In his book Joseph & Thomas Windmills, Clock Makers, Jim Neale lists all the clocks by
Joseph and Thomas Windmills that were known to him at the time of publishing his book
in 1999. Of the breakarch table clocks by Joseph Windmills he listed just 23 – of which
only 16 have ebony or ebonised cases. Neale did not list the individual complications that
these 16 clocks had, but one can assume that only a small handful of them will have had
three train movements.
JOSEPH WINDMILLS
Joseph Windmills is rightly given the accolade of ‘A Great Clockmaker’. He is recorded
made Free of the Clockmakers’ Company in July 1671. He worked first in St. Martin le
Grand before moving to Mark Lane in 1687. In 1699 he was appointed Warden of the
Clockmakers’ Company and succeeded Tompion as Master in 1702. He died in 1723. His
son Thomas was born in 1672 and apprenticed under his father in 1687, he successfully
continued the business after his father’s death until 1732.
Joseph and Thomas Windmills’ clock movements are often compared to the work Daniel
Quare owing to the similarity of the thickness of the plates and pillars and the high quality
of workmanship. Neale (op. cit. p. 119) refers to a probable interaction between the
two workshops. Whilst the case for this clock is typical of the Windmills workshops, the
movement with its very thick plates, high quality wheelwork and no less than 8 pillars is
arguably more typical of Daniel Quare’s work
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE
J.A. Neale, Joseph and Thomas Windmills, Clock and Watch Makers 1671-1737,
Ticehurst, 1999
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