A bracket clock (shelf clock, mantel clock). Construction and assembly by John Leroux, 177-.

[London] (Charing Cross) : John Leroux, [between 1770 and 1779]

1 clock : wood with ebony veneer and gold leaf, brass and other metals ; clock and handle 47 x 26 x 18 cm

Leroux Charing Cross

Wellcome Collection 539062i

Made by John Leroux of 8 Charing Cross Road probably sometime in the 1770s. Leroux was made an honorary freeman of the Clockmaker's Company of London in 1781. He was better known as a watchmaker than as a clockmaker and was an innovator of lever watches. This clock is a company piece, not made by Leroux personally but rather assembled by his company from components that were produced by a range of smaller firms which specialised in specific parts of clock mechanisms. This explains why Leroux's signature is engraved on an attached plaque rather than on the clockface itself