Antiques Roadshow | Appraisal: Dwerrihouse & Fletcher Table Clock, ca. 1845 | Season 27 | Episode 11

GUEST: It belonged to my father.

I think he bought it from a dealer somewhere in the Midlands area, Herefordshire.

My father always referred to it as a chronometer.

APPRAISER: Right.

GUEST: The unique thing I always thought was the mechanism in there.

APPRAISER: Right.

GUEST: Where you've got a curved cone.

APPRAISER: Right.

GUEST: And, when you wind up the spring, as the little chain runs down the cone, it maintains the c, a constant torque... APPRAISER: Exactly.

GUEST: ...on the actual clock mechanism.

APPRAISER: Exactly.

GUEST: You know, so, it keeps time that way.

APPRAISER: And that's called a fusee.

Uh, it refers to that, uh, conical-shaped comb.

Well, this is a, a, an English clock of the highest grade.

This is a table clock made by Dwerrihouse and Fletcher circa 1845.

Would have been a very expensive item at the time.

This gentleman, John Fletcher, clock maker, chronometer maker, worked from 1832 to 1882.

He worked at this location from 1845 to 1849.

Before that, in the early 1830s, he was making chronometer escapements.

And this actually has a chronometer escapement in it, which is a higher-grade escapement.

And it was used for nautical instruments.

This is certainly not a nautical instrument, but he included the escapement, and it's a very accurate timekeeper as a result.

GUEST: So this is more a household...

Uh... APPRAISER: This is what we call a library clock.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: Which would be in a household.

Chronometer escapements is one of the single most difficult things to make, first of all, and repair.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: It is a rosewood case, the dial here is a porcelain inset, and its condition is fantastic.

There's no hairlines in it; it's like the day it was made.

And it's surrounded by this brass gilded mat.

It has these beautiful barbed, blue steeled hands.

Just fantastic quality, and the condition is first-rate.

A beveled glass side, so you can see...

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: ...this beautiful what has, what we call knot pillars.

And it looks like a big piece of jewelry.

It's so finely made, it's fantastic.

And then on the back here, it's beautifully engraved on the back plate with "Dwerrihouse and Fletcher, on 27 Davies Street, London."

And that's also repeated on the dial.

So he was obviously very proud of this clock.

GUEST: (chuckles): Yeah.

APPRAISER: And wanted the recognition.

Very exciting piece for me, because I don't generally see things that are so well-built.

Do you have any idea of the value?

GUEST: I was thinking maybe $500 to $1,000, but I don't kn, don't really know.

APPRAISER: That's a little low-- I, it, it...

If I were to put this in a retail showroom, I'd expect to see a price of $5,000 to $6,000 on such a great quality clock.

GUEST: (whistles softly): Yeah.

Well, that's great.

(voice trembling): I think my father would be... ...you know, very pleased.

APPRAISER: It's great that you cherish it so much.

Yeah.

And it's a wonderful memory of your father.

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