Clocks, Watches & Jewellery

By the 15th century the mechanical clock age had dawned but time had not entirely been called yet on the sundial.

The opportunity to obtain a ‘Kew A Certificate’ did not just attract local British makers but drew in Rolex as well.

Falling-ball or falling-globe clocks are great horological rarities; only about 30 examples are thought to have survived since their construction in the second half of the 17th century.

There was some good old fashioned auction drama in Ruislip on October 7 when a loose sapphire hammered for £332,000, a house record for any of the Adam Partridge salerooms.

The 300th anniversary of the birth of the English radical journalist and politician John Wilkes (1725-97) on October 17 is being marked by a small exhibition featuring items from the personal collection and stock of dealer Timothy Millett.

London jeweller Wartski has the perfect gift for Halloween: a late 17th century pendant fashioned from a lizard’s leg.

Auction house Fellows has a new owner, with 100% of the business - previously owned by the Whittaker family - having been sold to a private investor.

Vase and clock produced around the same time nevertheless display significant design variation

Noonans’ sale of Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria in London on September 10 was led by an exceptional 18th century gold and enamel jewel.

Wartski’s Katherine Purcell stages a museum-quality loan exhibition devoted to the history and the magnificence of a classic jewellery form

In Paris this autumn, Les Enluminures holds Jewels on Paper: Secrets of Creation, comprising an archive of design spanning the 18th century to the 1970s. Running from September 18 to October 31, it is accompanied by a fully illustrated book.

Re: ‘Art and industry’ (Clocks & watches feature, ATG No 2708)– a most interesting article about Guilmet and similarly designed novelty clocks.

Head from your local cinema to London’s Piccadilly: jeweller Bentley & Skinner is offering 13 pieces featured in the new film Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale.

A gold pendant, Tête aux Seins, by Max Ernst is one of the artist-made jewels starring at Louisa Guinness Gallery’s Surrealist Jewels 101 show.

Only one other version of triangular-shaped timepiece sold in Florida has been found, says saleroom

Renowned clock specialist David Gibson has died this May, aged 72.