A fine and potentially historically important George III mahogany striking table regulator, Thomas Mudge and William Dutton, London circa 1770 The nine-pillar twin fusee rack and bell striking movement with plates measuring 9.75 by 6 inches, massive spring barrels, Harrison’s maintaining power to the going train and now with half-deadbeat escapement regulated by half seconds pendulum with cylindrical brass bob, the foliate rococo scroll engraved backplate with arched recess to lower margin and applied with unusual twin scroll-shaped uprights attached via four knopped pillars and connected at the top via a complex bracket with slots cut to take a wide T bar pendulum suspension, the front plate of conforming dimensions inscribed William Dutton & Sons,London over the arched recess to lower margin, the 7.5 inch single sheet silvered brass Roman numeral dial with vacant calendar aperture and signed Tho’s Mudge, Will’m Dutton to centre, with Arabic five minutes to outer track and scroll-pierced blued steel hands, the break-arch case with hinged brass carrying handle and three generous moulded rectangular pads to top over glazed circular dial aperture over concave-topped recessed panel to front door, the sides with arched brass trellis sound frets, the rear with further glazed break-arch door set within the frame of the case, on cavetto moulded skirt base with brass squab feet, 38cm (15ins) high excluding handle. Provenance: The property of a private collector; purchased Sotheby’s, London sale of Good Clocks, Watches, Wristwatches, Barometers and Scientific Instruments, Thursday 5th March 1992 (lot 69). Thomas Mudge was born in Exeter, Devon in 1717 and was apprenticed to George Graham before setting himself up in business at 151 Fleet Street, London in 1748. At around the time of the death of his former Master in 1751, Mudge was joined in partnership by a fellow former apprentice of Graham, William Dutton, who is recorded in Baillie, G.H. Watchmakers & Clockmakers of the World as apprenticed in 1738 and gaining his freedom of the Clockmakers' Company in 1746.The business subsequently traded from 148 Fleet Street and Mudge, whilst in partnership with Dutton, rapidly acquired a reputation as one of England’s outstanding watchmakers. In around 1755, if not earlier, Mudge invented the detached lever escapement, which he first applied to a clock, but when incorporated into a watch became the greatest single improvement ever applied to them.In 1765 Mudge published the book, Thoughts on the Means of Improving Watches, Particularly those for Use at Sea, and the following year, alongside Dutton, was elevated to Liveryman. In around 1771 Thomas Mudge retired to Plymouth in order to spend more time to pursue his development of a marine timekeeper. The first of these went on trial in 1774 where it performed superbly leading to an award of 500 guineas. Mudge went on to complete two others in 1779 in the continuing attempt to satisfy the increasingly difficult requirements set by the Board of Longitude. They were tested by the Astronomer Royal, Nevil Maskelyne, and declared as being unsatisfactory. There followed a controversy in which it was claimed that Maskelyne had not given them a fair trial. A similar controversy had arisen when John Harrison had been denied the full amount of the 1714 prize by the Board of Longitude. Eventually, in 1792, two years before his death, Mudge was awarded £2,500 by a Committee of the House of Commons who decided for Mudge and against the Board of Longitude, then headed by Sir Joseph Banks.In around 1775 Dutton took both his sons (Thomas and Matthew) into the business forming a second partnership of William Dutton and Sons however the name Mudge and Dutton was often still used (mainly for watches) up to around 1790. William Dutton died in 1794 leaving the business to be continued very much in his tradition by his sons Thomas and Matthew. The work of William Dutton can be characterised by its distinctive originality, high quality and attention to detail which one would come to expect from a clockmaker who, alongside Thomas Mudge, succeeded George Graham who in turn had succeeded Thomas Tompion. The movement of the current lot appears to be a unique product of the Mudge and Dutton partnership. The provision of noticeably large diameter spring barrels coupled with a relatively shallow range of gearing to each of the fusees indicates that constant power delivery throughout the duration of the timepiece was off significant importance. This, together with the incorporation of maintaining power to the going train and delicate wheelwork, suggests that the movement was built with accuracy in mind. The highly unusual frame applied to the rear of the backplate indicates that a heavy pendulum (most likely compensated) was probably employed. In addition to this it has been suggested (by the late Charles Allix and Christopher Greenwood from evidence in the form of spare holes, slots etc. within the armature assembly) that, when first made, the current movement may well have employed a form of detached escapement. This possibility is further supported by the relatively low position of the original pallet arbor (in relation to the current escapewheel) which implies that the escapement itself was of highly unusual design and may well been positioned partly above the plates and connected to the pendulum suspended within the top frame of the armature to the rear of the backplate.The possibility of the current lot being originally made with a form of experimental detached escapement warrants further investigation and, if found to be the case, would identify the present timepiece as an example of significant historical importance. Indeed in the in the context of Mudge’s development of his detached escapement the current lot would sit between his famous balance lever table clock of circa 1760-65 (formerly in the possession of Isambard Kingdom Brunel now in the British Museum no. 1958,1006.2118) and his marine chronometers (the first of which was made in 1774). Furthermore, to the best of the cataloguer’s knowledge, this example would have also been the only clock from the Mudge and Dutton workshops to have been made with a detached escapement for regulation by pendulum. It is perhaps appropriate to mention that the late Charles Allix considered this timepiece to be of substantial historic importance and provided his views in a letter written to the vendor many years ago; regrettably this correspondence has been mislaid. When considering other details it is most probable that the current clock remained in the workshops of William Dutton and his successors for a significant time before essentially being ‘re-purposed’ and sold-on. Later work undertaken in the workshop included creating an arched profile to the lower margin of the plates - to allow the swing of the pendulum bob to be visible through apertures cut to the front of the case (including a fretwork overlaid glazed panel beneath the dial). The front upper margin of this arched cut-out was subsequently signed by William Dutton and Sons so this modification post-dates Mudges partnership in the business. In addition to this the original dial was overlaid with a white enamel dial which required the original dial feet to be shortened (and holes drilled to allow clearance the under dial pivot posts) and finally a relatively standard escapement was fitted. Subsequent to the clocks purchase in 1992 the later enamel dial has been removed and is no longer with the clock and the panel beneath the dial has expertly reinstated with fine figured veneer matching the rest of the case. Without a great deal of further work (mainly to the dial) the current lot could become a very attractive useable clock which, through further investigation, also has the potential to be identified (and subsequently restored) as an important example in the development of precision timekeeping.
