Benjamin Willard Tall clock signed Roxbury, MA. No. 135. This clock was made circa 1772. 214010.
This is a fine Chippendale cherry case tall clock featuring an engraved brass dial finished with a silver wash and a moon phase or lunar calendar. It is signed by the clockmaker “Benjan. Willard, Roxbury. No. 135.”
This nicely proportioned tall clock case is constructed in maple and features a rich, mellow finish. The case is supported on four ogee bracket feet. These are applied to a double-stepped molding. The waist section is long and centers a large-shaped waist door. This door is trimmed along its perimeter with a molded edge. This door opens to access the pendulum and weights. The sides of the waist are fitted with fluted quarter columns. These terminate in brass quarter capitals. The columns are stop-fluted with brass rods. The hood or bonnet features a pierced and open New England-style fretwork pattern. The three finial plinths are fluted and capped at the top. Each is fitted with a large brass ball-and-spike finial. The front bonnet columns are brass stop-fluted and mounted in brass capitals. The back quarter columns are shaped and neatly fitted into the case's corners—the hood's sides feature tombstone-shaped side lights. The bonnet door is also an arched form and fitted with glass. This door opens to access the dial.
This 13-inch 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 rococo scroll work theme is consistent in the four spandrel areas and at the top of the arch. If one looks closely, one will notice the profile of a man’s face incorporated in the design of the upper spandrel areas. American eagles are depicted on either side of the calendar date. This dial is signed and numbered by the Maker. The “No. 135” can be found inside the subsidiary seconds dial. The Maker’s name and working location, “Benjan’ Willard / Roxbury,” is positioned in the center of the dial and can be plainly seen. This is signed in a script format. A lunar calendar or a moon phase mechanism is in the arch of the dial. Interestingly, the moon and the blue night sky are painted. The moon has a pleasing face. The time ring is laid out in a traditional format. The hours are indicated in Roman numerals, and the five-minute markers are indicated in Arabic form. The day of the month is also displayed through a small square opening above the Roman numeral “Six.”
This clock features an eight-day brass movement. It is weight-driven and wound with a key. It is designed to strike each hour on a cast iron bell. The movement 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 91.5 inches or 7 feet 7.5 inches tall to the top of the center finial. The upper bonnet molding is approximately 21.5 inches across and 10.5 inches deep.
This clock was made circa 1772-1773. I consider this date to be very accurate. It is based on the fact that Benjamin Willard’s clock number 131 is dated on the front plate 1772. That clock is now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and is pictured and described in Frank Holmann's book, TIMELESS. Masterpiece American Brass Dial Clocks. This clock, number 135, must have been made shortly after based on Benjamin's production output. In addition, both clocks feature engraved brass dials of very similar design.
Inventory number 214010.
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.
