Benjamin Willard maple case Chippendale tall clock. Made in Roxbury, Massachusetts. RR-32.
This Chippendale maple case tall clock is a significant piece of history. It was crafted by the renowned Benjamin Willard while working in Roxbury, Massachusetts. It is numbered 207.
This nicely proportioned tall clock case is constructed in maple and features a weathered, mellow finish. A boldly formed double-stepped molding supports the case. The lower molding is shaped to form the bracket feet. The feet retain very good height. The waist section is long and centers a large tombstone-shaped waist door. This door is trimmed along the outside edge with a simple molding. In the arch of this door is a large fan carving. This door opens to access the pendulum and weights. The hood or bonnet features a pierced and open New England-style fretwork pattern. Three finial plinths, each capped at the top, are fitted with large brass finials. The front bonnet columns are smoothly turned and are mounted in brass capitals. The back columns are wonderfully shaped and neatly fitted into the case's corners—the hood's sides feature tombstone-shaped side lights. The glazed bonnet door also has an arched form. This door opens to access the dial.
This dial is constructed from a sheet of brass. It gets its silver color from a wash that is applied after it has been engraved. The engravings are skillfully executed. The dial is signed and numbered by the Maker. The "No. 207" can be found inside the subsidiary seconds dial. The Maker's name and working location, "Benja' Willard / Roxbury," is positioned in the center of the dial and can be easily seen. A phoenix and the Latin inscription Ab hoc Momento Pendet Eternitas are in the lunette. This Latin phrase loosely translates to mean, From this moment, eternity hangs or therefore starts. A dotted minute ring separates the Roman-style hour numerals from the five-minute Arabic markers. The day of the month is displayed through a small circular opening above the Roman numeral "VI." The spandrels are wonderfully engraved in a rococo scroll pattern.
This clock features an eight-day duration brass movement. It is weight-driven and wound with a key. The eight-day duration means the clock can run for eight days on a single winding. The movement is designed to strike each hour on a cast iron bell and is of good quality. It is interesting to note the quality of this example because we have owned and seen numerous other signed Benjamin examples where the quality is somewhat crude.
This clock stands approximately 7 feet 2 inches tall to the top of the center finial. The upper bonnet molding is approximately 21 inches across and 10 inches deep.
This clock was made circa 1775. This date is based on the fact that No. 131 is dated 1772, and No. 359 is dated 1789. That 228 clocks in 17 years would average approximately 13 clocks per year. 207 - 131 = 76 Then divide by 13 = 6 years after 1772 = 1778.
Inventory number RR-32.
Benjamin Willard is the oldest of four Willard clockmaking brothers. His younger brother Simon is considered by many to be America’s most famous Clockmaker. The two other younger brothers that also made clocks include Ephraim and Aaron. Benjamin was born on March 19, 1743. As a New England Clockmaker, he never stayed in one location for an extended period of time. In December 1764, Benjamin advertised himself as a maker of shoe lasts and was working in East Hartford, Connecticut, at the home of Benjamin Cheney. Because Cheney was an established Clockmaker, it is logical to assume that he received some wooden geared clock training from him. Two signed Benjamin wooden geared clocks are known, and both feature the Cheney construction form. He is also recorded as buying land from his Father in Grafton on May 18, 1864, and then a second lot on August 20, 1766. Returning from Hartford to Grafton sometime in 1766, and by early 1767, Benjamin relocated to Lexington, Massachusetts. Here it is recorded that he worked with and then succeeded the brass clockmaker Nathaniel Mulliken Sr (1722-1776). It is thought that Benjamin received some level of brass construction clockmaking training from Mulliken before he passed in late 1767. Shortly after that, he hired John Morris to teach himself and his brothers Simon and Aaron, brass clockmaking. During this period, he advertised that he maintained separate shops in both towns until 1771 when it appears he moved the Lexington shop to Roxbury. The location of this shop is not currently known. It is thought to have been on Roxbury Street. The Roxbury shop then moved to Brookline in 1775. This is an important date because it represents the changeover from Roxbury Signed clocks to the Grafton examples. During the period 1777-78, he advertised being located in Medford. Benjamin moved back to Grafton and Worcester and then to Baltimore, Maryland, where he died in September of 1803.
Benjamin Willard numbered many of his clocks. The highest number recorded to date is No. 699. Robert Cheney reports to have seen No. 16 and has stated that this clock is dated 1768 and is signed Grafton. The Willard Museum owns No. 18. It is also dated 1768, but this clock is signed Lexington. No. 80 is also signed Lexington (Masonic Museum). The next few clocks recorded are No. 104,105, 114, and 115. These clocks are signed Grafton. No 131 is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is signed Roxbury and dated 1772. This starts a long stretch of clocks, including 132, 135, 138, 142, 146, 153, 154, 155, 157, 163, 175, 181, 191, 198, 202, 207, 209, 213, 219, 221, 232, 239 that are all signed Roxbury. Very few of the clocks in this sequence of Roxbury place locations are signed Grafton. These numbers currently include 146 and 228. By number 269, the changeover from Roxbury to Grafton occurs. All clocks know after 269 are signed Grafton if they have a place location listed.
On September 3, 1789, Benjamin advertised in the Herald and Worcester Recorder that he had moved from Grafton to Worcester and that he had manufactured 359 clocks in the past 23 years. That works out to approximately 15 or 16 clocks per year during that period. He also states that he had left Roxbury in 1775. Current research suggests that somewhere shortly after clock number 239, he moved from Roxbury, and these are perhaps pre-revolutionary.
