A Magnificent George III Mahognay Eight Day Striking Longcase Regulator By The Eminent Maker John Holmes

A particularly fine eight day flame mahogany striking domestic longcase regulator

The beautifully proportioned case with choice flame mahogany veneers, finely engraved and silvered dial with strike/silent to the arch

Eight day movement with Harrison’s maintaining power, dead beat escapement and striking the hours on a fine bell

The wood rod pendulum of Ludlam design, with a 14 lb main lead fixed weight and a 1 lb adjustable weight

John Holmes (1727-1797), was apprenticed to Henry Hindley of York in 1743. At the end of his apprenticeship, around 1750, he moved to London, living in Holborn with his second cousin, John Smeaton, the instrument maker, horologist and civil engineer responsible for Eddystone lighthouse. 

In 1760 Holmes moved to premises in The Strand, where he was to remain for the rest of his career. He was a particularly fine and innovative maker and was well connected in the horological world in London. He kept his close association with John Smeaton and corresponded with the Cambridge astronomer and mathematician Rev William Ludlam (after whom the design of this clock’s pendulum is named). He died in 1797 and the business was continued by his wife and two of his sons until it finally closed in 1816.

This flame mahogany longcase clock is very much in the style of Thomas Mudge’s design, having a hood with no pillars and a single finial mounted on a base. In the mid 1740's Thomas Mudge had generated a completely new style of case design for his longcase clocks. The new pillarless cases of refined and classical proportions were soon taken up by many other clockmakers, initially by those also around Fleet Street as in this example by John Holmes.

Baillie’s records John Holmes as "a maker of great repute".  He established his business in 1762 in Somerset House, The Strand.  He supervised Thwaites' making of the Greenwith Hospital clock and examined Mudges' work.  Examples of his work are included in many important museums and collections, including the Science Museum and The Clockmakers' Company.