Current issue of Antiquarian Horology
Volume 47, Issue 1, March 2026
On the front cover: Differential dial watch by Charles Cabrier, London No. 189, 1697/98. It was the starting point for the research that resulted in the article ‘Early Differential Dial Watches, 1680–1705’ published in this issue. Note the intricate Trophy of Arms casting.
This issue contains the following articles:
George Lindsay – Watchmaker to George III, 1760–1776. Part 2
by David Green, (pp. 28–40)
The first part of this article outlined a biography of Lindsay’s life. In this, the second part of the article, we examine extant examples of his output. This output falls into three categories: watches, clocks, and microscopes.
Early Differential Dial Watches, 1680–1705
by Sandy Owen, (pp. 41–60)
Differential dial watches are fitted with a single hand to indicate readings on two or more independent scales. In addition to the customary fixed scale, there is at least one scale that moves independently from both the fixed scale and the hand. Inheriting a 1697 differential dial watch has inspired the author to investigate this unusual type of watches. He has identified sixteen surviving English and German early differential dial watches, which are all presented and discussed in this article.
Backstories of a Japonisme Carriage Clock: Artistry in Dragonflies, Gachūga, and Ornament
by Larry L. Fabian, (pp. 61–82)
A gifted, anonymous porcelain painter decorated a carriage clock sold by a prestigious jewellery emporium in Geneva, c. 1880. Its dial and panels reveal a mastery of the era’s avant-garde Japonisme style. This internationalized style suffused fine and decorative arts in the artist’s day and prefigured modern art and Western design themes that endure into our own century. The artist’s alarm dial features an iconic dragonfly, long a millennial national symbol in Japanese history and culture. Like many of his peers trained in Limoges or Paris, the dragonfly artist belonged to a new generation of artist-decorators who were co-creators of aesthetically-inflected carriage clocks exported to the Anglophone world. The porcelainist artist who collaborated with Alfred Dumas to finish this clock, which has never been previously recorded, gave it an aura distinctive for its cultural authenticity and intrinsic beauty—and not least for its appeal to consumers enamoured with fashionable Japonisme.
Courtenay Adrian Ilbert, Horological Collector Part 3: 1939–1956 — ‘It’s been such fun’
by Paul Buck, (pp. 83–97)
Courtenay Adrian Ilbert (1888–1956) was without doubt the greatest horological collector of the twentieth century. Over a lifetime he built up a vast and comprehensive collection, gathering material from both Britain and the continent, covering almost every aspect of the history and development of horology. When, on his death, the extent of his collection was calculated, there were approximately 2,300 watches, 210 clocks and 40 marine chronometers, along with scientific instrements and many peripheral items of horological interest. Ilbert was renowned for his generosity. He would welcome interested visitors into his home, often lend to exhibitions, and also lend books from his extensive horological library. His collection, the vast majority of which is now housed in the British Museum, has global recognition.This is the third part of a projected four-part article, being a revised version of the 19th Dingwall-Beloe lecture, delivered by the author in 2009. The first and second parts were published in Antiquarian Horology December 2010, pp. 499–516 and June 2017, pp. 202–220. Read this article here
Frank Holden : the man and his clocks
by Hans Vrolijk, edited by James Nye, (pp. 98–110)
The AHS Electrical Horology Group (EHG) has issued more than one hundred technical papers since 1970, covering topics that are often highly specialised. In 2009, former AHS member Dr Hans Vrolijk was persuaded by the EHG Secretary to prepare a paper on the life and work of Frank Holden. With the benefit of hindsight, this was not the right outlet as the resulting work should have been offered to the editor of Antiquarian Horology, as it was of wider horological interest. With the benefit of some more recently available information and a couple of new images, here at last is Hans’s work, edited by James Nye.
‘Unfreezing Time #25’ by Patricia Fara (pp. 118-119) (Read the whole series of articles here)
The issue totals 148 pages and is illustrated mainly in colour, and is completed by the regular sections Horological News, Unfreezing Time, Notes from the Librarian, Book reviews, AHS News, Letters and Further Reading.