At less than 7 cm in height, this carriage clock is a particularly nice example of what was in its day almost the equivalent to our mobiles or laptops.  Carriage clocks were designed to be small and transportable, hence their name “carriage clocks”, and were first developed in early 19^th century France with the first supposedly invented for Emperor Napoleon in 1812.

As the world became a more industrialised place these clocks were produced in the thousands as production techniques improved, whilst at the same time the need by society to measure time also increased due to the changes in working habits and leisure time, such as being paid hourly wages and having to be on the platform on time to catch the 10:37 train! A traditional gift in the past for the retirement of a senior staff member would have been a carriage clock, symbolic of the time they had dedicated to the company and the change that was now occurring in their life, as they are “moving on” to other things. Unfortunately this tradition has long since fallen out of fashion.

This clock was built by Howell James & Co, a noteworthy jewellers and silversmith located on Regent Street from 1819 – 1911. The company had a few variations on its name over the years, but it was known as Howell James & Co. between 1838 and 1884. The travel case includes a warrant to the Prince and Princess of Wales, so as Prince Edward married Princess Alexandra in 1863, this would date the clock to between 1863 and 1884.