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Lot Essay
A closely related regulator by John Arnold (No. 33) sold anonymously, Bonhams London, 15 December 2009, lot 32 (£60,000).
Arnold '101' is so-called for the tiny 101 engraved on the dial to the left of the letter L of LONDON. As Mercer writes, it is a useful distinguishing mark but whether it forms part of Arnold's numbering system is not known. The movement is of extremely high quality. It is slightly later than the regulators he made in the mid 1770s for the likes of Eger Observatory in about 1775 (see Roberts, p.42). The pillars are more conventional, the plates rectangular and maintaining power instead of bolt-and-shutter is employed. The iron bar securely recessed into the backboard just below the hood appears to be an early and possibly original fitting. It has adjustment screws at either end, these could have been for levelling the clock or for lifting it clear of the floor to eliminate any vibrations through the base.
John Arnold (1736-1799), was born in Bodmin and was apprenticed to his father before going to Holland at the age of 19 to learn more about watchmaking. Returning to England after two years he worked wherever he could as a clock, watch and even as a gun maker. Whilst working in St Albans in 1762 he met a Mr McGuire for whom he repaired a watch. McGuire was so impressed by the young Arnold he lent him some money to set up a business in London at Devereux Court in the Strand. His subsequent his rise to fame was meteoric.
In 1764 he presented a miniature watch one third of an inch in diameter to the King who paid £315 for it, it was the first English watch to be made with a ruby cylinder. The Emperor of Russia apparently offered £1,000 to Arnold to make another but Arnold declined. His business moved to St James's Street and his career blossomed, mainly in the field of chronometry using his own version of the detent escapement.
His regulators were made in very small numbers. In 1771 he is recorded as jewelling the pallets of two clocks in the Royal Observatory for £21. By 1774 an Arnold month-going regulator with five rod gridiron pendulum and ruby pallets had been made for the Quadrant Room at Greenwich - not unlike the present lot. The second was ordered by Maskelyne for the Great Room in the new Observatory at a cost of £84-16s-00d and was delivered in 1774. The regulator ordered for Manheim Observatory was built in 1779 and according to Mercer (op. cit.) it was still in use at the time of writing his reference work on Arnold in 1972.
Arnold '101' is so-called for the tiny 101 engraved on the dial to the left of the letter L of LONDON. As Mercer writes, it is a useful distinguishing mark but whether it forms part of Arnold's numbering system is not known. The movement is of extremely high quality. It is slightly later than the regulators he made in the mid 1770s for the likes of Eger Observatory in about 1775 (see Roberts, p.42). The pillars are more conventional, the plates rectangular and maintaining power instead of bolt-and-shutter is employed. The iron bar securely recessed into the backboard just below the hood appears to be an early and possibly original fitting. It has adjustment screws at either end, these could have been for levelling the clock or for lifting it clear of the floor to eliminate any vibrations through the base.
John Arnold (1736-1799), was born in Bodmin and was apprenticed to his father before going to Holland at the age of 19 to learn more about watchmaking. Returning to England after two years he worked wherever he could as a clock, watch and even as a gun maker. Whilst working in St Albans in 1762 he met a Mr McGuire for whom he repaired a watch. McGuire was so impressed by the young Arnold he lent him some money to set up a business in London at Devereux Court in the Strand. His subsequent his rise to fame was meteoric.
In 1764 he presented a miniature watch one third of an inch in diameter to the King who paid £315 for it, it was the first English watch to be made with a ruby cylinder. The Emperor of Russia apparently offered £1,000 to Arnold to make another but Arnold declined. His business moved to St James's Street and his career blossomed, mainly in the field of chronometry using his own version of the detent escapement.
His regulators were made in very small numbers. In 1771 he is recorded as jewelling the pallets of two clocks in the Royal Observatory for £21. By 1774 an Arnold month-going regulator with five rod gridiron pendulum and ruby pallets had been made for the Quadrant Room at Greenwich - not unlike the present lot. The second was ordered by Maskelyne for the Great Room in the new Observatory at a cost of £84-16s-00d and was delivered in 1774. The regulator ordered for Manheim Observatory was built in 1779 and according to Mercer (op. cit.) it was still in use at the time of writing his reference work on Arnold in 1972.