forget that the maker was not a clock-making machine, but a real person often with far more of a burden in the form of the stresses and worries of life than we experience ourselves.” - Brian Loomes, writing about John Smorthwaite.
2. Edward East (1602-1695) - a summary of the life and work of this important English clock- and watch-maker. This is a Powerpoint presentation I prepared and gave in March 2025 to our local NAWCC Chapter 111. This detailed presentation summarizes the life, times, and works of Edward East. A set of photos of a disassembled East watch movement illustrates some of the watch manufacturing practices soon after introduction of the balance spring by Huygens. The presentation features several photos of East clocks and watches on display in London museums, however permission has not been sought to publish these, so they are provided solely for education purposes. The best thing is to go see these specimens first hand at these wonderful institutions in London UK: British Museum, Science Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum.
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(All original content on this site is the property of Robert St-Louis, Ottawa, Canada)